The Legal Risk of User-Generated Misinformation: A Focus on Platform Accountability

Overview:

The rapid digitization of educational institutions in India has created both opportunities and challenges. While technology has improved access to education and administrative efficiency, it has also exposed institutions to significant cyber threats. This report, published by CyberPeace, examines the types, causes, impacts, and preventive measures related to cyber risks in Indian educational institutions. It highlights global best practices, national strategies, and actionable recommendations to mitigate these threats.

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Significance of the Study:

The pandemic-induced shift to online learning, combined with limited cybersecurity budgets, has made educational institutions prime targets for cyberattacks. These threats compromise sensitive student, faculty, and institutional data, leading to operational disruptions, financial losses, and reputational damage. Globally, educational institutions face similar challenges, emphasizing the need for universal and localized responses.

Threat Faced by Education Institutions:

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Based on the insights from the CyberPeace’s report titled 'Exploring Cyber Threats and Digital Risks in Indian Educational Institutions', this concise blog provides a comprehensive overview of cybersecurity threats and risks faced by educational institutions, along with essential details to address these challenges.

🎣 Phishing: Phishing is a social engineering tactic where cyber criminals impersonate trusted sources to steal sensitive information, such as login credentials and financial details. It often involves deceptive emails or messages that lead to counterfeit websites, pressuring victims to provide information quickly. Variants include spear phishing, smishing, and vishing.

💰 Ransomware: Ransomware is malware that locks users out of their systems or data until a ransom is paid. It spreads through phishing emails, malvertising, and exploiting vulnerabilities, causing downtime, data leaks, and theft. Ransom demands can range from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

🌐 Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS): DDoS attacks overwhelm servers, denying users access to websites and disrupting daily operations, which can hinder students and teachers from accessing learning resources or submitting assignments. These attacks are relatively easy to execute, especially against poorly protected networks, and can be carried out by amateur cybercriminals, including students or staff, seeking to cause disruptions for various reasons

🕵️ Cyber Espionage: Higher education institutions, particularly research-focused universities, are vulnerable to spyware, insider threats, and cyber espionage. Spyware is unauthorized software that collects sensitive information or damages devices. Insider threats arise from negligent or malicious individuals, such as staff or vendors, who misuse their access to steal intellectual property or cause data leaks..

🔒 Data Theft: Data theft is a major threat to educational institutions, which store valuable personal and research information. Cybercriminals may sell this data or use it for extortion, while stealing university research can provide unfair competitive advantages. These attacks can go undetected for long periods, as seen in the University of California, Berkeley breach, where hackers allegedly stole 160,000 medical records over several months.

🛠️ SQL Injection: SQL injection (SQLI) is an attack that uses malicious code to manipulate backend databases, granting unauthorized access to sensitive information like customer details. Successful SQLI attacks can result in data deletion, unauthorized viewing of user lists, or administrative access to the database.

🔍Eavesdropping attack: An eavesdropping breach, or sniffing, is a network attack where cybercriminals steal information from unsecured transmissions between devices. These attacks are hard to detect since they don't cause abnormal data activity. Attackers often use network monitors, like sniffers, to intercept data during transmission.

🤖 AI-Powered Attacks: AI enhances cyber attacks like identity theft, password cracking, and denial-of-service attacks, making them more powerful, efficient, and automated. It can be used to inflict harm, steal information, cause emotional distress, disrupt organizations, and even threaten national security by shutting down services or cutting power to entire regions

Insights from Project eKawach

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The CyberPeace Research Wing, in collaboration with SAKEC CyberPeace Center of Excellence (CCoE) and Autobot Infosec Private Limited, conducted a study simulating educational institutions' networks to gather intelligence on cyber threats. As part of the e-Kawach project, a nationwide initiative to strengthen cybersecurity, threat intelligence sensors were deployed to monitor internet traffic and analyze real-time cyber attacks from July 2023 to April 2024, revealing critical insights into the evolving cyber threat landscape.

