Since independence India has always been kept on its toes in terms of security thanks to a hostile neighbour who often exported terror into the country. Things seem to have changed a bit recently. No the neighbour has not turned saint, however the security threat these days is emanating from a different source altogether – international cyber criminals. Just to put things into perspective, a recent newspaper article quoted the CEO of the country’s largest IT firm expressing serious concerns about the numerous attempts of cyber attacks faced by the country in recent times from anti-nationals.
In all fairness, we should be least surprised with the importance of cyber security. India has undergone a technology revolution and the major factors driving the revolution are the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its benefits. Hence the threat from the cyber criminals was inevitable. An amazing fact is that all it takes to challenge the might of a country is a team of capable tech savvy people and some amount of resources.
A ‘State of the Net’ survey conducted by Consumer Reports in June 2009 revealed that one in five online consumers were victims of a cybercrime in the past two years. The combined loss suffered by these victims is pegged at USD 8 billion while 1.2 million computers are said to have been replaced owing to software viruses during that time. It is widely regarded that cyber crime has not declined in the past five years and also there is a sneaking feeling that consumers, corporations, and the government have not done much to change this.
It is simply astonishing that a country like the US with much technology at its disposal has been unable to curb the cyber threat. A recent report says that computer-based network attacks are bleeding the US businesses of revenues as well as market advantage. In one of the most candid revelations, Michael McConnell, executive vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton's national security business and a former director of national security and national intelligence stated that if US went on an all-out cyberwar the country would lose hands down. If a developed country is so vulnerable to cyber threat, we can imagine the plight of other countries.
There is a need for governments across the globe to actively involve themselves in protecting the nation's networks. Some of the recent steps taken by these governments indicate a step in the right direction. For instance, in July, we had India asking mobile operators in the country not to import any equipment manufactured by Chinese vendors, including majors like Huawei and ZTE. The reason given was simple: these imported handsets could have spyware or malware that gives intelligence agencies across the border access to telecom networks in India. More recently, Saudi Telecommunications Company announced that it had received orders from the country's regulatory authority to suspend key BlackBerry services, following a similar move by the United Arab Emirates.
However, these measures are not solutions to the problem. All the countries across the world are approaching this problem in a very narrow minded way, seriously hampering any chances of collaboration between countries and arriving at a global cyber regulation. However, since governments around the world are more consumed by the need to heighten national cyber defences, cyber criminals are roaming around free. It probably will take a national catastrophe akin to the 9/11 incident in cyber space to shake officials out of their complacency.
In all fairness, we should be least surprised with the importance of cyber security. India has undergone a technology revolution and the major factors driving the revolution are the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its benefits. Hence the threat from the cyber criminals was inevitable. An amazing fact is that all it takes to challenge the might of a country is a team of capable tech savvy people and some amount of resources.
A ‘State of the Net’ survey conducted by Consumer Reports in June 2009 revealed that one in five online consumers were victims of a cybercrime in the past two years. The combined loss suffered by these victims is pegged at USD 8 billion while 1.2 million computers are said to have been replaced owing to software viruses during that time. It is widely regarded that cyber crime has not declined in the past five years and also there is a sneaking feeling that consumers, corporations, and the government have not done much to change this.
It is simply astonishing that a country like the US with much technology at its disposal has been unable to curb the cyber threat. A recent report says that computer-based network attacks are bleeding the US businesses of revenues as well as market advantage. In one of the most candid revelations, Michael McConnell, executive vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton's national security business and a former director of national security and national intelligence stated that if US went on an all-out cyberwar the country would lose hands down. If a developed country is so vulnerable to cyber threat, we can imagine the plight of other countries.
There is a need for governments across the globe to actively involve themselves in protecting the nation's networks. Some of the recent steps taken by these governments indicate a step in the right direction. For instance, in July, we had India asking mobile operators in the country not to import any equipment manufactured by Chinese vendors, including majors like Huawei and ZTE. The reason given was simple: these imported handsets could have spyware or malware that gives intelligence agencies across the border access to telecom networks in India. More recently, Saudi Telecommunications Company announced that it had received orders from the country's regulatory authority to suspend key BlackBerry services, following a similar move by the United Arab Emirates.
However, these measures are not solutions to the problem. All the countries across the world are approaching this problem in a very narrow minded way, seriously hampering any chances of collaboration between countries and arriving at a global cyber regulation. However, since governments around the world are more consumed by the need to heighten national cyber defences, cyber criminals are roaming around free. It probably will take a national catastrophe akin to the 9/11 incident in cyber space to shake officials out of their complacency.
Has India taken any initiatives? It would be interesting to know the capex involved in curbing cyber crime in the country.
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