Cyber Security- Is It Really Getting On Our Nerves?
The word cyberspace appears first in literature in the early ’80s. It was coined by William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer (1984). Cyberspace is virtual space that use electronics and electromagnetic spectrum to store, modify and exchange information through the use of networked system and concerned physical structure.
Cybercrime, or computer related crime, it is a term for any illegal activity that uses a computer as its primary means of commission and theft. The first recorded cybercrime was recorded in the year 1820. The first spam email took place in 1978 when it was sent over the ARPANET. There can be three main motives behind cybercrime viz monetary benefit, information and acknowledgment. There are various forms of Cybercrime like Cyber stalking, Intellectual property theft, Salami attack, E-mail bombing, Phishing, Identity theft, Spoofing, Worms, Trojan horses, Virus, DoS and DDoS, Pornography etc.
Cyber Security has several definitions, one among them is from the National Initiative for Cyber Security Careers and Studies (NICCS). ‘The activity or process, ability or capability, or state whereby information and communications systems and the information contained therein are protected from and/or defended against damage, unauthorized use or modification, or exploitation’[1]. It also offers an extended definition. ‘Strategy, policy, and standards regarding the security of and operations in cyberspace, and encompassing the full range of threat reduction, vulnerability reduction, deterrence, international engagement, incident response, resiliency, and recovery policies and activities, including computer network operations, information assurance, law enforcement, diplomacy, military, and intelligence missions as they relate to the security and stability of the global information and communications infrastructure’[2]. Cyber security strives to ensure the attainment and maintenance of the security properties of the organization and user’s assets against relevant security risks in the cyber environment. The general security objectives comprises- Availability, Integrity (which may include authenticity and non-repudiation), and Confidentiality[3].
Cyber security is now considered as important part of individuals and families, as well as organizations, governments, educational institutions and our business. It is essential for individuals to protect photos, videos and other personal information shared by an individual on social networking sites can be inappropriately used by others, leading to serious and even life-threatening incidents. It is essential for families and parents to protect the children and family members from online fraud. Internet is very important and beneficial for faculty, student, staff and educational institutions, has provided lots of learning opportunities with number of online risks. Cyber security is also needed for business organizations since companies have a lot of data and information on their systems. A cyber-attack may lead to loss of competitive information (such as patents or original work), loss of employees/customers private data resulting into complete loss of public trust on the integrity of the organization. Not only this but it is also essential for government since state or central or local government maintains huge amount of confidential data in digital form related to country (geographical, military strategic assets etc.) and citizens and unauthorized access to the data can lead to serious threats on a country.[4]
Components of cyber security:
Application security- It incorporates measures to improve security of an application. Skill required to attain this are design, development, deployment, upgrade or maintenance. To achieve higher degree of application security, actions can be taken like use of application firewall, conventional firewall, anti-virus programs and spyware detention.
Information security- It protects information or data including system software and hardware. It is a set of strategies for managing the processes, tools and policies necessary to prevent, detect, document and counter threats to digital and non-digital information. The programs are built with an objective maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and availability of IT systems and business data. These objectives ensure that sensitive information is only disclosed to authorized parties (confidentiality), prevent unauthorized modification of data (integrity) and guarantee the data can be accessed by authorized parties when requested (availability).
Network security- Network security is used to protect the networking components, connection of networks and content related to network. It aims a variety of threats and stop them from arriving or spreading on the network. Network security components contains Anti-virus and anti-spyware, Firewall (to block unconstitutional access to your network), Intrusion prevention systems (to identify fast-spreading threats such as zero-day or zero-hour attacks), and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to provide secure remote access.
Disaster recovery- After natural disaster (flood, earthquake etc.) or cyber-attack there are chances of losing important data which is not desirable for official or personal use of computer. To avoid this disaster recovery plan is must. It is set of policies and procedures to enable the recovery.[5]
Cyber Security Policy in India:
Government has taken several legislative, technical and institutional measures for addressing issues related to cyber security. Some are as under:
Information Technology Act, 2000: It was enacted to provide legal recognition for electronic communication, electronic commerce and cyber-crimes etc. IT Act has deterrent provisions to deal with cyber threats and cyber-attacks.
National Cyber Policy, 2013: It is revealed by government on 2 July, 2013 for providing economic benefit to business for implementation of standard safety practices and methods and to empower security of information while in process handling so as to maintain privacy of resident’s data and reducing financial losses with strategies as follows:
Safeguarding E-Governance services.
Creating mechanisms for security threats and responses to the same through national systems and processes. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats and countermeasures on regular basis.
Protection and resilience of critical information infrastructure with National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC). It has been established for protection of critical information infrastructure in the country.
National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC): National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) coordinates with different agencies at the national level for cyber security matters.
Cyber Surakshit Bharat Initiative: It was launched in 2018 with an aim to spread awareness about cybercrime and building capacity for safety measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff across all government departments.
National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC): Set up in 2017 to generate necessary situational awareness of existing and potential cyber security threats and enable timely information sharing for proactive, preventive and protective actions by individual entities.
Cyber Swachhta Kendra: In 2017, this platform was introduced for internet users to clean their computers and devices by wiping out viruses and malware.
Information Security Education and Awareness Project (ISEA): a project to raise awareness and to provide research, education and training in the field of Information Security.[6]
Shweta Rao
Intern-INBA
[1] NICCS, Explore Terms: A Glossary of Common Cybersecurity Terminology, available at: https://niccs.us-cert.gov/glossary (last visited on December 19, 2019).
[2]Ibid.
[3] Ruchna Bach, “World of Cyber Security and Cybercrime”, 4 STM Journals 18 (2017)
[4] Rajesh Kumar Goutam, “Importance of Cyber security”, 111 IJCA 14 (2015).
[5] Minal Anant Apandkar, “Cyber Security”, 04 IRJET 277 (2017).
[6] Cyber Security, available at: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1556474 (last visited on December 20, 2019).