CAREER PROSPECTS IN CYBER LAW IN INDIA

AUTHOR- Rohan Kumar Singh, Asian Law College & Tanya Sinha, Thakur Ramnarayan College of Law, Mumbai University.

1. Introduction Cyber law refers to law made by government to ensure smooth function of cyberspace. Cyberspace refers to internet, computer, communication technology etc. cyberlaw is formed to deal with problems related to these issues. Cyberlaw is relevantly quite new if we compare it to other laws that are present and it have a very wide scope. Cybercrimes have been growing very rapidly all over the world and in India alone there has been more than 300%-400% growth in cybercrime since last 6-7 years. Thus, cyberlaw is needed to maintain proper functioning of cyberspace. 2. Scope Cyberlaw has a very wide scope and to understand this better let me explain it with an example - if we compare cyber with our IPC we can see how wide scope of cyberlaw is there if a person stole your car then he will be punished under IPC but if that person is not here in Indian then there are not many section in IPC which give power to court to function out of Indian territory but if we look at cybercrimes most of them take place from other country and cyberlaw have a wide scope under which everything is covered. As a cyber lawyer there is a wide scope Infront of us to choose from other then court room and legal firms. After completing cyber law diploma you can go into police department, IT sector, corporate house etc. Cyber law also provide quite good livelihood but it all depend on student’s qualification work experience and which sector the are working in public or private. In general, a cyber law lawyer can earn 6 lakhs annually initially and if a fresher can 15k-20k monthly. 3. Cybercrimes Cyber-crime , also called computer crime, the use of a computer as an instrument to further illegal ends, such as committing fraud, trafficking in child pornography and intellectual property, stealing identities, or violating privacy. Cybercrime, especially through the Internet, has grown in importance as the computer has become central to commerce, entertainment, and government.[1] Cyber space includes computers, networks, softwares, data storage devices (such as hard disks, USB disks), internet, websites, emails and even electronic devices such as cell phones, ATM machines,etc. 4. Cybercrimes i) Any crime with the help of computer or telecommunication technology. ii) Any crime where the computer is used as object or subject. iii) Categories of cyber crimes: iv) Cybercrimes against persons: v) Stalking vi) Loss of privacy vii) Online harassment viii) Sending some obscene material. ix) Cybercrimes against government: x) Cyber terrorism xi) Cyber extortion xii) Hacking government websites. xiii) Computer viruses. xiv) Cybercrimes against property: xv) Copyright xvi) Stealing data and secret information xvii) Unauthorized computer trespassing. Other crimes: i) Logic bombs ii) Spamming iii) Virus, worms, Trojan house iv) E-mail bombing v) E-mail abuse

5. Cyber security- Need of an hour

The virtual world of internet is known as cyberspace and the laws governing this area are known as Cyber laws and all the netizens of this space come under the ambit of these laws as it carries a kind of universal jurisdiction. Cyber law can also be described as that branch of law that deals with legal issues related to use of inter-networked information technology. In short, cyber law is the law governing computers and the internet.

Cyber law is important because it touches almost all aspects of transactions and activities on and involving the internet, World Wide Web and cyberspace. Every action and reaction in cyberspace has some legal and cyber legal perspectives. Due to advancement in technology the world is becoming more and more digitally sophisticated and so are the crimes related to internet. Since the scope of internet has widen from using it for information, for just communicating with our loved one to paying bills online, establishing e-commerce, e-business. The need for cyber security grew with time. The internet users had to be secured with their personal information, bank account details, transactions, etc. All the legal issues related to internet are dealt by the cyberlaws.

i) Cyber law encompasses laws relating to:

· Cyber crimes

· Electronic and digital signatures

· Intellectual property

· Data protection and privacy

6. Importance of Cyber law

As we have discussed earlier that cybercrime have been rapidly growing and every day, we see many crimes of cyberlaw in today’s time we see more and more crimes related to cyberspace. If we see at the stats of growth of cybercrime, we will realize that in India we need more professional in field of cyberlaw.

