We are living in Cyber world
Are we really aware about our security?
Do we know about the ways passwords, our protectors, are creating havoc in our lives?
Our life revolves around passwords and free wares. Today’s world is more interconnected than ever before. Yet, for all its advantages, increased connectivity brings increased risk of theft, fraud, and abuse. Passwords are our security.
Talking about how people are being targeted through phishing, Mr. Kavirajsaid,” phishing is basically an act that is used by criminals to steal personal and financial data, also phishers can infect computers with viruses and convince people to participate unwittingly in money laundering.” About the ways to protect from such mails, he said that “People should change mail settings to check that such mail end as spams, beware of clicking of any links from unidentified sources. Avoid any threat mails like ‘click this link or account will be closed.’Mails asking for money can be cross-checked by sending 1 rupee or 1 $ to that account. “
Continuing on the issue of emails being used as a source of crime, Mr. Kaviraj with respect to companies, said, “Companies should work on making their exit policies more efficient. This is important in case of e-mail ids of ex-employees as they can be hacked or be used by the ex-employees also to get important data. So, these email ids should be closed immediately.”
Pressing on the usage of digital signatures and OTP passwords, Mr. Kavirajsaid “People generally avoid making digital signatures as they don’t want to invest money but they forget that making signatures will cost few thousands but losses can run in lakhs. There are certain settings in mail box, using which hacker monitors your mail and at the time of actual payment, it will be transferred to hacker’s account. So awareness about digital signatures is highly essential. Also people should avoid using last 3 already used passwords. “
Fake identity is hammering the doors He added, “Stalking is another issue that is threatening the society at large. People should remember that on online platform friend of friend may not be your friend-don’t add them to your friends list. Websites like Orkut, facebook, Google+ have policies where they have stated everything on website is available for use for public. People should be cautious while adding any information on public platform as you are not aware as how the information may be misused. “
A word of caution was also added on the free apps available, Mr. Kaviraj said, free apps are a trap. They pose a serious threat because they have access to large amount of private information. Many free apps have access to your address book, device camera etc., which is dangerous. Many people are using personal devices to share business related info which can pose threat to companies. Usage of firewall, proper anti-virus can prevent such attack. “
On the impending Cyber war, Mr. Kaviraj has the opinion, “Cyber war is already on”. It is a burning issue both on national and international level. Attacks through hate mails, hate messages on social media, politically motivated distribution of pirated soft wares so as to destroy the data of the government, there have been reports of hacking of private and government websites. Terrorists can get access to any information through internet. Thus, cyber is already posing a big threat to the security of the world.” Many policies & laws are made for the cyber securities but awareness is low.
Regarding legal protection provided in our country against cyber-crime, he said that “Most of the offences need to be made according to the crime levelas this will curb crime to a great extent. Also, the IT laws have to be made more stringent to protect common people who are not aware about the implications of cyber-crime. Efforts are being made by the state police to make the public more vigilant.”
There was a time when floppy disks were considered as the main security risks which eventually evolved into pen drives. Finally as the world is shrinking, thanks to easy access to loads of information through internet, we are facing the biggest threat in the form of Cyber Crime- advanced persistent threats, social engineering, phishing, etc. Given the seriousness of the issue, certain precautionary measures should be taken by the netizens, as it is said ‘Precaution & education is better than cure.’
