Karnataka Cabinet Approves Cybersecurity Policy

The Karnataka Cabinet has approved a cybersecurity policy to curb cybercrimes in the state and promote data privacy.

Generally, cybersecurity across the country falls under the National Cyber Security Policy, 2013, the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and the Information Technology Rules, 2011.

The newly-introduced rules are set to impact thousands of startups and other companies with headquarters in Karnataka. According to Inc42 statistics, Bengaluru is India’s largest tech startup hub, with 1.7K+ funded startups having set up shop there.

The Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil said, “The cabinet has approved Karnataka Cybersecurity Policy 2023-24. The main intention of this policy is to reduce the cyber crime rate in the state, which is increasing, and create awareness among people about cyber security and data privacy.”

Patil added the policy would mandate state government, local bodies and panchayats to implement awareness programmes regularly and conduct surveys about cybersecurity and data privacy. The minister added that new state government software, online banking and technical education and training programmes will also fall under the ambit of the new policy.

He added the policy will help detect and prevent cybercrimes and streamline the required measures. However, according to Patil, licensing for digital platforms will not come under the ambit of the new cybersecurity policy as of now.

The decision comes just a day after the Rajya Sabha passed the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, 2023.

The data protection bill, first introduced in 2019, has undergone several iterations and was once scrapped in August 2022. A draft of the DPDP Bill 2023 was first introduced in November 2022 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

In its current form, the Cabinet approved the bill this July before being swiftly passed by both houses of the parliament over two days earlier this week. However, it is unclear how Karnataka’s new policy will align with the new data protection bill, which is subject to Presidential approval before being signed into law.

While the Karnataka government has passed the cybersecurity bill, the central government is also reportedly working on the contours of a cybersecurity bill that may define various aspects of online safety and set objective parameters and rules spelling out what constitutes cyber fraud. The bill may act as a supplement or be a part of the larger digital India bill.

The legislation comes at a time when India is one of the worst-impacted countries in terms of cyberattacks. According to a government report from December 2022, the country had 13.91 Lakh cybersecurity incidents that year reported to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).