#FactCheck - Claim That Palki Sharma’s Viral Video Questions Jordan’s Protocol Is False; Video Is AI-Manipulated

Introduction

The Data Security Council of India’s India Cyber Threat Report 2025 calculates that a staggering 702 potential attacks happened per minute on average in the country in 2024.  Recent alleged data breaches on organisations such as Star Health, WazirX, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), BSNL, etc. highlight the vulnerabilities of government organisations, critical industries, businesses, and individuals in managing their digital assets. India is the second most targeted country for cyber attacks globally, which warrants the development and adoption of cybersecurity governance frameworks essential for the structured management of cyber environments. The following global models offer valuable insights and lessons that can help strengthen cybersecurity governance.

Overview of Global Cybersecurity Governance Models 

Cybersecurity governance frameworks provide a structured strategy to mitigate and address cyber threats. Different regions have developed their own governance models for cybersecurity, but they all emphasize risk management, compliance, and cross-sector collaboration for the protection of digital assets. Four such major models are: 

1. NIST CSF 2.0 (U.S.A): The National Institute of Standards and Technology Cyber Security Framework provides a flexible, voluntary, risk-based approach rather than a one-size-fits-all solution to manage cybersecurity risks. It endorses six core functions, which are:  Govern, Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. This is a widely adopted framework used by both public and private sector organizations even outside the U.S.A. 
2. ISO/IEC 27001: This is a globally recognized standard developed jointly by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). It provides a risk-based approach to help organizations of all sizes and types to identify, assess, and mitigate potential cybersecurity threats to Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) and preserve the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.  Organizations can seek ISO 27001 certification to demonstrate compliance with laws and regulations.
3. EU NIS2 Directive: The Network and Information Security Directive 2 (NIS2) is an updated EU cybersecurity law that imposes strict obligations on critical services providers in four overarching areas: risk management, corporate accountability, reporting obligations, and business continuity. It is the most comprehensive cybersecurity directive in the EU to date, and non-compliance may attract non-monetary remedies, administrative fines up to at least €10 million or 2% of the global annual revenue (whichever is higher), or even criminal sanctions for top managers. 
4. GDPR: The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)of the EU is a comprehensive data privacy law that also has major cybersecurity implications. It mandates that organizations must integrate cybersecurity into their data protection policies and report breaches within 72 hours, and it prescribes a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover for non-compliance. 

India’s Cybersecurity Governance Landscape 

In light of the growing nature of cyber threats, it is notable that the Indian government has taken comprehensive measures along with efforts by relevant agencies such as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Payments Corporation (NPCI) and Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), CERT-In. However, there is still a lack of an overarching cybersecurity governance framework or comprehensive law in this area. Multiple regulatory bodies in India oversee cybersecurity for various sectors. Key mechanisms are: 

1. CERT-In Guidelines: The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is the nodal agency responsible for cybersecurity incident response, threat intelligence sharing, and capacity building. Organizations are mandated to maintain logs for 180 days and report cyber incidents to CERT-In within six hours of noticing them according to directions under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act).
2. IT Act & DPDP Act: These Acts, along with their associated rules, lay down the legal framework for the protection of ICT systems in India.  While some sections mandate that “reasonable” cybersecurity standards be followed, specifics are left to the discretion of the organisations. Enforcement frameworks are vague, which leaves sectoral regulators to fill the gaps. 
3. Sectoral regulations: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the Department of Telecommunications, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) and other regulatory bodies require that cybersecurity standards be maintained by their regulated entities. 

Lessons for India & Way Forward 

As the world faces unprecedented security and privacy threats to its digital ecosystem, the need for more comprehensive cybersecurity policies, awareness, and capacity building has perhaps never been greater. While cybersecurity practices may vary with the size, nature, and complexity of an organization (hence “reasonableness” informing measures taken), there is a need for a centralized governance framework in India similar to NIST2 to unify sectoral requirements for simplified compliance and improve enforcement. India ranks 10th on the World Cybercrime Index and was found to be "specialising" in scams and mid-tech crimes- those which affect mid-range businesses and individuals the most. To protect them, India needs to strengthen its enforcement mechanisms across more than just the critical sectors. This can be explored by penalizing bigger organizations handling user data susceptible to breaches more stringently, creating an enabling environment for strong cybersecurity practices through incentives for MSMEs, and investing in cybersecurity workforce training and capacity building. Finally,  there is a scope for increased public-private collaboration for real-time cyber intelligence sharing.  Thus, a unified, risk-based national cybersecurity governance framework encompassing the current multi-pronged cybersecurity landscape would give direction to siloed efforts. It would help standardize best practices, streamline compliance, and strengthen overall cybersecurity resilience across all sectors in India.
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References

