DSCI to become operational by January

Hyderabad, Dec 4 (UNI) The Data Security Council of India (DSCI), the self-regulatory organisation, will be a full-fledged company on board by next month, to establish, popularise, monitor and enforce privacy and data protection standards for India's IT, ITES and BPO industry, its Chairman Shyamal Gosh said today.

A 21-member steering committee had been put in place, drawing experts from the Government, Scientists and the IT industry to guide the DSCI and project India as a secure and reliable technology partner, ensuring highest standard of information security in the outsourcing industry, he told reporters.

The DSCI, part of the four-E initiative (engage, educate, enact and enforce), would work closely with the industry to create a robust and secure information security culture, in association with other stakeholders, including the Government.

To start with, 'cyber labs' would be set up in Pune, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Bangalore by NASSCOM, which had already launched National Skills Registry (NSR) last year, to handle the problem of software piracy, NASSCOM President Kiran Karnik said.

The NSR with centralised database of all employees of IT services and BPO companies in the country had provided greater credibility to the IT industry.

Urging the Centre to provide a place for NASSCOM under the proposed amended IT Act, Mr Gosh said, ''we want to work closely with the Government for better handling of cyber crime by enforcement agencies.'' Opining that the proposed amendments to the Act required some 'fine tuning' in order to provide stringent punishment to perpetrators of cyber crime, the NASSCOM President said as many as 2,000 police personnel handling cyber crime had been provided training to deal with such crimes. He wanted creation of special fast track courts for speedy trial of cyber crimes.

UNI