CII Security Awareness Week

Hello Friends,

Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) along with Department of Information & Technology and Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In) have established the Information Security Advisory Forum.

As a part of its many proposed activities the forum would be organizing Conferences, Training Sessions and Awareness programs for target audience (that include children, parents and teachers) who are often susceptible to cyber attacks and would provide tools and resources on the front lines of threats related to Phising and Spam.

On May 5 2008 they organized a seminar on Information Security "Building Trust in Computing" in Mumbai. The Seminar is a part of the ongoing CII campaign, which brought together participants from the banking, finance, government and consumers to a common platform to share views, thoughts, experiences and solutions to safeguard the Indian economy from cyber crime.

Various speakers were present at the event Mr Vikram Shah (President-India Operations Network App), Deepak Maheshwari (Director-Corporate Affairs Microsoft India Pvt Ltd.), Gulshan Rai (Senior Director Cert-In), Sameer Bedi (Asst Vice President HDFC Bank Ltd.), Japjit Singh Sandhu (CISO Yes Bank), Vikram Tiwathia (CIO, CII), Shekhar Kirani (Vice President, Verisign), Anirban Chaudhuri (Associate Vice President TNS India)

Mr Maheshwari said that with more and more people having criminal background using internet, online security and online safety have gained paramount importance. "We must secure our computers with technology and act in ways that help protect us against risks that come with internet use", explained, Mr Maheshwari. He further detailed various steps like turning on firewalls, use of automatic updates, installing and maintaining antivirus and anti spy software to meet online risks and threats to computers, families and personal information.

Mr Mukund Pawar, Inspector with Mumbai Police – Crime Branch present at the occasion put forth the role of police and their endeavors in controlling, detecting, investigating and punishing persons involved in cyber crime.  In response to queries on ways and means employed by Mumbai police to control cyber crime, Mr Pawar explained with the help of number of cases ranging from innocent cyber pranks to major cyber thefts, which the crime branch Mumbai police had registered and dealt, resulting in punishing the culprits. He assured the audience that the Mumbai Police was well equipped to tackle any threats in cyber crimes. He suggested the need to scale up this initiative of CII to reach out to more consumers.  "Cyber culprits are from different strata of society which show the widespread reach of cyber crime", said Mr Pawar. He also released a resource kit consisting of a CD, posters and website which will be made available to school children as a part of this campaign.

Mr Vikram Shah, President – India Operations, NetApp said that "We must treat internet information as an asset. As individuals we are entrusting someone else with our online assets. Where some are trust worthy, others might not be", cautioned Mr Shah. He further mentioned that most of the companies now had training programmes and information systems for all employees, implying how companies are becoming sensitive towards security of information. Commending on the initiative taken by CII, Mr Shah stressed that it was a right step towards raising awareness among the youth and children, who are the potential targets of cyber crime.

Speaking on safeguarding online identities and fraud prevention was Dr Shekhar Kirani, Vice President, Verisign who said that phishing is a global threat where India is the third largest phishing sites hosting country. "Phishing sites have increased from 4000 to over 55000 in 18 months with the result that consumer distrust is growing at alarming speeds", emphasized Mr Kirani. He went on to explain various steps  to be taken for identity protection like avoiding public unsecured computers for logging on to online banks accounts, ensuring the padlock sign on the sites, presence of  security certificates providers seal on sites, among others.

Overall the Seminar was well received, and there was good takeaways for the audience.

Please contribute with your views on Cyber Crime, share your experiences and suggestions

Regards

Viral