SIRI Cyber Legal Response — legal judgment while the incident is still live, not after.
Notification analysis, legal hold, and regulator coordination run alongside technical containment from the first hour — not as a separate call to outside counsel once the technical team has already decided what to preserve and what to say.
Why sequencing changes the outcome
Decisions made during containment carry legal weight that's easier to get right in real time than to reconstruct afterward.
A common pattern: technical response runs first, containment completes, and only then does someone call a lawyer to ask what has to be reported and to whom. By that point, decisions about what got isolated, what got preserved, and what internal communications already went out are already made — and some of them may not have been made with CERT-In's 6-hour window, DPDPA's breach obligations, or sector-specific rules in mind.
CERT-In's 2022 Directions require notification within 6 hours of becoming aware of a qualifying incident. DPDPA layers a separate breach-notification obligation to the Data Protection Board and, in some cases, affected data principals. Regulated entities carry a third layer — RBI's DAKSH reporting for banks, sector-specific timelines for SEBI-regulated intermediaries — often with different triggers and different timing than the general CERT-In rule.
SIRI Cyber Legal Response exists to run this analysis while the technical response is still active, so the notification that eventually goes out is accurate and complete — not a rushed filing assembled under deadline pressure after the fact.
What organisations get wrong
Four assumptions that create avoidable regulatory exposure
Most notification problems trace back to timing and sequencing, not a lack of legal knowledge.
“We'll notify once we fully understand the incident”
CERT-In's 6-hour clock starts at awareness, not at full understanding — waiting for complete certainty before notifying is one of the most common ways organisations miss the window.
“We only need to worry about CERT-In”
DPDPA's breach obligations and sector-specific rules (RBI, SEBI, IRDAI) can apply simultaneously with different triggers — a CERT-In-compliant notification doesn't automatically satisfy the others.
“A brief notification is safer than a detailed one”
An incomplete or vague notification can create its own regulatory exposure — accurate content, even if the investigation is still ongoing, generally serves the organisation better than a minimal filing that invites follow-up scrutiny.
“We'll loop in legal once we've drafted something”
A notification drafted without legal input from the outset, then reviewed afterward, has often already made assumptions or included language that legal counsel would have structured differently from the start.
What Cyber Legal Response covers
Legal judgment integrated into the technical timeline, not appended to it
Run alongside SIRI Response, or activated independently once containment is already underway elsewhere.
Notification Trigger Analysis
Determining which regimes — CERT-In, DPDPA, sector-specific — actually apply, and their respective deadlines.
- Multi-regime trigger assessment
- Deadline mapping
- Materiality analysis
Legal Hold & Evidence Strategy
Coordinating evidence preservation obligations with the technical forensic process already underway.
- Legal hold notices
- Preservation scope guidance
- Coordination with forensic team
Notification Drafting
Preparing accurate, complete notifications to CERT-In, the Data Protection Board, and sector regulators.
- CERT-In notification drafting
- DPDPA breach notification
- Sector-specific regulatory filings
Stakeholder Communications
Coordinated messaging for boards, employees, customers, and partners during an active incident.
- Board briefing support
- Customer communication review
- Internal messaging coordination
Litigation & Regulatory Readiness
Preparing the organisation for potential follow-on scrutiny once the immediate incident is contained.
- Regulatory inquiry preparation
- Litigation-readiness assessment
- Insurance claim coordination
Privileged Findings Management
Ensuring investigation findings and internal assessments remain protected throughout.
