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Bajaj Alliance Insurance has announced the launch of a Cyber Insurance Policy for individuals which could be the first such cover in India.

We have been advocating such a policy for a long time and welcome this development.

As per the report in Economic Times

the policy provides for coverage from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore against the risks of”financial Loss”, “Defence cost”, “Prosecution Cost”, “IT Theft loss” Restoration cost”, “loss due to identitity theft arising out of phishing, , malware attack” etc.

Other then financial loss due to cyber, the policy is said to also provide coverage for expenses incurred on counselling services treatment, claim for damages against third party for privacy breach and data breach and transportation for attending Court summons.

This is an excellent development.

We need to still assess the policy terms in detail and the premium but the introduction of the policy is welcome.

Naavi

I recently got an invitation to the  “Pledge Portal” of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)  to take an integrity pledge on the following lines.

Since there was nothing in the pledge which I did not believe in and has been trying to follow for all my life, I took the pledge and was provided the certificate as shown above.

When I shared this in my professional circles, there were as expected an encouraging response from many. Some went ahead and obtained their own certificate. There were many who remained silent.

 “Do we require a pledge” to be honest?

There were a few of my friends who felt whether it is required to take a pledge to be honest?. Are we all supposed to be honest anyway?

This is certainly a valid question which we need to debate. In the Theory of  Information Security Motivation that I have been propounding, I have always accorded importance to “Obtaining an Ethical Declaration” from employees after a Cyber Security Awareness Program so as to “Reinforce the Commitment”.

We all know that many would give a written commitment with no intention of following it or with an intention which they may not be able to sustain when under some kind of pressure.

However, psychologically, it would still be beneficial to obtain the declaration and keep reminding  people of what they have committed so that they are able to re-dedicate themselves to the cause.

Similarly, the attempt of CVC to request the public to take the pledge is to be appreciated and we should encourage more people to adopt this pledge.

In the pledge it is always easier to say that “I will not take bribe”. But when it comes to “I will not pay bribe”, people get into difficulty since in many cases “Bribes” are paid out of compulsion and not out of free volition. Also many times bribes are not paid to enable unethical extra favours from the bribe receiver but only to do what the person is paid salary to do and not create a problem to the citizen where there is none. This situation has not changed even after the 7th Pay commission and increase in salaries to the Government officials. Even the demonetization has not helped since now the bribe receivers may try to recoup their past losses if any.

Such “Bribes” are “Payment under threat and coercion” and most citizens feel uncomfortable when they are confronted with such a demand but succumb to the pressures.

What CVC can do to help compliance of the Integrity Pledge

If the CVC initiative has to succeed, then there has to be some mechanism to ensure that an honest Citizen should be able to register a voluntary declaration of a “Demand for Bribe” and “Bribe paid under duress”. This will also create an evidence which will not be available for Bribe demanded unless the Bribe is actually paid.

We need to also however consider a situation where the accusation of  “Demand For Bribe”, could be false and is meant to harass an honest official. Hence the mechanism should take in to account the principles of “Ombudsman”  suggested for “Whistle Blowing Policy” in a company to ensure that an honest person is not hounded by a false complaint.

Also, law need to ensure that some body who has declared a “Bribe Demand” and followed it up with a “Bribe Paid under Duress” information should be considered as not having committed any offence under law and must be protected under the “Whistle Blower Protection” just like Press are protected under Sting operations under the discretion of the Courts.

People like us who try to help Cyber Crime victims many times need to encounter situations where such “Bribe under Duress” is acknowledged by the victims. I however add that there are many honest officials who work without expecting any bribes and the system runs only on such honest persons whose tribe should increase.

One of the reasons that I am suggesting an online system for “Registration of a Cyber Crime Complaint with automated raise of IP resolution request to intermediaries“ is to ensure that temptations for the officials to use such occasions to expect a bribe is eliminated. I am sure that this is the reason that most States have abandoned the online FIR filing system and are resisting any such suggestions.

It is now for the Central Government and CVC to consider how they would assist honest Citizens to resist the pressures from those who “Demand Bribes”.

I notice that the CVC initiative is meant only for Citizens and Organizations. I donot see any initiative for Government Employees, Police and particularly the officials of the Ministries in Center and States. For these people the pledge should be mandatory and every official should display the certificate prominently in front of their working desk so that dishonest citizens would not try to corrupt a person who wants to otherwise remain honest.

CVC should also conduct a movement in Schools and request children to encourage their parents to take the pledge and sport a badge “My Parent has taken the Integrity Pledge”.

