Which Act is the principal law governing cyber activity and electronic records in India?

The correct answer is B, Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability. These are the three goals of information security: only authorised persons should read the data, the data must not be altered without authority, and the system must work when it is needed. Option A is wrong; control and access are mechanisms rather than the named goals of the triad. Option C is wrong because cryptography, identity and authentication are tools used to achieve the three goals, not the goals themselves, and this option is attractive to anyone who remembers the technical vocabulary instead of the framework. Option D is wrong since compliance, inspection and audit belong to governance and assurance work. A denial of service attack is a good illustration, because it attacks availability alone while leaving confidentiality and integrity untouched.

The correct answer is B, Shreya Singhal v. Union of India. In 2015 the Supreme Court held section 66A, which punished the sending of offensive messages through a communication service, to be unconstitutional because it was vague and overbroad and violated the freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a). Option A is wrong, although it is the closest in subject matter: the Puttaswamy judgment of 2017 held the right to privacy to be a fundamental right under Article 21, and it led to the data protection law rather than to the striking down of 66A. Option C is wrong; Anuradha Bhasin in 2020 concerned internet shutdowns in Jammu and Kashmir. Option D is wrong because Maneka Gandhi in 1978 expanded the meaning of personal liberty under Article 21 long before the internet.

The correct answer is C, Section 70B. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team functions under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and is designated by section 70B as the national agency for collecting and analysing information on cyber incidents, issuing advisories and coordinating responses. Option A is wrong; section 69 gives the power to intercept, monitor or decrypt information in specified circumstances. Option B is the hardest distractor because section 70A designates the nodal agency for critical information infrastructure, which is the NCIIPC, a different body working under the National Technical Research Organisation. Option D is wrong since section 79 is the safe harbour provision that limits an intermediary's liability for content uploaded by third parties. Keep 70A with NCIIPC and 70B with CERT-In.

The correct answer is B, the National Technical Research Organisation. The NCIIPC was designated under section 70A of the IT Act to protect critical information infrastructure, meaning computer resources whose incapacitation would have a debilitating effect on national security, the economy, public health or safety, and it works as a unit of the NTRO. Option A is wrong; the Reserve Bank regulates the financial sector's own cyber resilience but does not house the NCIIPC. Option C is wrong, although the Ministry of Home Affairs runs the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and the national cybercrime reporting portal, which is why it is a tempting choice. Option D is wrong because the National Informatics Centre provides information technology services to government departments rather than protecting critical infrastructure.

The correct answer is B, the National Payments Corporation of India. The NPCI, set up in 2008 under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act of 2007 by the Reserve Bank and the Indian Banks' Association, launched UPI in 2016; it also runs RuPay, IMPS, the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System, NACH and FASTag. Option A is wrong but is the commonest mistake, because the Reserve Bank promoted the NPCI and regulates payment systems, yet UPI is an NPCI product. Option C is wrong; the State Bank of India is one of the banks that participate in UPI, not its owner. Option D is wrong because the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology runs DigiLocker and the Digital India programme, not the payments layer. UPI forms the payments layer of what is called India Stack.