Post the demonetization, cyber crime to stay longer: Pawan Duggal

During the demonetization phase, a contradicting trend was witnessed - the digital crime rate went up significantly. Cyber criminals are having their feast even after the demonetization phase because the digital payment ecosystem continues to flourish. Experts from both the legal side and technical side who gathered to discuss the implications at a conference convened by Pavan Duggal, a senior cyber law expert and supreme court lawyer believe that cyber crime will continue to give nightmares to users of digital transactions.

"The huge problem we face today is that of the fact that cyber crime will persist and stay. Convictions in the cyber crime are not high. Till now India's conviction rate in the cyber crime space has not touched three digits. It is only in double digits. It is not an encouraging thing when it comes to bringing security to the money deposited in the banks,” said Pavan Duggal, cyber law expert.

During the demonetization phase, a lot of disruption took place as people were forced to abandon cash payments and rely on digital payments. Post demonetization, electronic transactions went as high as 75-80% on e-commerce portals. Online payments received a massive push as people were forced to complete daily payments through credit and debit cards, net-banking and mobile wallets. Digital wallets such as Paytm and Mobikwik registered high spike in their user base. This change in the payments parameter resulted in cyber attacks targeting banks and duping people on mobile wallets. “Volume of Cyber crime increased to 10,000 attacks per day. Hackers were exploiting the digital transactions," added Duggal.

He, however, lauded the government's step which has forced everyone to understand their digital capability. Speakers at the conference vouched for more changes at a rapid pace in the digital infrastructure which is secured and guarded and which is difficult to hack. RBI's step to direct banks to report cyber attacks immediately is an encouraging step.