Will CVC move in this direction?

In particular, I want CVC to demand all members of the “Committee on Bitcoins” to take the integrity pledge and disclose it to the public.

The Home Ministry should also make all Police Stations to display the integrity pledge of the Police officials in the Police Station. Incentives may be given to police stations where all the employees have taken the pledge so that we can declare that the “Entire Police Station is Pledged not to take bribe”.

Next Election Should be fought on this Campaign to remove Bribes

Mr Modi should propose that all MLAs and MPs of BJP as well as the primary members of BJP to take the pledge and display it prominently in their place of work. BJP should distribute T Shirts to its workers so that the next election campaign should run on this campaign to remove Bribes from the system.

I look forward to seeing this initiative in Gujarat, HP and in Karnataka in the coming elections.

May be those who oppose all Government initiatives for the sake of opposition may not like to be part of such an exercise and I would not compel them.

I also take this opportunity to all my friends to take the pledge and sport it as part of their WhatsApp Profile pictures so that this would attract the attention of others and motivate them to do the same.

Naavi

For the last few days, security professionals are demanding that Sans Institute should apologize for depicting a wrong map of India in one of their conferences showing POK as not part of India and for not admitting their error even when pointed out.

As this report indicates, SANS refused to remove a poster that had been put up containing the erroneous map and instead offered what could be called as promise to give some business leads to the person who brought it up.

The security community is demanding that SANS offer a public apology for the mistake which the India representatives of the Institute are not willing to do. Their contention is that the map design came from US and they were not aware of the error.

This admission is even more objectionable since this indicates that the local head of the company was not able to recognize the distortion of the map because he was perhaps not aware of India and its current and past history. Secondly it also indicates that SANS must be using this map of India elsewhere in the world also and campaigning the cause of Pakistan.

It is therefore necessary for Government of India to issue a formal notice to SANS to show cause why action should not be initiated against the Company for insulting the country.

At the same time, I feel that the root of the problem may lie with many global agencies which are depicting wrong maps of India. Lonely Planet, Victor maps were two I immediately spotted and there are many more such sites. Even Google was depicting a wrong map earlier and could have corrected now.

For those who provide maps, it may be difficult to balance the views of different countries and India has a problem with Pakistan and China both of which have raised claims on our lands and the global community may not be fully aware of the issues.

It is the duty of the Indian Government to ensure that maps are properly depicted showing Indian interests in the correct perspective.

At the same time, within the boundaries of India there is no reason why educated people need to make mistakes and when mistakes are pointed out why they should not have the humility to correct their mistakes.

I appreciate the strong opposition expressed by some of my friends in the information security profession and urge the Government to initiate action to prevent such happenings in future.

I presume that the person concerned in SANS does not belong to Mamata Bannerjee band wagon which have  its own view of what is India  !.

Naavi

Yesterday was a historic day in Karnataka when Prime Minister Mr Modi visited the sacred town of Dharmasthala and offered his prayers to Lord Manjunatheshwara.

The humility with which Mr Modi appeared not only in the temple but also before Mr Veerendra Hegde the Dharmadhikari of the temple was some thing to be noted particularly in contrast to other politicians.

During the visit, Mr Modi also officially launched a program in which 12 lakh Rupay Debit cards were distributed to the members of a self help group promoted by the Dharmasthala authorities under Mr Veerendra Hegde so that they can be used for transactions in lieu of cash transactions.

It was a demonstration of how Digital payments can be adopted at small towns where there is a lower level of technical knowledge and also how institutions like temples which have a huge influence on the population could participate in such programs.

Dharmasthala is unique in this regard that besides being a well known religious place where Lord Shiva is worshipped in the name of Manjunatha, it is also known for “Dharma” and “Truthfulness”. Mr Veerendra Hegde is revered as a person who can sit in adjudication of problems and there is a belief that no one dares speak untruth before the Lord. The Dewasthanam is also known for its umpteen social service activities including education and other social upliftment programs.

While speaking on the occassion, Mr Modi spoke of the need for a “Cash Less Economy” to eliminate Black money in the country.

The importance of elimination of “Black Money” meaning “Money Not accounted for Taxes” is a key ingredient of Modi’s economic policy which should generate more revenue for the Government and provide funds for development which should create more jobs. This policy is in contrast to the Congress policy which believes that it can dole out money from the Government coffers so that the population can wine and dine without working and contributing to the wealth of the nation.

