Are we secure

As India becoming the hub of cyber crime of the world? One might not agree

with the figures, but experts like Ahmedabad based Sunny Vaghela believe that

there has been an increase of 200% in cyber crime cases in India in the last

three years. These are crimes against individuals, organizations, and the

government. These are financial frauds where bank account information is stolen

on the net and money siphoned off; hate crimes where sleaze MMS clips are

circulated through cellphones; as well as attacks defacing key ministry sites to

mock the establishment and the country. This is not something to be just brushed

aside.

How geared up is India to handle this challenge. Again, experts believe that

corporate India is pretty well geared up, though new types of attacks and

challenges both from within as well as outside keep coming up almost everyday.

But most of the people in the administration including the police,

unfortunately are almost clueless about what cyber crime is all about and the

basic things needed to prevent it. Similarly, almost 100% of Indian citizens do

not have much idea. So, many people-young and old-are joining social networking

sites, which are said to be the most fertile place for catching unsuspecting

people.

If every aspect of life is going to be based on IT and communications

infrastructure, and if that infrastructure has weak links, then we better sit up

and do something about it. I spoke to a few people randomly, and my assessment

is that India's preparedness for handling cyber crime would not be more than

three, on a scale of one to ten; and awareness efforts in this direction would

be almost zero. So what does India need to do? Our country already is an

established knowledge economy, and now aspires to be a global superpower of

sorts.

Creating awareness is the first step in fighting cyber crime, just like sex

education is important to prevent sex crimes, this is my firm belief. I am not

aware of too many organizations that teach their employees working on computers

and smartphones, the do's and dont's of cyber security. Similarly, every school

is laying emphasis on computers for its students and asking them to surf the

net, but very few schools are actually telling thestudents about the risks. Have

you ever seen a government advertisement that aims at educating the millions of

young cyber cafe visitors in cities and towns across the country about the

pitfalls?

Clearly, we have a long way to go, and perhaps in a very short time. I think

once awareness comes, everything will fall in place, and these people will

demand for security systems and processes. Organizations as well as governments

will have to get their act together.

Ibrahim ahmad


ibrahima@cybermedia.co.in