- Privilege log management
- Engagement letter structuring
- Findings-distribution control
Evidence, not guesswork
Sequential legal review vs. integrated legal response — what actually differs
Both eventually involve a lawyer. The timing of that involvement changes what's actually possible.
| Approach | Legal review after containment | In-house legal team alone | SIRI Cyber Legal Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal input timing | After technical decisions made | Depends on availability | Parallel, from activation |
| Multi-regime notification analysis (CERT-In + DPDPA + sector) | Often incomplete | Depends on expertise | Comprehensive |
| Evidence preservation coordinated with forensics | Rarely direct | Depends on structure | Direct coordination |
| Attorney-client privilege over incident findings | Sometimes, if structured correctly | Yes, if properly engaged | Yes, by design |
| Continuity from incident into potential litigation | No — new engagement needed | Depends on capacity | Yes |
Sources: CERT-In Directions 2022, s.70B(6) IT Act 2000; Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and DPDP Rules 2025 (notified 14 November 2025); RBI DAKSH incident reporting requirements; SEBI CSCRF. Summarised for comparison; confirm current trigger and timing requirements applicable to your sector.
Numbers every board should know
What the notification landscape actually requires
CERT-In window
From awareness — the anchor deadline for the fastest-moving notification obligation.
Regimes that can overlap
CERT-In, DPDPA, and sector-specific rules (RBI, SEBI, IRDAI) can all apply to a single incident.
DPDPA operative deadline
For most substantive obligations, including breach-response readiness.
DPDPA base maximum penalty
Per instance of non-compliance — up to ₹500 Cr via the Section 33(3) enhancement mechanism.
Why SIRI for legal response specifically
The same team that understands the technical incident makes the legal call
Not outside counsel briefed secondhand — legal judgment applied by people who already understand what actually happened.
Legal judgment applied in real time
Notification and evidence decisions are made by people who understand the technical incident directly, not briefed on a summary after the fact.
Multi-regime analysis by default
CERT-In, DPDPA, and applicable sector rules are assessed together from the outset, not sequentially as each one is separately discovered.
Privilege built into the structure
The engagement is legal from activation, so findings, drafts, and internal assessments are protected throughout the process.
Continuity if the matter escalates
The same team that managed the incident response can carry the matter into regulatory inquiry or litigation readiness without a new engagement.
Who this is built for
Organisations Cyber Legal Response is built for
How we work
From activation to closed notification obligations
Activation
Legal team engages immediately, in parallel with any ongoing technical response.
ImmediateTrigger Analysis
Determining which notification regimes apply and their respective deadlines.
Hours 1–4Drafting & Filing
Accurate notifications prepared and filed within applicable windows.
Hours 4–24Follow-Through
Regulatory correspondence, stakeholder communications, and readiness for further scrutiny.
Days 2–14Frequently asked
Cyber Legal Response, answered directly
Do I need this in addition to SIRI Response, or instead of it?
The two are typically activated together — SIRI Response handles technical containment and forensics, while Cyber Legal Response runs the notification and regulatory analysis in parallel. They can also be activated separately if technical response is already underway with another provider.
What happens if we've already missed the CERT-In 6-hour window?
A missed window doesn't eliminate the obligation to notify — it changes the analysis to include how to address the delay. Late notification, handled properly, is generally a better position than continued non-notification.
How do CERT-In, DPDPA, and sector-specific rules actually interact?
They're separate obligations that can all apply to the same incident, with different triggers, different recipients, and different timing. A notification that satisfies CERT-In doesn't automatically satisfy DPDPA's breach obligations or a sector regulator's specific reporting requirement — each needs its own analysis.
Is our internal communication about the incident protected if we engage SIRI for this?
Communications made as part of a properly structured legal engagement are generally protected by attorney-client privilege, which is a core reason to engage legal counsel from the outset of an incident rather than after internal discussions have already occurred.
What if the incident turns out not to be reportable after all?
That's a common and legitimate outcome of the trigger analysis — not every incident meets the threshold for mandatory notification. The assessment itself, and the reasoning behind it, is documented as part of the engagement regardless of the outcome.
If you're mid-incident
Activate Cyber Legal Response.
Call the 24/7 line, or pair this with SIRI Response if technical containment hasn't started yet.
Related
Other ways SIRI supports legal response
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SIRI Law LLP — Hyderabad, India
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