Cyber Attack  Trends

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Between July 2023 and April 2024, the e-Kawach network recorded 217,886 cyberattacks from IP addresses worldwide, with a significant portion originating from countries including the United States, China, Germany, South Korea, Brazil, Netherlands, Russia, France, Vietnam, India, Singapore, and Hong Kong. However, attributing these attacks to specific nations or actors is complex, as threat actors often use techniques like exploiting resources from other countries, or employing VPNs and proxies to obscure their true locations, making it difficult to pinpoint the real origin of the attacks.

Brute Force Attack:

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The analysis uncovered an extensive use of automated tools in brute force attacks, with 8,337 unique usernames and 54,784 unique passwords identified. Among these, the most frequently targeted username was “root,” which accounted for over 200,000 attempts. Other commonly targeted usernames included: "admin", "test", "user", "oracle", "ubuntu", "guest", "ftpuser", "pi", "support"

Similarly, the study identified several weak passwords commonly targeted by attackers. “123456” was attempted over 3,500 times, followed by “password” with over 2,500 attempts. Other frequently targeted passwords included: "1234", "12345", "12345678", "admin", "123", "root", "test", "raspberry", "admin123", "123456789"

Insights from Threat Landscape Analysis

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Research done by the USI - CyberPeace Centre of Excellence (CCoE) and Resecurity has uncovered several breached databases belonging to public, private, and government universities in India, highlighting significant cybersecurity threats in the education sector. The research aims to identify and mitigate cybersecurity risks without harming individuals or assigning blame, based on data available at the time, which may evolve with new information. Institutions were assigned risk ratings that descend from A to F, with most falling under a D rating, indicating numerous security vulnerabilities. Institutions rated D or F are 5.4 times more likely to experience data breaches compared to those rated A or B. Immediate action is recommended to address the identified risks.

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Risk Findings :

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The risk findings for the institutions are summarized through a pie chart, highlighting factors such as data breaches, dark web activity, botnet activity, and phishing/domain squatting. Data breaches and botnet activity are significantly higher compared to dark web leakages and phishing/domain squatting. The findings show 393,518 instances of data breaches, 339,442 instances of botnet activity, 7,926 instances related to the dark web and phishing & domain activity - 6711.

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Key Indicators:  Multiple instances of data breaches containing credentials (email/passwords) in plain text.

• Botnet activity indicating network hosts compromised by malware.

• Credentials from third-party government and non-governmental websites linked to official institutional emails

• Details of software applications, drivers installed on compromised hosts.

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• Sensitive cookie data exfiltrated from various browsers.

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• IP addresses of compromised systems.
• Login credentials for different Android applications.

Below is the sample detail of one of the top educational institutions that provides the insights about the higher rate of data breaches, botnet activity, dark web activities and phishing & domain squatting. 

Risk Detection: 

It indicates the number of data breaches, network hygiene, dark web activities, botnet activities, cloud security, phishing & domain squatting, media monitoring and miscellaneous risks. In the below example, we are able to see the highest number of data breaches and botnet activities in the sample particular domain.

Risk Changes:

Risk by Categories:

Risk is categorized with factors such as high, medium and low, the risk is at high level for data breaches and botnet activities.

Challenges Faced by Educational Institutions

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Educational institutions face cyberattack risks, the challenges leading to cyberattack incidents in educational institutions are as follows:

🔒 Lack of a Security Framework: A key challenge in cybersecurity for educational institutions is the lack of a dedicated framework for higher education. Existing frameworks like ISO 27001, NIST, COBIT, and ITIL are designed for commercial organizations and are often difficult and costly to implement. Consequently, many educational institutions in India do not have a clearly defined cybersecurity framework.

🔑 Diverse User Accounts: Educational institutions manage numerous accounts for staff, students, alumni, and third-party contractors, with high user turnover. The continuous influx of new users makes maintaining account security a challenge, requiring effective systems and comprehensive security training for all users.

