India has proposed using a round-the-clock global communication channel between countries to combat rising instances of phishing by “rendering phishing links inaccessible and identifying the abused information technology (IT) resources and the malicious actors”.
The proposal is part of India’s submission to a draft treaty on prevention of cybercrime, which is being deliberated upon by an ad-hoc committee of the United Nations (UN).
ET has seen a copy of India’s proposal, which was presented in the January 29-February 9 meeting of the ad-hoc UN committee.
The committee has been formed to discuss an international convention to prevent cybercrime in all forms.
In its proposal, India has said that phishing “stands out as the predominant cybercrime globally”, and that the current practices in dealing with this cybercrime are “inadequate”.
The 24×7 network could be used to promptly inform other nations about identified web links, uniform resource locators (URLs) and websites which send out phishing links, India has said.
“The requested state, upon verification, can take appropriate action in accordance with domestic law, contributing to building resilience against such abuses,” India has proposed.
Phishing is using a malicious email or text prompt to trick users into giving up sensitive data, such as passwords and bank account numbers, by posing as a legitimate business or misrepresenting a person.
Article 41 of the draft treaty on cybercrime proposes that all member countries designate a point of contact in their jurisdiction which shall be available “24 hours a day, 7 days a week” to provide immediate assistance to other countries in matters of specific criminal investigations, prosecutions or any judicial proceedings under cybercrimes such as the use of phishing links to cheat or impersonate others.
Such a proposal may, however, open Indian IT and cybercrime prevention and service-oriented companies to requests for data sharing from other countries, including states in the neighbouring region such as Pakistan and China, Raman Jit Singh Chima, global cybersecurity lead at digital policy think-tank Access Now, said.
“India will, therefore, be in a complicated situation where such a broad treaty may bring in over-broad requests that require more deliberation and discussion with domestic stakeholders,” Chima said.
ET had reported last year that in the April 2023 meeting of the ad-hoc committee, India had proposed that all signatory members allow other countries to request phone number, email, and subscriber information, as well as traffic data of their residents necessary in some specific cybercrime investigations and proceedings.
The ad-hoc UN committee has also proposed that all member nations introduce and adopt legislative and other measures which allow the preservation of “electronic data including traffic data, content data and subscriber information” for a period of up to 90 days. Such data, the draft treaty has proposed, should be preserved by the member states, irrespective of the number of service providers involved in the transmission of the content in question.
All signatories to the treaty will also be required to make legislative changes to their domestic regulations “empower its competent authorities to seize or similarly secure electronic data in its territory”.
