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Cyber Security, the most widely heard term these days yet least understood refers to the processes or techniques employed in order to prevent our computers from cyber threats or hacks. But in order to know about what are the possible threats to our computers which need to be encountered.
The problems or threats that pose harm to a computer/laptop are referred to as cyber threats and the crimes committed or pertaining to computers are called cyber crimes. These crimes can cause a huge loss to a person or company destroying it’s whole set of data or much more.
So you all must be thinking what harm it causes to a common man who doesn’t have much technical stuff or least usage of computers. So to tell you how, I must quote examples of recent cyber thefts and cyber crimes in India, two of India’s top private banks, a top telecom company, a top media company and a stock exchange have all been victims of major cyber attacks or cyber thefts, and ransomware . Such cyber thefts cause loss of the huge section of the population. Some of the examples of Cyber threats as per the Economic times include Reliance Jio- It underwent a part of its data available to hackers , Zomato- 17 million user accounts were hacked, Renault India – Suffered Ransomware attack by Wanna cry in grand attack and Bank of Maharashtra was also hacked. These are just a few examples to what happened, several others can be found in the past few years majorly in the corporate sector.
The government has been devising several methods and cyber laws in order to reduce cybercrimes yet they become obsolete with time due to the evolving nature of security risks. Some of the security techniques include:
Authorization, authentication, encrypted smart cards, biometric systems, passwords, firewalls etc. The paragraph ahead describes, in brief, each of the methods to get a clear idea about each of the techniques.
Authorization basically refers to checking if the service provider has granted access to the web service to the requestor. It is generally done by asking the user a login id.
Authentication makes sure to check that a given web service is accessed as per the role specified-Client, provider etc.
Encrypted Smartcards are handheld smartcards that can generate a token that a computer system can recognize.Every time a new token is generated and so it cannot be hacked.
Biometric Systems are the most secure level of authorization. It includes a unique aspect of person’s body such as fingerprints, retinal patterns etc to establish a unique identity.
Firewall is used to provide unauthorized access to and from a private network. It can be implemented in both hardware and software. It further includes various techniques like Packet filter, Application Gateway, Proxy Server and Circuit level gateway
In addition to these techniques, there are certain cyber laws that are applicable worldwide to prevent cyber crimes and ensure security. Information Technology Act 2008 is one of the acts.
Furthermore, no software or law can protect you or your computer more than you can do. It is advised not to share your personal information to anyone be it your closed acquaintance and never login into your personal accounts from any unknown source. Safety and Security comes from within and Cyber Security is must in this digitalized world.