📚 Limited Awareness: Cybersecurity awareness among students, parents, teachers, and staff in educational institutions is limited due to the recent and rapid integration of technology. The surge in tech use, accelerated by the pandemic, has outpaced stakeholders' ability to address cybersecurity issues, leaving them unprepared to manage or train others on these challenges.

📱 Increased Use of Personal/Shared Devices: The growing reliance on unvetted personal/Shared devices for academic and administrative activities amplifies security risks.

💬 Lack of Incident Reporting: Educational institutions often neglect reporting cyber incidents, increasing vulnerability to future attacks. It is essential to report all cases, from minor to severe, to strengthen cybersecurity and institutional resilience.

Impact of Cybersecurity Attacks on Educational Institutions

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Cybersecurity attacks on educational institutions lead to learning disruptions, financial losses, and data breaches. They also harm the institution's reputation and pose security risks to students. The following are the impacts of cybersecurity attacks on educational institutions:

📚Impact on the Learning Process: A report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that cyberattacks on school districts resulted in learning losses ranging from three days to three weeks, with recovery times taking between two to nine months.

💸Financial Loss: US schools reported financial losses ranging from $50,000 to $1 million due to expenses like hardware replacement and cybersecurity upgrades, with recovery taking an average of 2 to 9 months.

🔒Data Security Breaches: Cyberattacks exposed sensitive data, including grades, social security numbers, and bullying reports. Accidental breaches were often caused by staff, accounting for 21 out of 25 cases, while intentional breaches by students, comprising 27 out of 52 cases, frequently involved tampering with grades.

⚠️Data Security Breach: Cyberattacks on schools result in breaches of personal information, including grades and social security numbers, causing emotional, physical, and financial harm. These breaches can be intentional or accidental, with a US study showing staff responsible for most accidental breaches (21 out of 25) and students primarily behind intentional breaches (27 out of 52) to change grades.

🏫Impact on Institutional Reputation: Cyberattacks damaged the reputation of educational institutions, eroding trust among students, staff, and families. Negative media coverage and scrutiny impacted staff retention, student admissions, and overall credibility.

🛡️ Impact on Student Safety: ‍‍Cyberattacks compromised student safety and privacy. For example, breaches like live-streaming school CCTV footage caused severe distress, negatively impacting students' sense of security and mental well-being.

CyberPeace Advisory:

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CyberPeace emphasizes the importance of vigilance and proactive measures to address cybersecurity risks:

1. Develop effective incident response plans: Establish a clear and structured plan to quickly identify, respond to, and recover from cyber threats. Ensure that staff are well-trained and know their roles during an attack to minimize disruption and prevent further damage.
   
   
2. Implement access controls with role-based permissions: Restrict access to sensitive information based on individual roles within the institution. This ensures that only authorized personnel can access certain data, reducing the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches.
   
   
3. Regularly update software and conduct cybersecurity training: Keep all software and systems up-to-date with the latest security patches to close vulnerabilities. Provide ongoing cybersecurity awareness training for students and staff to equip them with the knowledge to prevent attacks, such as phishing.
   
   
4. Ensure regular and secure backups of critical data: Perform regular backups of essential data and store them securely in case of cyber incidents like ransomware. This ensures that, if data is compromised, it can be restored quickly, minimizing downtime.
   
   
5. Adopt multi-factor authentication (MFA): Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication(MFA) for accessing sensitive systems or information to strengthen security. MFA adds an extra layer of protection by requiring users to verify their identity through more than one method, such as a password and a one-time code.
   
   
6. Deploy anti-malware tools: Use advanced anti-malware software to detect, block, and remove malicious programs. This helps protect institutional systems from viruses, ransomware, and other forms of malware that can compromise data security.
   
