Hackers are new age whistleblowers

What Is Whistleblowing?

The practice of revealing information to stop wrongdoing is called whistleblowing. A whistleblower reveals information about negligence, malpractice or illegal activity to a trusted source. It often occurs between a company and an employee, and whistleblowers can report information to their employer or choose to go public.

Can Whistleblowing Be Used for Good?

Whistleblowing poses risks to consumer data, but the company getting called out is usually already taking such risks. Whistleblowers who are careful about revealing information can do good. Multiple government agencies exist specifically to protect this info when this occurs, so a whistleblower can protect people’s privacy by going directly to them. Even if someone is doing this out of spite, companies engaging in illegal or unethical practices deserve to be held accountable.

source: https://brilliancesecuritymagazine.com/cybersecurity/ethics-of-whistleblowing-in-cybersecurity/

Whistleblowing in cybersecurity?

The most important role of whistleblowers in cybersecurity is to hold companies accountable to security regulations. Data breach laws are becoming more common, but enforcing them in every instance can be challenging, with over 15 million records leaking in 2022 alone.

Whistleblowers may not be an official part of a company’s cybersecurity posture, but they serve an important purpose in the security industry as a whole.

Ideally, businesses will never have to deal with these cases, but that should come from a place of compliance, not discouraging whistleblowers themselves.

Organizations must take regulatory compliance more seriously as whistleblower protections rise. That trend can push more companies toward a higher security standard, reducing cybercrime’s impact on their business and customers.

 Source: https://hackernoon.com/the-role-of-whistleblowers-in-cybersecurity

Just how safe are whistleblowers under Indian law?

 In India, whistleblowers are protected by the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014. The law provides for the protection of their identity and also has strict norms to prevent their victimization. For instance, an organization cannot initiate proceedings against a whistleblower pending a probe into allegations. The same sections have been adopted in the Companies Act, which applies to listed companies, and are a part of the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s governance norms. All listed and public sector firms need to have a whistleblower policy that outlines procedures and recourses available to complainants.

source: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/just-how-safe-are-whistleblowers-under-indian-law-11571763505941.html

Unfortunately there are no laws in India to specifically serve whistleblowers in cybersecurity domain I mean digital world.