People can argue that we can use conventional laws to deal with crimes which take place on cyber world like if we take example of cyber bullying a person if being bullied by locals then they can be held liable under conventional laws but if same took place in cyber space then its effect and spread will increase e.g.:- if a dark skin boy is bullied by his fellow classmate then the spread of that action will be in school only but same if take place on cyberspace like on Facebook or Instagram and people who not even know them can also comment and the spread increase due to which its affects also increase and have some serious damage on the victims. Still in these cases we can for once use conventional laws and punish everyone but cyberlaw is required when more serious crimes are committed like data theft now theft is only limited to movable property which can be physically exploited but cyber data as we knows not have any physical shape then in such crime how will the victim get justice.

Thus, for crime like these we need cyberlaw as not every aspects of cybercrime is covered by conventional laws.

In today’s highly digitalized world almost everyone will be affected by the cyber law. It can be:

· People using their debit and credit cards to pay bills online.

· Entrepreneurs who have established e-commerce, e-business.

· People exchanging messages, emails, personal images and videos, private information.

· Almost all transactions of shares are in the demat form.

· Even in crimes not related to internet , evidences can be found in the emails, photos, messages, computers in crimes like terrorism, divorce, murder, theft,etc.

· Digital signatures and e-contracts have replaced the traditional method of transaction in business.[2]

The growth of Electronic Commerce has propelled the need for vibrant and effective regulatory mechanisms which would further strengthen the legal infrastructure, so crucial to the success of Electronic Commerce. All these governing mechanisms and legal structures come within the domain of Cyber law. Cyber law is important because it touches almost all aspects of transactions and activities and on involving the internet, World Wide Web and cyberspace. Every action and reaction in cyberspace has some legal and cyber legal angles.

7. Career Prospects from Cyber law

Today, cyber law is one the newest & most successful career in law. There are many career opportunities in the field of Law.This has emerged as one of the demanding career field in the recent times. Cyber law students are great in demand & paid handsome salary.Various organizations hire a cyber lawyer for their expert legal services & advice

Some of the career prospects are listed down below:

i) Cyber Lawyer

Nature of Cyber lawyer

The work of a Cyber Lawyer is to prepare, examine and advocate a case for the client involved in a cyber-crime case. It is also a very important aspect of legal training & corporate management. Most popular cyber-crime is hacking person’s personal accounts, cyber terrorism and spread of virus. Various organizations hire a cyber lawyer for their expert legal services & advice. Cyber Lawyer can either be working with a law agency or they can be self-employed.

Course and duration

Candidates can specialize in cyber law at postgraduate level. Minimum Education needed for admission to the postgraduate courses in law is LLB degree. After the completion of higher secondary education, you can take admission in bachelor’s program of law. Once you have completed your graduation with LLB, you are eligible to pursue LLM course in cyber law. Many short term and long term courses are available offline and online in cyber law.

· Diploma in cyber law – (6months-1 year)

· B.Tech (Computer science and Engineering)& LLB Hons ( specialisation in Cyber laws) – 6 years

· LLM in cyber law – 2 years

· Postgraduate certificate in cyber law(PGCCL)- (min-6 months) (max-2 years)[3]

ii) Cyber advisor

Cyber Advisor helps you immediately establish or extend your threat intelligence operation by:

· Building and updating your personalized cyber risk profile

· Collecting relevant cyber threat data from a wide range of open and Dark Web sources

· Providing visibility of trending threats and risks to your business as well as within your supply chain

· Continuously monitoring for cyber risks based on your profile

· Delivering “to-the-point”, finished intel reports on relevant threats with recommended mitigation actions

· Relying on a team of intel analysts to conduct in-depth research for specific concerns

Nature and Scope

With Cyber Advisor, you have visibility of your growing digital risk footprint and know how to address relevant threats before it’s too late. Security advisors are the individuals who consult with businesses to point out the business’s potential security weaknesses, develop security policies and minimize risk to computer systems. They are expected to have a background in security and can obtain degrees in network security and certifications with the International Association of Professional Security. Security advisors provide consultation services to businesses or individuals on the security for a residence or commercial property. In addition to physical security, some advisors or consultants specialize in the security of computers and information systems. A bachelor's degree in a computer or technology-related field is the standard requirement for this position, along with experience in security consulting.