   
7. Monitor networks using intrusion detection systems (IDS): Implement IDS to monitor network traffic and detect suspicious activity. By identifying threats in real time, institutions can respond quickly to prevent breaches and minimize potential damage.
   
   
8. Conduct penetration testing: Regularly conduct penetration testing to simulate cyberattacks and assess the security of institutional networks. This proactive approach helps identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by actual attackers.
   
   
9. Collaborate with cybersecurity firms: Partner with cybersecurity experts to benefit from specialized knowledge and advanced security solutions. Collaboration provides access to the latest technologies, threat intelligence, and best practices to enhance the institution's overall cybersecurity posture.
   
   
10. Share best practices across institutions: Create forums for collaboration among educational institutions to exchange knowledge and strategies for cybersecurity. Sharing successful practices helps build a collective defense against common threats and improves security across the education sector.

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Conclusion: 

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The increasing cyber threats to Indian educational institutions demand immediate attention and action. With vulnerabilities like data breaches, botnet activities, and outdated infrastructure, institutions must prioritize effective cybersecurity measures. By adopting proactive strategies such as regular software updates, multi-factor authentication, and incident response plans, educational institutions can mitigate risks and safeguard sensitive data. Collaborative efforts, awareness, and investment in cybersecurity will be essential to creating a secure digital environment for academia.

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AI-generated content has been taking up space in the ever-changing dynamics of today's tech landscape. Generative AI has emerged as a powerful tool that has enabled the creation of hyper-realistic audio, video, and images. While advantageous, this ability has some downsides, too, particularly in content authenticity and manipulation. 

The impact of this content is varied in the areas of ethical, psychological and social harms seen in the past couple of years. A major concern is the creation of non-consensual explicit content, including nudes. This content includes content where an individual’s face gets superimposed onto explicit images or videos without their consent. This is not just a violation of privacy for individuals, and can have humongous consequences for their professional and personal lives. This blog examines the existing laws and whether they are equipped to deal with the challenges that this content poses. 

Understanding the Deepfake Technology

Deepfake technology is a media file (image, video, or speech) that typically represents a human subject that is altered deceptively using deep neural networks (DNNs). It is used to alter a person’s identity, and it usually takes the form of a “face swap” where the identity of a source subject is transferred onto a destination subject. The destination’s facial expressions and head movements remain the same, but the appearance in the video is that of the source. In the case of videos, the identities can be substituted by way of replacement or reenactment.

This superimposed content creates realistic content, such as fake nudes. Presently, creating a deepfake is not a costly endeavour. It requires a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), software that is free, open-source, and easy to download, and graphics editing and audio-dubbing skills.  Some of the common apps to create deepfakes are DeepFaceLab and FaceSwap, which are both public and open source and are supported by thousands of users who actively participate in the evolution and development of these software and models. 

Legal Gaps and Challenges

Multiple gaps and challenges exist in the legal space for deepfakes and their regulation. They are:

1. The inadequate definitions governing AI-generated explicit content often lead to enforcement challenges.
2. Jurisdictional challenges due to the cross-border nature of crimes and the difficulties caused by international cooperation measures are in the early stages for AI content. 
3. There is a gap between the current consent-based and harassment laws for AI-generated nudes. 
4. Providing evidence or providing proof for the intent and identification of perpetrators in digital crimes is a challenge that is yet to be overcome. 

Policy Responses and Global Trends 

Presently, the global response to deepfakes is developing. The UK has developed the Online Safety Bill, the EU has the AI Act, the US has some federal laws such as the National AI Initiative Act of 2020 and India is currently developing the India AI Act as the specific legislation dealing with AI and its correlating issues. 

The IT Rules, 2021, and the DPDP Act, 2023, regulate digital platforms by mandating content governance, privacy policies, grievance redressal, and compliance with removal orders. Emphasising intermediary liability and safe harbour protections, these laws play a crucial role in tackling harmful content like AI-generated nudes, while the DPDP Act focuses on safeguarding privacy and personal data rights.