• https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/635e632477408d12d1811a64/676e56ee4cc30a320aecf231_Cloudsek%20Annual%20Threat%20Landscape%20Report%202024%20(1).pdf 
• https://strobes.co/blog/top-data-breaches-in-2024-month-wise/#:~:text=In%20a%20large%2Dscale%20data,emails%2C%20and%20even%20identity%20theft. 
• https://www.google.com/search?q=nist+2.0&oq=nist+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggBEEUYOzIHCAAQABiPAjIGCAEQRRg7MgYIAhBFGDsyCggDEAAYsQMYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyBwgFEAAYgAQyBwgGEAAYgAQyBggHEEUYPNIBCDE2MTJqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 
• https://www.iso.org/standard/27001
• https://nis2directive.eu/nis2-requirements/ 
• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/india-ranks-number-10-in-cybercrime-study-finds/articleshow/109223208.cms?from=mdr 

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Introduction

The information of hundreds of thousands of Indians who received the COVID vaccine was Leaked in a significant data breach and posted on a Telegram channel. Numerous reports claim that sensitive information, including a person’s phone number, gender, ID card details, and date of birth, leaked over Telegram. It could be obtained by typing a person’s name into a Telegram bot.

What really happened?

The records pertaining to the mobile number registered in the CoWin portal are accessible on the Malayalam news website channel. It is also feasible to determine which vaccination was given and where it was given.

According to The Report, the list of individuals whose data was exposed includes BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, and former BJP union minister for health Harsh Vardhan. Telangana’s minister of information and communication technology, Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao, is also on the list.

MEITY stated in response to the data leak, “It is old data, we are still confirming it. We have requested a report on the matter.

After the media Report, the bot was disabled, but experts said the incident raised severe issues because the information might be used for identity theft, phishing emails, con games, and extortion calls. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the government’s nodal body, has opened an investigation into the situation

The central government declared the data breach reports regarding the repository of beneficiaries against Covid to be “mischievous in nature” on Monday and claimed the ‘bot’ that purportedly accessed the confidential data was not directly accessing the CoWIN database.

According to the first complaint by CERT-In, the government’s cybersecurity division, the government claimed the bot might be displaying information from “previously stolen data.” Reports.

The health ministry refuted the claim, asserting that no bots could access the information without first verifying with a one-time password.

“It is made clear that all of these rumours are false and malicious. The health ministry’s CoWIN interface is entirely secure and has sufficient data privacy protections. The security of the data on the CoWIN portal is being ensured in every way possible, according to a statement from the health ministry.

Meity said the CoWin program or database was not directly compromised, and the shared information appeared to be taken from a previous intrusion. But the hack again highlights the growing danger of cyber assaults, particularly on official websites.‍

Recent cases of data leak

Dominos India 2021– Dominos India, a division of Jubilant FoodWorks, faced a cyberattack on May 22, 2021, which led to the disclosure of information from 180 million orders. The breach exposed order information, email addresses, phone numbers, and credit card information. Although Jubilant FoodWorks acknowledged a security breach, it refuted any illegal access to financial data.

Air India – A cyberattack that affected Air India in May 2021 exposed the personal information of about 4.5 million customers globally. Personal information recorded between August 26, 2011, and February 3, 2021, including names, dates of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket details, frequent flyer information from Star Alliance and Air India, and credit card information, were exposed in the breach.

Bigbasket – BigBasket, an online supermarket, had a data breach in November 2020, compromising the personal information of approximately 20 million consumers. Email IDs, password hashes, PINs, phone numbers, addresses, dates of birth, localities, and IP addresses were among the information released from an insecure database containing over 15 GB of customer data. BigBasket admitted to the incident and reported it to the Bengaluru Cyber Crime Department.

Unacademy – Unacademy, an online learning platform, experienced a data breach in May 2020, compromising the email addresses of approximately 11 million subscribers. While no sensitive information, such as financial data or passwords, was compromised, user data, including IDs, passwords, date joined, last login date, email IDs, names, and user credentials, was. The breach was detected when user accounts were uncovered for sale on the dark web.

