India's first Cyber Crime Investigation Manual

Deloitte partners with Nasscom/Data Security Council of India (DSCI) to provide SOPs

Deloitte, along with Nasscom, and its technology security arm, the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) today released India’s First Cyber Crime Investigation Manual. The manual aims to bring a uniform and scientific approach in investigating these crimes and brining them to court of law. Based on best practices and the latest technologies for fighting Cyber Crime throughout the world, the manual was formally released by G K Pillai, Home Secretary, Government of India.

Any criminal activity that uses a computer either as an instrument, target, or a means for perpetuating further crimes comes within the ambit of cyber crime. Cyber threats are increasing for all levels of government and commerce. Criminals are engaging in espionage and even carrying out attacks on governments and critical infrastructures. There is increasing threat to online services.

“We conducted a detailed gap analysis of the pre-existing standards and systems used to fight Cyber Crime in India. As a result of the analysis, Deloitte was able to identify and incorporate best practices and technologies from around the world into the development of the Cyber Crime Investigation Manual”, said Avijit Gupta, Director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited (DTTIPL), who assisted in the development of this manual.

The manual covers a comprehensive list of Cyber Crime topics including procedures for pre-investigation, evidence collection, and handling evidence. It will be a valuable resource in any field investigation, because it provides clear guidance to investigating officers on the procedures to be followed at crime scenes where digital media is present.

With the emergence of the Cloud as the hot application development and deployment platform going forward, organizations are at significant risk. As organizations in India are in the process of developing comprehensive cyber risk management and governance framework, law enforcement agencies are also gearing up to address incidents of cyber crime effectively.

Sanjoy Sen, Senior Director, DTTIPL said, “Leveraging our indigenous strengths, capabilities and research knowledge to develop a comprehensive document like the cybercrime manual is the key to establish trust amongst the countrymen. Going forward there is need to build an ecosystem that is capable of understanding new age complexities and a mechanism that offers swift responses. ”