[ISN] India to conduct IT security audit

[InfoSec News]

http://www.vnunet.com/news/1157596

James Watson
Computing 
25 Aug 2004

India's IT industry body, the National Association of Software and
Services Companies (Nasscom), is preparing a security audit of its 860
member companies to ensure that the flow of outsourcing work from the
UK and US isn't halted by fears over privacy and data protection.

The news follows an announcement that India's software industry is now
the country's single biggest source of export revenue, accounting for
revenues of nearly $13bn (£7bn).

However, last week's move by Lloyds TSB's group union, LTU, to take
legal action against the bank for breach of the Data Protection Act
(DPA), is just one of a number of things sparking fears in India of a
potential slowdown in outsourcing growth.

For India to continue evolving as a global IT heavyweight, it has to
ensure that it has an adequate legal framework for data security and
privacy, says Nasscom.

Although most of the big Indian IT companies comply with UK data
protection rules, such as the BS 7799 standard, no equivalent laws
exist in India.