The word cyber involves the use computers/information technology. Cyberspace, also called as virtual space, is associated with usage of internet worldwide and has no geographical limitations. It leads to total interconnectedness of people through computers and technology. While this has drastically increased the avenue of connection world wide and brought in humongous benefits, it also has opened a Pandora’s box.
Types of Cyber Threats
Nefarious actors attack in different ways to compromise confidential information or to create ruckus. Cyber crimes consist of crimes like hacking(illegal intrusion into some one else’s computer system/network), phishing( fraudulent attempt to seek sensitive information), cyber stalking (repeated stalking or harassment online), distributed denial of service(cyber intrusion achieved by overloading IT networks with obsolete requests and preventing legitimate requests to come in), dissemination of malicious softwares ( malwares like virus, trojans, spyware), data theft( stealing of confidential information without authorization), network interference(delay in data transmission or temporary disruption), digital forgery (use of technology to fake a document), cyber warfare(politically motivated attacks), internet fraud, telemarketing fraud, hate crimes etc. In the latest list of cyber crimes is the new entry of disinformation.
Disinformation & Cyber threats
Disinformation also is a type of attack that compromises our cognitive(realted to thinking, reasoning, remembering) being. Information is manipulated to create social discord, polarise, create friction in society and at times even influence the outcome of an election. Further, deep fakes complicate the situation even more. Deep fakes use artificial intelligence tools to fabricate or create images/audios/videos of a person to showcase a situation which would never have happened but is fake. This it does in a very natural way which is difficult to detect and in cases can be done by machines only. This all leads to cognitive hacking where target audiences’ thoughts and actions are changed using disinformation to hamper the social fabric. Hackers take the advantage of cognitive bias prevalent in minds of people. Thus, the implications of cognitive hacking can be more disastrous as it leads to social engineering threats on a mass scale.
Cyber Laws and way ahead
Cybersecurity focuses on protection from such wide ranging online attacks. The government of India came up with Information Technology Act, 2000 and National Cyber Security Policy, 2013 to tackle this menace. Some of the important stake holders include: National Information Board, National Crisis Management Committee, Department of Information Technology, National Cyber Response Centre-Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, National Information Infrastructure Protection Centre etc. Most of them are associated with Ministry of Home Ministry and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to coordinate the efforts. There are many Intergovernmental organisations and initiatives too to address cybersecurity at the policy level. They are: Council of Europe, Internet Governance Forum, United Nations, Conferences on Cyberspace etc. Also, more than 1,000 entities have signed the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace for stability and security in information space. Likewise, 52 countries and international bodies have signed the Christchurch Call to Action to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. Further, as way ahead, to counter disinformation we can employ following counter measures:
1) Defense in-depth- It is an information assurance strategy that provides multiple defensive measures if a security control fails. Authenticity and provenance solutions can intervene before disinformation gets posted. If it still gets posted, detection solutions using artificial intelligence and humans can come in handy.
2) Antivirus systems can help by defending against attacks that got through
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