Digital India to Secure India

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA
 

India's digital transformation has been impressive, driven by initiatives like "Digital India" and the rise of a vibrant tech sector. However, ensuring a secure and successful future necessitates a strong focus on cybersecurity alongside this rapid progress.

India is facing a fascinating and complex situation when it comes to its digital transformation. 

Aadhaar: This unique identification system has the potential to streamline a wide range of services, from financial inclusion to welfare distribution. It can also improve efficiency and transparency in governance.

Digital India: This initiative aims to provide access to technology and create a "knowledge economy." This could lead to increased innovation, entrepreneurship, and job creation. Widespread mobile penetration: Mobile phones are increasingly becoming the primary way for Indians to access the internet and digital services. This can bridge the digital divide and empower individuals and communities.

The rapid pace of digitization often outpaces the implementation of robust security measures, leaving systems vulnerable to attack. The growing digital footprint of individuals, businesses, and government agencies creates a larger attack surface for malicious actors to exploit.

We can’t deny the fact of increasing Cyber-attacks on India by State-Sponsored actors to even rogue elements globally and locally. Presently, India faces relentless cyberattacks each day, targeting its critical infrastructure such as banks, power grids, telecommunications, internet services, hospitals, defense facilities, as well as governmental and corporate entities.

Instances of phishing scams, ransomware assaults, data breaches, and cyber-industrial espionage appear to be increasing steadily, with India’s financial sector encountering over a million incidents.

According to a Reserve Bank of India report, the situation is quiet alarming and highlights the urgent need for India's financial sector to modernize its cybersecurity strategies. The financial sector encountered over a million cyber intrusions during the initial ten months of 2023, equating to approximately 4,500 cyber assaults per day directed solely at this sector. The shift towards mobile banking, remote work, and cloud technology introduces new vulnerabilities that traditional security measures may not be able to address effectively.
The recent cyber-attacks on various institutions, including municipalities and key hospitals, highlight the growing vulnerability of India's digital landscape at all levels, including the third tier of government. These incidents serve as a stark reminder of the urgency for robust cybersecurity measures.

According to CERT-In, the number of cybersecurity incidents has been tripling rapidly over the past few years. The Indian Government is undertaking various efforts to strengthen its cybersecurity capabilities through initiatives such as the National Cyber Security Policy, National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), etc.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology also launched a nationwide $85 million Information Security Education and Awareness program to spread cybersecurity awareness and education at schools, colleges, and government and private sector organizations.

In addition to cyber-attacks, another emerging challenge is “Synthetic Fraud” the most recent Cybercriminal Activity that has become the fastest-growing financial crime across the world.

There is an increase in people creating artificial identities what we can term as “Frankenstein Identities”, fabricated identities stitched together from stolen or fake information, with the primary purposes of stealing, defrauding is a growing concern in India and globally. Synthetic identity fraud begins with perpetrators steal real identification numbers like Aadhaar, PAN, or driver's licenses. This can be done through various methods like hacking databases, purchasing stolen data on the dark web, or social engineering tactics.

Such Frankenstein Identities then apply for loans, credit cards and operate until detected, but keep multiplying rapidly thereby landing heavy damage to the financial system besides laundering the money. Synthetic Fraud scammers usually play the long game, investing time in constructing a credit history with the credit bureaus. After establishing a credit profile, they proceed to apply for credit across multiple financial institutions until they secure approval. 

It is high time to embrace privacy by design, the privacy-by-design approach is one strategy every company should adopt to address the challenge of balancing innovation and compliance. The principles of this approach include being proactive, not reactive; having privacy as the default setting; embedding privacy into product design; ensuring end-to-end security and transparency; and respecting users’ privacy by offering strong privacy defaults, appropriate notice and so on.

Going forward, Businesses need to be transparent about the data they collect - why they collect it, and how they use it. It is high time for the business houses, hotels and hospitals who collect the PII data at the entry point, they should also provide clear mechanisms for individuals to exercise control over their data.