Offensive And Defensive Cyber Security Capabilities Of India Must Be Established

Cyber security in India has always remained an ignored world whether it is Congress or BJP govt. Neither Congress nor BJP has the vision to ensure a safe and robust cyber security in India and till October 2022 the position of Indian cyber security is very bad.

In 2012, Visionary Praveen Dalal suggested many far reaching and reformative cyber security measures but both Congress and BJP failed to act upon them. One of the suggestions of Visionary Praveen Dalal in 2012 was that Offensive And Defensive Cyber Security Capabilities Of India must be developed as soon as possible. However, even in October 2022 that has remained a distant dream.

Even Cyber Warfare against India and its defenses have remained an illusive dream and till October 2022 India is a sitting duck in cyber security field. India has focused upon illegal and unconstitutional e-surveillance instead of strengthening of Rule of Law, Privacy, Civil Liberties in Cyberspace and cyber security. As a result, India is facing tremendous cyber attacks and cyber crimes in the year 2022.

In the year 2014, Visionary Praveen Dalal brought to the attention of Modi Govt the challenges of cyber security but it failed to act upon them even in October 2022. Now Indians are bearing the consequences of the same and cyber crimes, cyber frauds and digital payment related crimes have increased significantly in India. This all is well attitude of Indian govt is not good for the national interests of India and that is why we have ensured a robust and effective cyber crimes reporting system in India.

So bad is the situation that even cyber security breach reporting in India has failed to take off since 2014. Except chasing away cryptocurrencies and VPN service providers from India, this norm has not done anything. MSMEs and small companies in India openly declared that they would not comply with such rules and this forced the govt to further extend the deadline. So one can simply refuse to comply with cyber security related norms and Indian govt cannot do anything in this regard.

To develop robust Offensive and Defensive Cyber Security Capabilities of India, we need a 360 degree view of the cyber security landscape of India says Visionary Praveen Dalal. But what we have is lack of political will, unwillingness of stakeholders to ensure cyber security and lack of cyber law and cyber security skills in India. We at Perry4Law Organisation (P4LO) and PTLB have been working on all these aspects and techno legal online skills development from K12 to lifelong learning stages in one of our priority areas.

For instance, Streami Virtual School is the only school of the world that is teaching cyber law and cyber security to school students. Streami Virtual School is the first virtual school of India and first techno legal virtual school of the world. This is the approach that we need for India but political parties like Congress, BJP, AAP, etc are engaging in rhetoric and drama instead of actually working upon reforming education and ensuring skills development of Indians.

Till we have a capable govt and capable and skilled workforce, ensuring offensive and defensive cyber security capabilities of India is not possible. We at P4LO and PTLB have done our part and now those stakeholders who believe in same cause must do their part.

Cyber Crimes In India Have Increased Significantly But Indian Authorities Are Ill Prepared To Deal With It

This is part of cyber law tutorial of Streami Virtual School that is posted at the Cyber Law For Kids blog of Streami Virtual School and PTLB Virtual School. See the blog for more details. Also see the YouTube channel of Streami Virtual School named Cyber Law Skills Development By Streami School.

Cyber crimes in India are not new. Despite having cyber law of India in the form of Information Technology Act, 2000, there is little help for Indians who have become victims of various cyber crimes.

Firstly, we have a very weak and ineffective cyber law of India that needed overhaul even in 2008. We at Perry4Law Organisation (P4LO) and PTLB have repeatedly recommended enactment of a better and strong law for more than a decade but successive govts have failed to take any action in this regard.

Secondly, law enforcement agencies of India are not at all prepared to handle cyber crimes. Although we have cyber crimes cells in India, but they are totally useless. We undertook an exercise to check their readiness and capabilities, and no cyber crime cell of India was found even responsive. So cyber crime victims are on their own in India.

There is no mechanism to report cyber crimes in India as any matter that is reported at any govt portal is just a formality. No agency or govt office take any action on such complaints unless you have links and resources to pursue the same.

The cyber crime reporting portal of Indian govt is equally useless as it allows only selective filing of complaints that too without any feedback and action. All projects and initiatives of Indian govt are one way street only.

But online dispute resolution (ODR) portal of Perry4Law Organisation is resolving various cyber contraventions within 3 months of initial complaint. And ODR India Portal covers all areas unlike govt portal that only allows selective complaints.

Students of Streami Virtual School are also taught about the ODR process so that they can act as ODR experts in future and help Indians to resolve their cyber issues.

