Sunday | 6 October 2024 | Reg No- 06
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Sunday | 6 October 2024 | Epaper

Protect Cyberspace from attacks

Published : Sunday, 3 December, 2023 at 12:00 AM  Count : 1092
Hiren Pandit
Cybercrime is increasing at a parallel rate with the use of information technology in the country. Violent extremism, rumors, political propaganda, fake news, gang culture, suicide, pornography, cyberbullying, fraud, extortion, piracy, and addiction are being organized through the misuse of technology. We have to keep up with the advancement of technology. However, to be risk-free in the use of technology, one must know the proper use of technology. We need to be more aware.

Cybercrimes are increasing in the country. Even though bullying has decreased, people from all walks of life are being victimized by this new form of cybercrime. However, women and children are the most victims of this crime. Financial fraud using the medium has also increased. Recently, such information has emerged in the Bangladesh Cyber Crime Propensity-2023 report. The voluntary organization Cybercrime Awareness Foundation (CICAF) has been publishing this report consistently. Worryingly, the report, published for the fifth time this year, notes that five surveys in 2018 showed a decrease in the tendency of victims of cybercrime to report to law enforcement.

In 2018, this rate was 61 percent, but recently it has come down to 20.83 percent. However, despite the decrease in the rate of complaints, the level of crime in the country has increased by 381.76 percent in recent times. As people's interest in online is increasing, fraudsters are also using this medium.Increasing the interest of users in online shopping, they often fall victim to fraud while buying products.Apart from this, the innovative method of setting up a trap in the name of the loan through the app is also worth seeing. Online gambling is also going on secretly.Common people are losing money by falling prey to flashy advertisements of fraudsters.They also do not resort to the law to avoid shame and trouble after being cheated.Many people do not know how to get redressal in the legal process.However, the amount of harassment using pornography has been seen to decrease in recent times.

According to the statistics mentioned in the report, the rate of online dissemination by distorting photos in Photoshop was 22.31 percent in 2018, which has decreased to 7.46 percent. This amount has been reduced by law enforcement action following complaints. However, crimes such as disabling IDs, job scams, and extortion by false promises have increased significantly. Criminals should be brought under the law through fair investigation in this regard. Another name forthe online world is the cyber world.Most of the people in the society are now living in the cyber world in one way or another.This cyber world is very scattered now.Cyberwari.e. attacks-retaliations, hacks, and various conflicts are going on in the cyber world.As a result, cyber security has now become the most important issue.

How to keep one's important or sensitive information safe in the institutional or personal field has now become a big challenge.20 years ago this October, US Homeland Security brought the issue of national cyber security to the fore.Cybersecurity awareness is more important than ever for us in the context of the current situation.Phishing attacks, ransom-war attacks and other attacks have increased exponentially.According to monitoring data, a cyber-attack is reported every 39 seconds.94 percent of companies worldwide have experienced some form of attack.The very alarming fact is that at least 95 percent of people fall victim to cyber-attacks by mistake.That is, cyber-attacks are usually caused by human ignorance or some kind of mistake.

The number of attacks on small and medium enterprises is increasing day by day. According to the Global State of Security, 66 percent of small and medium enterprises have experienced some form of cyber-attack in the past year. Emphasis should be placed on increasing awareness of cyber security best practices through various publicity campaigns and concerted efforts to prevent cyber intrusions.Apart from this, necessary steps can be taken individually and institutionally to prevent cyber-attacks and avoid the damage of attacks.Think before you click on a link.Before clicking on any link, you should carefully consider the pros and cons or risks.Phishing or malware is spread through various links and users' 'sensitive information' gets hacked.Arrange to 'install' immediately upon receiving any notification related to software updates and enable or turn on the auto-update option.

We need to use complex passwords. Complex passwords should be used especially for logging into social media, any software and various devices.Complex passwords must contain capital letters, small letters, numbers and special characters. Multifactor authentication ie in case of online log-in, user authentication must be verified with a one-time token by turning on the multifactor authentication option. Patch management i.e. regular updates of the operating system and other software is very important.On the second Tuesday of every month, Microsoft releases updates to its operating system and other software.We should properly review and install new updates as soon as they arrive.A specific process must be followed for patch management.

Emphasis should be placed on increasing awareness of cyber security best practices through various publicity campaigns and concerted efforts to prevent cyber intrusions. Apart from this, necessary steps can be taken individually and institutionally to prevent cyber-attacks and avoid the damage of attacks. Think before you click on a link. Before clicking on any link, you should carefully consider the pros and cons or risks. Phishing or malware is spread through various links and users' 'sensitive information' gets hacked. Arrange to 'install' immediately upon receiving any notification related to software updates and enable or turn on the auto-update option. We need to use complex passwords. Complex passwords should be used especially for logging into social media, any software, and various devices.

Complex passwords must contain capital letters, small letters, numbers, and special characters. Multifactor authentication ie in case of online log-in, user authentication must be verified with a one-time token by turning on the multifactor authentication option. Patch management i.e. regular updates of the operating system and other software is very important.On the second Tuesday of every month, Microsoft releases updates to its operating system and other software.We should properly review and install new updates as soon as they arrive.A specific process must be followed for patch management. All the employees of the organization should have proper knowledge about cyber security.

For that purpose, necessary training should be arranged for everyone.Only awareness can protect against social engineering and phishing attacks.May have a backup plan.Organizational information or data is very valuable.A proper data backup plan should be created to protect all valuable information.One copy of the data backup should be kept onsite and another copy offsite.IT security policy should be developed.Every organization, big or small, should have an IT security policy.

The organization's management and IT security team must work together to approve and implement the policy. Internal and External Testing.Regular security testing of organizations' networks, systems and software should be made mandatory.The organization's own IT team will conduct internal security tests once every month.Hire a reputable person or organization for external testing, who also has prior experience in penetration testing.Some regulatory and compliance international organizations deal with IT security regulations or guidelines, such as ISO, PCI, and HHS.According to the type of business of your organization, you can follow one or more compliances which will contribute the maximum to increase the overall rules and information technology security of the organization.

The writer is a columnist and researcher



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