Bridging the Gap: CyberPeace Recommendations 

1. Initiate legislative reforms by advocating for clear and precise definitions for the consent frameworks and instituting high penalties for AI-based offences, particularly those which are aimed at sexually explicit material.
2. Advocate for global cooperation and collaborations by setting up international standards and bilateral and multilateral treaties that address the cross-border nature of these offences.
3. Platforms should push for accountability by pushing for stricter platform responsibility for the detection and removal of harmful AI-generated content. Platforms should introduce strong screening mechanisms to counter the huge influx of harmful content.  
4. Public campaigns which spread awareness and educate users about their rights and the resources available to them in case such an act takes place with them. 

Conclusion 

The rapid advancement of AI-generated explicit content demands immediate and decisive action. As this technology evolves, the gaps in existing legal frameworks become increasingly apparent, leaving individuals vulnerable to profound privacy violations and societal harm. Addressing this challenge requires adaptive, forward-thinking legislation that prioritises individual safety while fostering technological progress. Collaborative policymaking is essential and requires uniting governments, tech platforms, and civil society to develop globally harmonised standards. By striking a balance between innovation and societal well-being, we can ensure that the digital age is not only transformative but also secure and respectful of human dignity. Let’s act now to create a safer future!

References

• https://etedge-insights.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/deepfakes-and-the-future-of-digital-security-are-we-ready/
• https://odsc.medium.com/the-rise-of-deepfakes-understanding-the-challenges-and-opportunities-7724efb0d981 ‍
• https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/blog/how-easy-is-it-to-make-and-detect-a-deepfake/

Introduction

In order to effectively deal with growing cyber crime and threats the Telangana police has taken initiative by launching Law Enforcement Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) Council, an innovative project launched in Telangana, India, which is a significant response to the growing cyber threat landscape. With cyber incidents increasing in the recent years and concerning statistics such as a tenfold rise in password-based attacks and an increase in ransomware attacks, the Council aims to strengthen the region's digital defenses. It primarily focuses on reducing vulnerability, improving resilience, and providing real-time threat intelligence. By promoting partnerships between the public and private sectors, offering legal and regulatory guidance, and facilitating networking and learning opportunities, this collaborative effort involving industry, academia, and law enforcement is a crucial move towards protecting critical infrastructure and businesses from cyber threats, the Telangana police in partnership with industry and academia, has launched the Law Enforcement CISO (Chief Information Security Officers) Council of India on 7^th October 2023. Chief of the Central Crime Station Stephen Ravindra said that the forum is a path-breaking initiative and the Council represents an open platform for all the enforcement agencies in the country. The upcoming inititiative inculcate close association with different stakeholders, which includes government departments, startups, centers of excellence and international collaborations, carving a nieche for a sturdy cybersecurity envirnoment. 

Enhancing Cybersecurity is the Need of the Hour:

The recent launch of the Law Enforcement CISO Council in Hyderabad, India emphasized the need for government organizations and industries to prioritize the protection of their digital space. Cyber incidents, ransomware attacks, and threats to critical infrastructure have been on the rise, making it essential to take proactive cybersecurity measures. Disturbing statistics regarding cyber threats, such as password-based attacks, BEC (Business Email Compromise) attempts, and vulnerabilities in the supply chain, highlight the importance of addressing these issues urgently. This initiative aims to provide real-time threat intelligence, legal guidance, and encourages collaboration between public and private organizations in order to combat cybercrime. Given that every cyber attack has criminal elements, the establishment of these councils is a crucial step towards minimizing vulnerabilities, enhancing resilience, and ensuring the security of our digital world.

