On 12th February, 2017 the home ministry’s website got hacked. Attacks on our digital borders have been increasing for some time now. Is this an indication that we are heading for a war for which we aren’t sufficiently prepared? How do you fight something so intangible? We cannot put men with firearms to kill the enemy here, can we? Therefore, we need another kind of firepower to ward of the enemies and keep our fences high. The arsenal has to be huge, strong and regularly updated because this new type of warfare is sufficiently sophisticated for present day weaponry.
Cybercrime is on rise all over the world. India being a growing economy becomes a docile and highly vulnerable target. Here basic education is yet to reach masses expecting digital education is a long journey. In a written report in Lok Sabha it was mentioned that more than 700 websites of various central and state government departments were hacked in past 4 years and about 8,348 persons were arrested for their involvement in cybercrime. The ministry introduced new system in 2015 which was suspected hacked in December last year for clearing license of 3 NGO’s.
In January, another incident of hacking appeared where Pakistan-affiliated operatives hacked into elite National security guard website and defaced it with profanity-laden messages. Earlier 3.2 million debit card data were reported stolen in a major data heist proving that even the best private banks with best resources can’t always protect the customer data without being on their toes. In November, 2016 websites of few Indian missions (Embassies) abroad were hacked, however no data was compromised. Incidents of such nature will happen regular we can only prepare ourselves better, make our fences rock solid and keep on upgrading.
The country needs to invest heavily in the infrastructure as well as intellectual resources to fight the new enemy. Especially government offices need to put added layers of protection to prevent cyber theft and data leakages given that India is aiming to become a digital economy.
Data loss prevention (DLP) is very much a necessity of the present time. Once the customer trust goes away, it takes long time to build it back and given the ruthless competition it probably is a customer lost forever. Cyber security needs regular upgrades because hackers are evolving their methods on daily basis, if we do not act we are going to lose.
Logix Infosecurity being into security domain since last 17 years are helping clients with Data Loss Prevention. It has half a million email security customers. You can download email security, advanced threat protection, anti spoofing and anti spamming protection guidebook to know more about how Logix Infosecurity can help you stay protected from cyber-crime.
