Awareness and Discerning interactions in Cyber space are weapons to fight evolving Cyber-terrorism

Partha Roy, Kolkata: A conclave on “Cyber-terrorism and Data Siege” was organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Kolkata on 15th December 2023.

The conclave focused on fundamentals of cybersecurity, governance and raising awareness about cybercrimes. Informative sessions on topics such as Data Protection, Operation Technology (OT) Security and incident response was organised during the conclave. Mr. Hari Kishore Kusumakar, IPS, ADG & IGP-Cyber Cell, West Bengal Police; Mr. Sanjay Kumar Das, WBCS (Exec.), Additional Secretary, IT Department & State Information, Security Officer, Government of West Bengal; Ms. Manoshi Roychowdhury, Co-Chairperson, Techno India Group; and Mr. Alok Chattopadhyay, Deputy Director & Advisor, ICC attended the conclave and deliberated on various aspects of Cyber Security . A large no.of Cyber security experts and IT professionals attended the conclave.

Cyber crime is continuously evolving in cyber space with development new technologies at a fast space. Collective efforts of all stakeholders in Information Technology industry including Government, end users/ consumers can facilate minimising cyber crime. Government needs to strengthen cyber security legal frameworks as well as create Infrastructures to implement cyber laws in effective manner.

Today ,India is facing shortage of trained manpower to fight cyber crime. Government in collaboration with various educational institutions including institutions of higher learning need train and develop quality human resources to train and develop professionals for policing & to fight cyber crime at different levels in upcoming times. Continuous and sustained Awareness program on various evolving cyber crime need to be conducted through various media . Since cyber technology has made in road in early stages of learning in development of education from preteen stages , sensitization on cyber crime need to be started as a part of learning experience from early stages of learning. Awareness will facililate as well as will empower every individual irrespective of age to take discerning decisions from early stages of life.

Ms. Manoshi Roychowdhury, Co-Chairperson, Techno India Group, said, “Our educational institution plays a pivotal role in propagating awareness about cybersecurity and its impact amongst the students. In the era of digital media, we are becoming increasingly dependent on the internet ……. We must understand that the impact of an attack on any educational institution is an attack on society. It must be our collective effort to safeguard ourselves from malicious damage. In order to face these challenges, educational institutions must deploy state-of-the-art cyber security measures. Firewalls or encryption software are some of the crucial components of digital security. We must learn from each other and coordinate accordingly to fight against such threats. Establishing strong cyber security policies are important. We must encourage research in cyber security. This will not only foster a culture of awareness but also help us prevent malicious activities. It is not only a technological issue but a fundamental requirement.”

Mr. Sanjay Kumar Das said, “Cybersecurity and cyberterrorism are two distinctive concepts faced by today’s society. Knowingly or unknowingly, we face such threats. Cyber terrorism is far and beyond cybersecurity. Cyber terrorism is a force that we need to withstand…. Cyber threat or terrorism can be fought with deep-skilling. It is high time we must skill ourselves….. The 2013 strategy on cyber security talks about the need for best practices…. Vulnerability creeps in at any moment. It is time we think about securing our data. West Bengal is coming up with Security Operations Centres (SOC) and Network Operations Centres (NOC) to safeguard data. There are a lot of opportunities in this field. We are collaborating with universities too.”

Mr. Hari Kishore Kusumakar, IPS, ADG & IGP-Cyber Cell, West Bengal Police, said, “Many people don’t know about the nitty gritties of cyber terrorism and data siege. We are still in the evolution stage. Cops always face the dilemma of finding digital links to prove a case in the court. Currently, there is one cybersecurity cell in every police station. However, we need to equip ourselves in a better manner. We are expanding our pre-emptive measures on the digital front. Deep Fake and AI generated voice is a rising challenge for us as it has become easy to create and superimpose faces and voices. Moreover, our reliance on the web for information poses challenges too. Any information taken from the net needs to be verified as the virtual world is boundaryless. Awareness therefore is the best way forward.”