Remember, bad guys are everywhere

By: Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
Privacy is one of the most urgent issues associated with information technology and digital media. People should protect their privacy, control their digital footprint and escalate the protection of privacy and data as priority.  It serves as a timely reminder for organisations about the importance of correctly handling and safeguarding individuals’ personal data. It is led by the National Cyber Security Alliance, a non-profit, public private partnership focused on cyber security education for all online citizens.
Internet banking frauds and ways to avoid them is undoubtedly a topic that has been done to death. And yet, people across country continue to lose money in such frauds with an alarming frequency. Today computer and internet has become very common and necessary for our daily life. Back in 1990, less than 1 lakh people were able access Internet worldwide. Now around 2.5 million people are hooked up to surf the net around the globe
The internet brings joy to our lives but at the same time it has some negative sides too. The cyber criminals are always in a search to find out the new ways to attack the possible internet victims. New generation is growing up with computers and most important is that all the monetary transactions are moving on to the internet. So, it has become very important for us to be aware of the various Cyber Frauds being committed with the help of computers. The Cyber Frauds today are on rise and the latest & perhaps the most complicated problem in the cyber world. According to a survey, for every 500 Cyber Frauds, only 50 get reported to the police, and just one out of this 50 is registered as an FIR.
Personal data is now considered as the “black gold” of tomorrow, in particular because it enables companies to better address the market needs. There are many individuals who are generally unfamiliar about the risks related to the protection of their personal data and of their rights in this respect. It is well known fact that most of the citizens all over the world are unaware about their rights in relation to data protection while some people are breaching data protection laws unknowingly on a daily basis.
According to an Internet and Mobile Association of India report, India has around 400 million Internet users. Data protection is a bigger part of our lives. But, often we ignore its importance. We come across data protection issues at work, when browsing the internet, when dealing with public authorities, when we shop, when we book tickets online and in many other circumstances. Whether data is stored on premise or with an external private or public cloud provider, organisations should assess and reassure both employees and customers that data is collected, processed, accessed, shared, stored, transferred and secured in accordance with all laws and regulations, and that data is only being used in pre-agreed, legitimate and lawful ways.
Maintaining of data bases is not as much difficult task as maintaining its integrity, so in this era the most concerned debate is going on to innovate a perfect method of data protection. Raising awareness of, and compliance with, data protection and privacy across the organisation must not be seen as an exercise that can be satisfied once a year. It requires ongoing committed activity from everyone within the organisation, from the top down/bottom up. It is the very big headache for the business houses, financial institutions and the governmental bodies so as to give adequate protection to their huge databases.