Cyber Security: "Amateurs hack systems, Professionals hack people"

Cyber Security 

In today’s technical environment many latest technologies are being experienced by mankind, and the internet being one of the fastest-growing infrastructures has become a necessity. But due to the emerging technologies, we are unable to safeguard our private information in an effective manner which is giving rise to cybercrimes day by day. Today more than 60% of commercial transactions are done online which makes cyber security the field for transparent and secure transactions and an important asset of the risk management approach. In this article, I would like to stress on my conceptualization of the risk management approach and the reason why I have chosen to adopt an integral part of the cyber security risk management approach and the resulting profile.

What is cyber security? is the question that might have arisen in anyone’s mind reading this article; so let me simplify it for you, cyber security or also known as IT security is the practice of protecting the critical systems or databases and the sensitive information from digital attacks or cybercrimes that may originate from inside or outside the organization. Now what is the reason behind a cyber-attack or how do cyber attacks take place? truly speaking there is no specific answer to this, there can be a variety of methods to launch a cyber-attack but the goal is commonly to steal data, disable computers or achieve financial gain.

Cyber-attacks are either criminally or politically motivated and the adversaries can be either a private person, a state actor, or a criminal organization, some of the most famous examples of cybercrimes or the mafia boy denial of service attack in 2000 which caused estimated damage of $1.7 Billion to the affected sites and the Wanna-Cry attack in 2017 which demanded bitcoin to unlock the files and also contrived critical organization’s like the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. Ways to prevent a cyber-attack! learning about how cyber attacks take place and the most common tactics used, one can take appropriate precautions like backup data, choose multi-factor authentication, update systems, use firewalls and antivirus, etc. It is good to know that India is emerging as a global IT superpower, asserting, firm measures to safeguard data privacy and online rights of its citizens and has also made it to the top 10 Global Cyber security Index (GCI) 2020 and has moved up by 37 places to rank as the tenth best country in the world on key cyber-safety parameters.

What are the upcoming challenges in the field of cyber-security? the ever-changing landscape of emerging technologies and the demanding job of businesses to secure their networks with the large-scale IoT, and the emerging 5G technologies are encouraging all the important decision-makers in the company and their IT departments to enhance their cyber-security infrastructure and also to provide relevant training to their employees of how to act in case of a cyber-crime. As per the latest statics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Mumbai ranked third nationwide in terms of cybercrimes committed in 2020, Bengaluru, Silicon Valley of India topped the list followed by Hyderabad. The types of cyber-attacks nowadays include: Blockchain and crypto currency attacks, now as the world of blockchain and crypto is going rapidly and attracting more interest than ever. Phishing Scams, are an online scam that targets customers by sending them an email that appears to be from a well-known source, there are several tips that customers can follow to avoid such scams like not-responding to e-mails or pop-up messages that ask for personal or financial information eg: credit card details.

The government of India has added several measures for cybercrimes like the Information Technology (IT) Act of 2000 the act provides a legal framework for electronic governance by giving recognition to electronic records and digital signatures. It also defines cyber crimes and prescribes penalties for them. The Act directed the formation of a Controller of Certifying Authorities to regulate the issuance of digital signatures, Things of cyber-security Act 2020, the act creates security standards for IoT devices and encompasses other IT issues, putting in place at least some degree of protection for IoT devices and their use. While these acts may not be enough, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. In conclusion, I would like to say that computer security is a vast topic that is becoming more important because the world is becoming highly interconnected with networks spread wide across and being used to carry out critical transactions. Cybercrime continues to diverge down the paths with each New Year that passes and so does the security of the information along with the cyber tools and threats that come to light each passing day hereby challenging organizations and businesses to secure their assets or face the consequences, according to me there is no perfect solution for cyber cries but we should try our level best to minimize the number of cyber-attacks with the help of new platforms and intelligence in order to have a safe and secure future in cyberspace.

~Chirag Ferwani