Job Description

Security advisors evaluate existing security systems to determine the potential risk of a breach. The consultant develops policies and procedures that minimize the risk to properties, employees and computer systems. Consultants may also provide evaluations and assessments in collaboration with sales staff for the security business.

These consultants may work independently, providing evaluations on a client's current security system and recommendations for improvements without an affiliation to a security firm or the business that will install the recommended measures. Security consultants may inspect a residence to assist homeowners in finding the best security system to protect the property.

Courses

Consultants specializing in computer systems may need to have a minimum of a bachelor's degree and certifications in network security. Professional certifications, such as the Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) or the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) designations will enhance job opportunities.

Bachelor's degree programs for computer systems security advisors include computer science, information technology or information management. Computer science degree programs include courses in advanced mathematics, programming languages, data structures and computer security. The International Association of Professional Security Consultants offers certification for security professionals. This designation requires experience in security consulting and a minimum of a bachelor's degree.[4]

iii) Cyber consultant police department

As we have discussed earlier that there is rise in cybercrimes in India there is need of cyber consulted to police department also as nowadays almost every crime which take place have a cyber connection i.e. some form of technology is being used to committee the crime like phone. In every crime phone is one of the most used devices and a cyber consultant can use that device to find and give sensitive information to police for their work

In other cases, like spreading hate or pornographic content or other harmful content which can promote public nuisance in cases like these a cyber expert is require as he can help in taking down the wrong content and handle the scenario also they can help to track down who is behind all this.

We can further divide this consultant into two parts:

a. Internet investigation specialist: Many crimes take place where internet is used as a source of investigation to understand this better let’s take example of a recent case where more than 3lakhs account details of Indian citizen were sold online in dark web. This whole act was committed on cyberspace and to investigate cyber specialist were required. They found that the data was hacked by a Russian hacker using server from other country this was possible to investigate by internet investigation specialist.

b. Digital evidence specialist: Digital evidence has a very wide scope it covers the communication records or other form of connection between 2 parties involved in any cyber crime for e.g. there is a very famous case of DPS RK Puram where 2 student recorded there private video which was later uploaded and 1 boy for IIT downloaded that video and sold it to a porn site here all this case was given to cyber cell and there evidence specialist was the one who found the data and removed it.

iv) Cyber law lecturer/professor:

As we have seen how cyberlaw is becoming more and more used in our day to day life teachers for the same are also very much important because we need to teach children from a very young how to stay safe while using cyberspace as we all know that in today’s world everyone have excess to cyberspace or in easier words we can say internet today even 4-5 year old kids knows how to use phone and children of merely 8-9 years have their own online profiles on Facebook and other side many time young children get caught up in really bad situation due to not using cyberspace with proper precaution and thus cyberlaw should be studied as an important topic from school itself as the world we are living in is changing and soon cyberlaw will be the supreme law.

8. Conclusion

Now that we have covered every aspect of cyberlaw its definition, need, importance we would like to conclude this blog with some of our personal suggestion. As we have seen how cyberlaw is becoming very basic law of land to understand this statement if we look back in time we can see earlier society use to function by customs and laws but now our society is changing and we are shifting from our old world to a digital world and thus cyberlaw is getting more and more relevant for us. India as a country still needs to transform from old form of life and regulation to proper digitalization. Cyber-law is a very new form of law as we have discussed and thus there are many aspects of cyberlaw that still need to be discovered and to achieve this cyberlaw should be treated as a fundamental law and everyone should learn at least basic facts about cyberlaw and cyberspace.

In the end we can say cyberlaw has a very wide scope and there are numerous profession one can choose after perusing cyberlaw and in general also cyberlaw is getting very basic due to the shift in society and thus everyone should have at least basic knowledge about cyberlaw.

REFERENCES- [1]https://www.britannica.com/topic/cybercrime [2] http://caaa.in/Image/cyber%20laws%20overview.pdf [3] https://www.sarvgyan.com/courses/law/cyber-law [4] https://study.com/articles/Security_Advisor_Job_Description_Duties_and_Requirements.html