While speaking, Mr Modi once used the term “Digital Cash” to refer to the plastic money and the need to encourage its use. It is to be noted that in this context, Mr Modi was referring to money in the Banking system which is not withdrawn in the form of rupee notes but held as balance in the Rupay Cards and used as such for payments for other services and products which the card holder may need. I am sure that the shops and establishments in and around Dharamasthala will start accepting Rupay cards for payment for goods and services and reduce the need for rupee notes.

This is “Digitization of our White money lying in the Bank accounts” and this is what is to be encouraged.

Let there be no confusion between Digitized White Money and Bitcoin

I would however warn that clever manipulators of news should not use this opportunity to start saying that “Modi prefers Digital Cash for Digital India” and hence “Mr Modi is in favour of Bitcoins” and “Crypto Coins” which are a pure form of “Digital Cash”.

I will not be surprised if the same argument is placed before Mr Modi that legalization of Bitcoin is in furtherance to his own push for Digital India.

I pray that Lord Manjunatha may provide the clarity of vision to Mr Modi that after demoneitzation and GST, the next big challenge is how to ensure that “Black Money” does not get accumulated in the form of “Digital Wealth” including money in Rupay Cards.

It is for this reason that linking of Aadhar to Bank accounts is being suggested by the Government which is being opposed by many including perhaps many in the Judiciary.

Though there are issues in fraudulent issue of Aadhar cards which needs to be corrected, once the money becomes accountable in some Aadhaar card, investigators can work on establishing whether the card holder is genuine or not. If it is found that the card holder has given false particulars for Aadhaar enrolment, action can be initiated for cancelling the Aadhaar card and re-enrollment. In the meantime the money in the Aadhaar linked card could get frozen.

If this creates problems for some genuine poor people, solution is in giving them alternate Aadhaar IDs and not diluting the need to link Aadhaar number to Bank account.

However, since Aadhaar number is already linked to PAN number, there should be no need for those who have already linked PAN numbers with Bank accounts to also link Aaadhaar numbers separately. Similarly, it should be sufficient to link either a Bank account or a PAN number to the Mobile numbers instead of Aadhaar numbers so that the risk of sharing of biometric with the Chinese controlled Telecom sector is avoided.

I hope the honourable Supreme Court appreciates the need for proper KYC for Mobile numbers and hopefully they will not do anything that allows terrorists,criminals and black money hoarders to run a parallel economy with fake IDs.

Once the “Digital Wealth” in the form of Rupay Cards is properly linked to an identified individual, black money cannot be converted into Rupay Card balances as it may happen over time.

If this is not done, Black money hoarders are likely to purchase Rupay balances and pay out cash while holding the cash themselves in lieu of note bundles.

In future raids by Income Tax authorities therefore, it would not be surprising that we may find hundreds of Rupay cards in the possession of the black money hoarders  having balances running to thousands of rupees. A proper system to secure against misuse of this facility is required.

But identifying black money held in Rupay cards and Digital accounts in Banks in India is within the investigative capabilities of authorities. At the time of last demonetization, many people used JanDhan accounts of their servants and employees and deposited their black money into Banks and later withdrew them in new currency. Government is trying to analyze such transactions and hopefully over a period of time find some black money in these transactions. If Rupay cards are misused, similar investigation would reveal them in due course.

The Future Battle for Black Money is with Bitcoins

The future however is a battle for identifying black money which have been and will be converted into “Crypto Currencies” like Bitcoin. The support that Bitcoin receives world over is because the wealth in Bitcoin cannot be traced to an individual and hence escapes taxes and helps in their use for illegal activities. The premium it enjoys is soley built because of this use of Bitcoin for criminal purposes and not because of any inherent

If therefore Mr Modi does not ban Bitcoins and all other Private Crypto Currencies, Black Money hoarders will convert their black wealth to Bitcoins and Government will lose track. The Finance Ministry under Mr Jaitely is yet to recognize this risk and is happy in “Observing” the Bitcoin and Crypto Currency usage while the industry is exploiting the gullible public and luring them to invest their hard earned money in Bitcoins. Vested interests are developing and as they strengthen,  they will oppose any attempt to ban Bitcoins in the future.

There are others who are trying to fool every body that “Block Chain Technology” is great and it needs to be adopted in all Banking transactions including issue of Currency and Bitcoin is one such great innovation. Some in the Government might agree with the argument and try to encourage Bitcoin without understanding the dangers.

I wish Mr Modi will get the revelation in Dharmasthala that Bitcoin is the biggest Black Money threat to India after demonetization and needs to be killed.

Naavi