Guard against demons on the Net

In an intricately interconnected world where digital technology is witnessing new breakthroughs every day, individual privacy and data protection are increasingly under scrutiny.

When every intimate detail from our Aadhaar and Pan cards to our bank accounts and all those that we consider extremely private, are interlinked, a breach could expose the worst fears we have lurking at the back of our minds - of evil characters exploiting the chinks in digital systems to make a fast buck or maybe just to prove that they can have the last laugh when it comes to digital safety.

On Monday, the nation woke up to the shocking news that the CoWIN app which almost every Indian citizen may have accessed to register for the Covid-19 vaccine when the pandemic was raging, had been breached. At risk was the personal data of millions of users which was reportedly available on the Telegram app.

Also endangered were sensitive details in personal documents like the Aadhaar, Pan and even passports which would have been submitted as part of the identification process for availing the vaccine shot.

Even as a political battle rages with Congress party leaders dubbing it criminal negligence and raising questions on why the government was sitting on a crucial data protection law, the common man is left wondering if his personal privacy and details are immune from such attacks anymore.

Mobile users nowadays receive all kinds of tricky and mischievous messages asking them to share sensitive information - something they have been forewarned not to do. There could be wily hackers lurking out there in the world wide web waiting to snatch away your hard earned savings using ingenious methods which is why private info needs ‘ fiery walls of steel’ against such attempts.

So are our personal details now all over the public domain after the most recent breach on the CoWIN app? Can they be unscrupulously manipulated by evil characters on the Internet to put us on the defensive and render us vulnerable to the evil designs of hackers and blackmailers?

There are reports which say that cyber-attacks will cost the world trillions of dollars yearly. Some claim a staggering 30,000 websites are being hacked daily. And there is no doubt that a majority of companies worldwide have been exposed to cyber-attacks and malware at one point of time or the other.

So how do we keep the world safe from digital piracy of this kind? Has the time come to put in place strict and foolproof measures which have the approval of nations worldwide to stop cyber-attacks from ruining our privacy? Will exemplary punishment to cyber criminals serve as an effective deterrent to those who prowl the Net looking for vulnerabilities in the digital framework?

 Spyware, Ransomware, Phishing, Botnets and Trojans - those were terms virtually unknown a few decades ago but are now all too familiar to anyone surfing the Net. A new digital world is no doubt taking shape which will make our lives more relaxed, comfortable and help us evolve as responsible, connected and aware world citizens.

But then we cannot afford to let our guard down against those who with their digital wizardry can meddle with everything we consider precious and inalienable to our happiness. There are enough safeguards against cyber criminals which can keep them at bay and they need to be shared nationally and globally.

And as we advance into the future, anti-cybercrime campaigns will have to become part of our learning process so that along with the ease of lifestyle which our computers and mobiles provide, we also have foolproof safeguards against the demons on the Net.