2022 Card Data- Cybersecurity researchers from AI-driven Singapore-based CloudSEK found a threat actor offering a database of 1.2 million cards for free on a Dark Web forum for crimes on October 12, 2022. This came after a second problem involving 7.9 million cardholder records that were reported on the BidenCash website. This comprised information pertaining to State Bank of India (SBI) clients. And other well-known companies were among those targeted in high-profile data breach cases that have surfaced in recent years.

Conclusion

Data breach cases are increasing daily, and attackers are mainly attacking the healthcare sectors and health details as they can easily find personal details. This recent CoWIN case has compromised thousands of people’s data. The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences’ systems were compromised by hackers a few months ago. Over 95% of adults have had their vaccinations, according to the most recent data, even if the precise number of persons impacted by the CoWin privacy breach could not be determined.

Introduction:

CDR is a term that refers to Call detail records, The Telecom Industries holds the call details data of the users. As it amounts to a large amount of data, the telecom companies retain the data for a period of 6 months. CDR plays a significant role in investigations and cases in the courts. It can be used as pivotal evidence in court proceedings to prove or disprove certain facts & circumstances. Power of Interception of Call detail records is allowed for reasonable grounds and only by the authorized authority as per the laws. 

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Admissibility of CDR’s in Courts:

Call Details Records (CDRs) can be used as effective pieces of evidence to assist the court in ascertaining the facts of the particular case and inquiring about the commission of an offence, and according to the judicial pronouncements, it is made clear that CDRs can be used supporting or secondary evidence in the court. However, it cannot be the sole basis of the conviction. Section 92 of the Criminal Procedure Code 1973 provides procedure and empowers certain authorities to apply for court or competent authority intervention to seek the CDR. 

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Legal provisions to obtain CDR:

The CDR can be obtained under the statutory provisions of law contained in section 92 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. Or under section 5(2) of Indian Telegraph Act 1885, read with rule 419(A) Indian Telegraph Amendment rule 2007. The guidelines were also issued in 2016 by Ministry of Ministry of Home Affairs for seeking Call details records (CDRs)

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How long is CDR stored with telecom Companies (Data Retention)

Call Data is retained by telecom companies for a period of 6 months. As the data amounts to high storage, almost several Petabytes per year, telecom companies store the call details data for a period of 6 months and archive the rest of it to tapes. 

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New Delhi 25Cr jewellery heist 

Recently, an incident took place where a 25-crore jewellery theft was carried out in a jewellery shop in Delhi, It was planned and executed by a man from Chhattisgarh. After committing the crime, the criminal went back to Chhattisgarh. It was a case of a 25Cr heist, and the police started their search & investigation. Police used technology and analysed the mobile numbers which were active at the crime scene. Delhi police used advanced software to analyse data. The police were able to trace the mobile number of thieves or suspects active at the crime scene. They discovered suspected contacts who were active within the range of the crime scene, and it helped in the arrest of the main suspects.  From around 5,000 mobile numbers active around the crime scene, police have used advanced software that analyses huge data, and then police found a number registered outside of Delhi.  The surveillance on the number has revealed that the suspected criminal has moved to the MP from Delhi, then moved further to Bhilai Chattisgarh. Police have successfully arrested the suspected criminal. This incident highlights how technology or call data can assist law enforcement agencies in investigating and finding the real culprits.

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Conclusion: 

CDR refers to call detail records retained by telecom companies for a period of 6 months, it can be obtained through lawful procedure and by competent authorities only. CDR can be helpful in cases before the court or law enforcement agencies, to assist the court and law enforcement agencies in ascertaining the facts of the case or to prove or disprove certain things. It is important to reiterated that unauthorized seeking of CDR is not allowed; the intervention of the court or competent authority is required to seek the CDR from the telecom companies. CDRs cannot be unauthorizedly obtained, and there has to be a directive from the court or competent authority to do so.

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References:

• https://indianlegalsystem.org/cdr-the-wonder-word/#:~:text=CDR%20is%20admissible%20as%20secondary,the%20Indian%20Evidence%20Act%2C%201872.
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/needle-in-a-haystack-how-cops-scanned-5k-mobile-numbers-to-crack-rs-25cr-heist/articleshow/104055687.cms?from=mdr
• https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/just-one-man-planned-executed-rs-25-crore-delhi-heist-another-thief-did-him-in-4436494

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