Cybersecurity Risks in the Digitisation of Cultural Heritage in India: A Legal and Governance Analysis

Abstract

India is using digitization to both safeguard and promote the country’s heritage through its cultural institutions like museums, manuscripts, archives, and other historical records. Digital forms of preservation are often considered a more secure and permanent way to preserve cultural assets, and many continue to subscribe to a larger myth associated with cybersecurity and how technology is assumed to be safe; therefore, this chapter will discuss if the current legal and governance framework created in India is sufficient to protect digitized cultural heritage from cyber-related threats. Most current literature discusses cultural heritage protection and cybersecurity governance in conjunction, but little existing analysis focuses directly on how current cybersecurity law applies to digital heritage institutions. This gap is important to note, as digital repositories become subject to various cyber threats, including data breaches, ransomware attacks, unplanned access via hacking, and weaknesses with the organizations that rely upon digital assets. This chapter uses doctrinal and analytical methods to review relevant laws related to this area of study, including but not limited to the IT Act, 2000, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023, and any other relevant heritage legislation and policy documents, along with secondary sources of information. By studying the intersection between digitization initiatives and cybersecurity regulatory initiatives, this study highlights the disparity between the intended benefits of digital preservation and the obstacles associated with cyber governance.

DOI - https://doi.org/10.65525/SVUP.9788199328631.2025.51-59