Cybersecurity: Increasing Threats Due To Social Media

Insecurity for Cybersecurity

A cybersecurity threat is an illegal, malicious , and premeditated attack by an individual or organization with an ill motive to gain unauthorized access to another individual’s platform or organization’s network to damage, disrupt, or steal IT assets, computer networks, intellectual property, damage sensitive components or any other form of sensitive data.

The adverse impact

The reluctant dumping of a mobile number linked to your bank account could prove quite fatal, going by the experience of a housewife at Kollam recently. She was shocked to know when her bank account was completely wiped out of nearly ₹8 lakh.

It seemed that a mobile number linked to the bank account, which she had not used for months, gave her access to the fraudsters to get her money hands-on. The number was automatically directed to a new user who reset the password using the One Time Password that the bank sent to her number.

The numbers were either not recharged after the validity period or unused for 3 to 6 months get recalled into the number slot and will be redirected to new users in due process.

Otherwise, the previous user should have availed of the ‘safe custody’ provision whereby she can keep the number for some time even if she didn’t use it for the exceptionally same time, said an executive associated with a telecom service provider.

The problem is that majority of the banking customers hardly seem to be aware of such a vulnerability and security breach. While the Reserve Bank of India January 28 issued a fresh set of guidelines warning customers against various kinds of online frauds, this particular lacuna was missing from them.

With the ever-changing technology, concomitant modifications, and accessibility of illegal marketing in processes and procedures, fraudsters are also devising newer avenues of doing fraud.

Therefore, it is high and alarming time that all stakeholders, including banks and other financial assistance and service providers and telecom companies, effectively coordinate and put in place a structured system for preventing and preserving the sanctity of transactions.

Customers and clients should also be made aware of the vulnerabilities, risks, and implications of new technological changes, said K.S Krishna, joint secretary of All India Bank Employees’ Association.

Thematic Areas of Research

The Cyber Security Research Areas ought to be developed for the following domains:

Cryptography, encryption, and cryptanalysis, including the Post Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Cryptanalysis including (i) quantum key distribution and (ii) quantum random number generators.
Critical Infrastructure in Security.
Embedded System Security in DBMS.
Zero Trust Architecture implications and Trusted Supply Chain.
IoT and Connected Devices Security in telecommunications.
5G Wireless Security, Cloud, Edge and Fog Computing Security.
AI in Information Security including Threat Intelligence and detection.
Digital Forensics and Monitoring tools in critical and emergency services.
Vulnerability prioritization, Remediation & Assurance.

India needs to build a robust research base for technological growth and product development, testing, evaluation and framework, quality analysis, and standardization to enhance the cyber security infrastructure of the country in a well-rounded fashion.

India saw three times more cyber attacks in 2020 than in 2019. The overall estimates for the duration from January to June compared with 1.1 million cyber–attacks reported and counted for all of last year, an almost threefold increment from 400,000 in 2019. This translates to nearly 3,000 cases reported per day as of 2020, from 400,000 in 2019.