Shri K. M. Chandrasekhar, Cabinet Secretary to the Govt. Of India
Shri Jainder Singh, Secretary, Deptt. of Information Technology
Dr. Gulshan Rai, Director, CERT-In
Mr. Alexander Segar, Head of Economic Crime Division, Council of Europe

Distinguished experts and delegates
Representatives of the IT Industry
Our friends from Media
Distinguished guests
Ladies & Gentlemen.

         2. It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you to this one day conference on International Police Cooperation against Cyber Crime.

         3. Ladies & Gentlemen, we are honored to have in our midst Shri K.M. Chandrasekhar, IAS, Cabinet Secretary to the Govt. of India. Shri Chandrasekhar is a 1970 Batch, IAS Officer. He has held important posts in the State of Kerala and Govt. of India including that of Revenue Secretary, GOI; Ambassador and permanent Representative of India to the World Trade Organization in Geneva; Chairman Spices Board of India; Joint Secretary, M/o Commerce. During his tenure as Revenue Secretary, he had introduced systemic changes in Revenue Administration, Procedure and Policy. This resulted in consistent high performance in Revenue collection. As Indian Ambassador to World Trade Organization he was involved in the setting up of G20 Group of Developing countries, which has played an important role in the subsequent negotiations. Shri Chandrasekhar has published many papers on number of subjects including multi lateral trade issues, travel, history etc.

          4. Cyber Space is one of the technological and legal frontiers of our time. Internet has revolutionized almost every aspect of human life. From the very small and innocuous things like sending or receiving emails to social networking to billion of dollars worth of e-commerce to cyber crime and to cyber terrorism, it has touched every sphere of human endeavor.

          5. However, with this exponential growth in technology and services, bad actors are exploiting weaknesses in this system for their own selfish interests. They are using it as a tool for committing traditional crime of fraud, forgery, manipulation of data, copyright infringement, dissemination of pornography, child pornography and new generation crimes as hacking, distribution of viruses, Denial of Service Attacks using Botnets and attacking critical infrastructure of nations etc. Internet offers individuals and criminal networks unparalleled opportunity of anonymity, geographical reach and mobility.

          6. Recent terrorist attacks at Mumbai in November 2008 and previous such instances are proof as to how technology has been misused by the terrorists to commit crime and attack the sovereignty of the nation. VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) which was till now used free communication by people has been used by terrorists to bypass governmental regulatory controls.

          7. Cyber crimes are probably the most transnational of all crimes and thus pose multifold challenges to law enforcement. Limitations of territorial sovereignty and jurisdictional issue make it an easy and safe-crime. Lack of adequate training of Law Enforcement Officers, Prosecutors and Judiciary is also an impediment in the investigation of Cyber crimes.

          8. Reliable statistics about the scale of cyber crime are difficult to come by. There are a number of factors contributing to the absence of data, like lack of reporting by individuals, no reporting by big commercial organizations due to adverse publicity and to protect their reputation and share prices. Sometimes people either due to lack of awareness or lack of faith in the Law Enforcement Agencies, abstain from reporting the cyber crime. Another factor that leads to unreliable statistics is its transnational nature and the associated jurisdictional problems that contribute to the complexity of investigation and hence non registration of the crime by the Police Forces. CBI and a number of the States in India have set up Cyber Crime Investigation Cells. But a lot has to be done to make people report cyber crimes and even more to solve them. I can say, as a policeman, there can be no bigger worry than people not reporting a crime due to lack of faith in Law enforcement agency’s capabilities. We are determined not to let this happen and make people repose their faith in our abilities.

         9. Cyber crime cannot be tackled effectively without effective International Cooperation between Law Enforcement Agencies and Private Sector Entities such as Internet Service Providers. Obtaining such assistance in a timely and efficient manner is often critical for the success of cyber crime investigation. Another aspect of International cooperation is in the area of capacity building and removing legal disparities.

         10. I conclude with the words that cyberspace is an ultimate transnational communications network which offers unparalleled capability to access data and computer systems on a global level. However, it also provides vulnerability for the country and individual on economic front, personal privacy, political dissent and cyber terrorism. It has become a critical infrastructure with limited government control. Hence wider awareness about Cyber Crimes, enforcement of legal rules and greater cooperation is the need of the hour. Public perception about cyber crime revolves around hacking, phishing etc. Private entities like Internet Service Providers are interested in their business so and Government’s interest is primarily in making and enforcing laws and procedures to streamline investigation and pursuing cyber criminals. The interests of different sections need to be kept in mind and a mutually conducive and best possible system needs to be evolved.

         11. Once again I welcome Shri K. M. Chandrasekhar and thank him for having spared his valuable time. I welcome you all to this conference and hope that it will be an enlightening and thought provoking experience for you.


Thanking you,