International Issue & Domestic Issue:

The announcement by the Telangana State Police, is a proactive step to form a first-of-its-kind Law Enforcement CISO Council (LECC), as part of an initiative from the State government to give a further impetus to cyber security. Jointly with its law enforcement partners, the Telangana Police has decided to make cyber cops more efficient and shape them on par with the technology advancements. The Telangana police have proved its commitment for a secure cyber environment by recovering INR 2.2 crore and  INR 6.8 crore lost by people in cyber frauds which is industry’s highest rate of helping the victims. 

The Police department complemented efforts by corporate executives for their personal interest in the subject and mentioned police officers’ expertise and inputs from professionals from the industry need to work cohesively to prevent further increase in the number of cyber crime cases. Data indicates that the exponential increase in cyber threats in recent times necessitates an informed and prudent action with the cooperation and collaboration of the IT Department of Telangana, centers of excellence, start-ups, white hats or ethical hackers, and international associations.

A report from Telangana commissioner states the trend of a surge in the number of cyber incidents and vulnerabilities of Government organizations, Critical Infrastructure and MSMEs and stressed that every cyber security breaches have an element of criminality in it. The Law Enforcement CISO Council is a progressive step in this direction which ensures a reduced cyber attacks, enhanced resilience, actionable strategic and tactical real-time threat intelligence, legal guidance, opportunities for public private partnerships, networking, learning and much more.

The Secretary of SCSC, shared some alarming statistics on the threats that are currently rampant across the digital world. To combat it in today’s era of widespread digital dependence, the program launched by the Telangana Police stands as a commendable step or an initiative that offers a glimmer of aspiration. It brings together all the heroes who want to protect the digital spaces and counter the growing number of threats.

Contribution of Telangana Police for carving a niche to be followed:  

The launch of the Law Enforcement CISO Council in Telangana represents a pivotal step in addressing the pressing challenges posed by escalating cyber threats. As highlighted by the Director General of Police, the initiative recognizes the critical need to combat cybercrime, which is growing at an alarming rate. The Council not only acknowledges the casual approach often taken towards cybersecurity but also aims to rectify it by fostering collaboration between law enforcement, industry, and academia.

One of the most significant positive aspects of this initiative is its commitment to sharing intelligence, ensuring that the hard-earned lessons from cyber fraud victims are translated into protective measures for others. By collaborating with the IT Department of Telangana, centers of excellence, startups, and ethical hackers, the Council is poised to develop robust Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs) and innovative tools to counter cyber threats effectively.

Moreover, the Council's emphasis on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) underscores its proactive approach in dealing with the evolving landscape of cyber threats. It offers a platform for networking and learning, enabling information sharing, and will contribute to reducing the attack surface, enhancing resilience, and providing real-time threat intelligence. Additionally, the Council will provide legal and regulatory guidance, which is crucial in navigating the complex realm of cybercrime. This collective effort represents a promising way forward in safeguarding digital spaces, critical infrastructure, and industries against cyber threats and ensuring a safer digital future for all.

‍Conclusion:

The Law Enforcement CISO Council in Telangana is an innovative effort to strengthen cybersecurity in the state. With the rise in cybercrimes and vulnerabilities, the council brings together expertise from various sectors to establish a strong defense against digital threats. Its goals include reducing vulnerabilities, improving resilience, and ensuring timely threat intelligence. Additionally, the council provides guidance on legal and regulatory matters, promotes collaborations between the public and private sectors, and creates opportunities for networking and knowledge-sharing. Through these important initiatives, the CISO Council will play a crucial role in establishing digital security and protecting the state from cyber threats.

References:

• http://www.uniindia.com/telangana-police-launches-india-s-first-law-enforcement-ciso-council/south/news/3065497.html
• https://indtoday.com/telangana-police-launched-indias-first-law-enforcement-ciso-council/
• https://www.technologyforyou.org/telangana-police-launched-indias-first-law-enforcement-ciso-council/
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/victims-of-cyber-fraud-get-back-rs-2-2-cr-lost-money-in-bank-a/cs/articleshow/104226477.cms?from=mdr

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