Streami Virtual School Is The Exclusive School Of The World That Is Teaching Cyber Law To School Students

Streami Virtual School is not only the first virtual school of India but it is also the first virtual school of the world that is teaching cyber law to school students. Streami is developing techno legal skills of school students and cyber law is one of the subjects that is taught there.

The first cyber law course for school students was created by Streami Virtual School in the year 2019 and since then we are continuously updating and upgrading the same. We are in the process of upgrading and rejuvenating the websites of PTLB Virtual School and Streami Virtual School and they would be launched at appropriate time.

Keeping in mind the age and orientation for school students, we have kept our skills development course of cyber law easy to understand and implement. We are teaching school kids how to fight back online criminals and predators and how to report them to appropriate authorities for necessary action.

We are also teaching them how to manage online harassment and cyber bullying at school and other places. These acts result in serious repercussions upon the mental and physical health of children and we are helping them to handle the same in a healthy and legal manner.

We have seen positive results among children who have undergone this cyber law skills development course and they have become more mature and are now capable of better handling the dangers of online presence. We hope to do the same for other children too and very soon we would be doing so at global level.

First Virtual School Of India: Streami School

PTLB has been managing online education in India from K12 to lifelong learning since 2007. It launched many education and skills development initiatives from time to time since 2007. From virtual schools to to virtual campuses, PTLB launched many world class online learning and skills development portals.

PTLB Schools launched the PTLB Virtual School and Streami Virtual School in the year 2019. Streami Virtual School was specifically designed to develop contemporary and futuristic techno legal skills among children. These include fields like cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, e-discovery, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, quantum computing, coding, etc.

That made Streami Virtual School the first Virtual school of India and the first Virtual School of the world that is imparting online techno legal skills development to global children. Recognition of Streami Virtual School is pending at the central govt (BJP) and Delhi govt (AAP) levels since March 2021.

The Virtual School models of PTLB became so popular that both BJP and AAP copied the same and used them to open their own virtual schools in August 2021 and August 2022 respectively.

We are currently in the process of upgrading the websites of PTLB Virtual Schools and Streami Virtual School and would activate the same once they are ready. However, considering the fact that central and state govt(s) are very quick to copy and use our models and ideas and label them as their own, we have to be very cautious. Till all things are sorted out, it would be prudent to not discuss and disclose anything to parties like BJP and AAP.

BJP And AAP Copied Virtual School Model Of Visionary Praveen Dalal

It is very common among govts to lack innovative ideas and their actual implementation. Private players and research organisations come to the rescue of govts around the world and Perry4Law Organisation (P4LO) and PTLB have been helping successive Indians govts since 2002, directly and indirectly.

PTLB has been developing skills and imparting online training in India since 2007 and PTLB Schools is a crucial project of PTLB for K12 segment. PTLB Schools launched a Virtual School in 2019/20 and along side the same it launched a dedicated Virtual School for extensive skills development of Indian school students. It was named as STREAMI Virtual School and it applied for recognition from both central govt (BJP) and Delhi govt (AAP) in March 2021. However, neither BJP nor AAP was capable of handling such recognition request and they are still processing the same at the time of writing of this article.

But the Virtual Schools of PTLB Schools and Streami School inspired both BJP and AAP to launch a much diluted version of Streami Virtual School. BJP launched the same in August 2021 and AAP launched it in August 2022, much after Virtual Schools of PTLB Schools and Streami School were launched.

A dedicated website of Streami Virtual School was launched on 08-03-2021 and a new website is in pipeline with latest additions and features. But a Blog has been launched to spread awareness about Streami Virtual School till the time the official website is relaunched in a rejuvenated form.

Although PTLB Schools launched a Virtual School in 2019/20 yet Streami Virtual School was launched with a dedicated website and in a much organised manner in March 2021. Streami Virtual School was in existence before that but not at its own dedicated website that only took place in March 2021. Streami Virtual School had its own e-learning and online learning portal since 2019 and was managed by PTLB.

So Streami Virtual School is not only the first official Virtual School of India but also the first ever techno legal Virtual School of the world. We at PTLB are happy to shape Indian education system and more innovative solutions would be offered by us very soon.

We are inviting very selective global investors to invest in Streami Virtual School on an unconditional, pre-approved and non-stake basis with a preferential right to invest in the same in future. Let us together develop this revolutionary and historic education for all initiative of PTLB Schools.