“In this digital age, we have an opportunity to transform lives of people in ways that were hard to imagine just a couple of decades ago” Sh. Narendra Modi Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.
The internet has become an integral part of today’s generation of people; from communicating through instant messages and emails to banking, traveling, studying and shopping, the internet has touched every aspect of life. With the growing use of the internet by people, protecting important information has become a necessity. A computer that is not having appropriate security controls can be infected with malicious logic and thus any type of information can be accessed in moments. Here enters Cyber security, a domain created not by nature but by human beings, has emerged to provide tremendous benefits.
What is Cyber Security?
In simple language, Cyber Security or Information technology security means protecting data, networks, programs and other information from unauthorized or unintended access, destruction or change. It encompasses all the mechanisms and processes that protect digital equipment, information and records from illegal or unintended access, manipulation or destruction.
Increased Cyber Threats
The internet has provided a wide array of learning opportunities, but there are risks too. Therefore, it is important for individuals to understand how to protect against cyber threats, and must also comprehend the difference between virtual and real world. One should learn how to protect computers and personal information from being hacked and should engage in appropriate online behavior in order to eliminate changes in cyber threats and thereby creating a safer online environment.
We live in an increasingly networked world, from personal banking to government infrastructure. Protecting those networks is no longer optional.
Global cyber-attacks are spreading across the world every second day, holding companies to pay a ransom. Thousands of firms have fallen victim to a massive cyber-attack over the past few months, attacks like WannaCry and Petya crippled systems and hit computers in more than 150 countries. These global cyber-attacks were caused by ransomware which holds computers ransom in exchange for a specific amount of money – in this case, Bitcoin.
Social networking sites have become the most popular medium for sharing information and connecting with other people. But these sites have created varied opportunities for cyber-crimes, compromised personal identities and information leakage. Stealing credentials is only the first step of an attacker to launch a full-blown attack. Once an attacker gains a user’s credentials, the attacker will look to steal any personal and financial information associated with the compromised account. With each passing day, attackers devise new tricks and circulate new types of attacks to steal personal and financial information.
Unlike seasoned criminals, hackers are far less splashy, and far more difficult to trace.
But, when armed with a little technical advice and common sense, you can prevent online frauds and attacks.
Prevention from Cyber Attacks
Mitigate the risk of cyber-attacks at your firm through these four best practices that we at Secugenius live by:
- Risk Assessment
Risk assessment should be an on-going process as opposed to a single point in time. Firms should gather and evaluate indicators of potential risks on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis. I’m a huge advocate of risk assessment. In fact, risk assessment has been helpful in securing client’s infrastructure at every step of the way. We suggest assessing your network security frequently and effectively for threat intelligence on what’s going around in cyber-security.
- Cyber security Training
Employees are the biggest risk for firms according to our recent security assessment of leading Indian companies. Based on what we have encountered over these past years, companies live by 3P’s which are ‘Process, Policy, and People’. Companies spend millions of dollars on Process and policy but they often rely heavily on people. “It’s the people who are using process”. Thus, training needs to be conducted regularly, not just once a year. It also needs to be varied, both in method and with different topics to engage your employees.
- Financial Fraud Risk Management
Manual systems and personnel supervisions are no longer adequate to manage enterprise fraud. An integrated technological solution can only keep pace with the rapidly-flowing millions of banking transactions and still detect fraudulent transaction. Therefore, a holistic Fraud Risk Management solution is the need of the hour.
- Incident Response
A quick and efficient response to an attack on your network can save an untold amount of time, money and staff hours. Determine the source, cause, and extent of a computer security breach quickly with Secugenius incident response services. Or learn how to recognize the indicators of a compromise and respond appropriately on your own with our incident readiness services.
Secugenius also stays true to the saying “Moving with the tide”
We have thus incorporated a wide range of new technologies that we offer companies to avert these new and increased cyber-attacks.
- User behavior analytics
The way in which users interact with their systems and devices (pressures exerted on a keyboard, swipe patterns on a touchscreen, applications typically opened, habitual spelling errors, etc.) can be identifiers as unique and personal as physical biometrics – and user behavior analytics or UBA technology takes advantage of this.
- Cloud Computing
Recent years have seen a move away from on-premises deployments of information technology and telecommunications, with enterprises increasingly reliant on web-based resources and hosted cloud solutions for the provision of infrastructure, applications, and services.
- Machine Learning
“Deep learning” has been used as a blanket term to cover a group of technologies that operate by observing their working environments (including internal processes, external communications, and interactions with external actors) and creating a knowledge base of what they “see” and experience. Using this archive, they can set up a baseline condition for normal operations, against which they compare activities and processes that they continue to observe in real time.
Cyber security breaches will only increase in the future as these networks expand, but there are sensible precautions that organizations can take to minimize losses from those who seek to do harm. With the right level of preparation and specialist external assistance, it is possible to control damages and recover from a cyber-breach and its consequences.
About The Author –
Kshitij Adhlakha, Director of Secugenius, is an Entrepreneur, Author & Cyber Expert. He has more than six years’ work experience of handling projects in Information Security. Under his guidance the organization has been ranked as one of the top five Cyber Security Companies of India by silicon India.
He is a solution and result oriented professional and is aspecialist with notable success in planning, directing and supporting execution of abroad range of corporate IT initiatives in Strategic IT outsourcing, Information Security etc.
Kshitij and his team has trained over 2.2 Million students and professionals and are working with different law enforcement agencies and helping different state Cyber Cells in solving Cyber Crime Cases.
He has authored a book “SECURITY BREACHED” Security Beyond Hacking” and has also written books for seculabs .He has also published research papers on “Email hacking” & “Steganography” at the national level and has also written articles for many national newspapers .
