It was the dawn of the Digital Revolution in the latter half of 20th century that started to reshape the world. But with the advent of AI, data protection, and cybersecurity have become paramount concerns for individuals, businesses, and governments alike. While experts on both sides of the table make a compelling case, the governments need to adopt broad measures to navigate through the destructive and creative powers of Artificial Intelligence- AI and to ensure that there is a balancing act.
A Balancing Act is Required: The Indian Legal Framework
Businesses toady have an unprecedented risk of occasional cyber-attacks. Data is the new oil and with too much at stake for individuals, businesses, and the government, a balancing act is required. Data in India is primarily governed under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) which lays out stringent measures to protect, process, and regulate the data. Under the proposed law, all the entities that collect and handle personal data are required to obtain consent from the concerned parties to collect, process, and store data. The DPA- Data Protection Authority that has been established to oversee the compliance by all the parties involved in data handling. In addition to the regular data process and handling laws, sensitive personal data is now required to be stored within India with a few exceptions.
An increasing rate of cybercrimes also prompted the Indian government to form a bedrock and lay the foundation for crimes in the cyber domain. The Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act), supplemented by the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), for certain offenses was then brought into action. While the IPC criminalizes cyber bullying, identity theft, and defamation kind of offences, the IT Act has provisions to prosecute cyber crime offences which include accessing networks or computers, hacking them or even damaging them.
With codes being readily available thanks to AI, today it is easier to implement cyber-attacks from across the world, scale their volume, and increase their complexity. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) also raised a precautionary alarm for the same in its advisory dated 9th May 2023. As per the report released by IBM- ‘Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023’ the avg. cost of data breach per year is pegged at US$ 2.18 Million for India while multiplies and is estimated to be US$ 4.45 Million globally.
A Ken Sword: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence
A Ken is a double-edged sword which is just like Artificial Intelligence which acts as both, as a fighter and a defender in the same case with the most important variable being the person using the tech at hand. While it helps protect data and against cyber criminals, it can often become a lethal weapon in hands of someone with malicious intent.
Protecting Data with a Legal Lens
Navigating through the nexus is challenging and the law makers and practitioners can often find themselves at the crossroads where they have to ensure data protection laws compliance. While the legal practitioners understand that AI is assuming a more prominent role in data processing, they also understand that the increasing use of AI in decision making processes demands a higher transparency. It is here, that the ethical dimensions of AI need to be addressed.
Law firms like ___ understand the paradigm shift and how to approach the incident since the traditional cybersecurity practices and be easily circumvented by the AI powered cyber-attacks. It becomes important for law firms to advise their clients about the intricacies of the compliance. With consent and purposeful limitation take the centre stage while handling data, a meticulous approach is required for such cases.
Law firms play a pivotal role in ensuring that the client understands the data consent mechanisms on both ends. Localization and data storage in India is also required depending on the type of data that is being gathered. These law practitioners must help the entities comply with the provisions, mitigate the associated legal risks, and ensure that individual data is at the heart of data protection while ensuring seamless business operations.
Legal Arsenal Against Cyber Criminals
The Information Technology Act 2000 gives all the legal arsenal that is required combat cybercrime. Law firms interpret, enforce, and evolve the legal arsenal to combat cyber criminals. With cases daily piling up and stacking up the numbers, law firms become the frontline warriors to maintain the defender’s integrity. With the increasing complexity of cyber-attacks, law firms must also adopt strategies to counter such advanced threats. A strong collaboration between cybersecurity professionals and legal experts is paramount to devise robust defence mechanisms.
Conclusion
The everchanging and complex landscape of data protection and cybersecurity in the digital age demand the businesses and legal professionals to stay engaged, informed and evolve with the evolving technologies.
We are committed to provide comprehensive advice and guidance to our clients, to help them navigate through these complex issues with confidence. Our firm, Eos Chambers based out of New Delhi with over 3 decades of experience has a vast team of advocates and solicitors that have a proactive approach towards cases. Our firm has over won over 50 awards while serving over 5000 happy clients.
