The Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry conducted its CEO Forum – 11th Breakfast Meeting on 5th October 2018 at Taj Gateway Hotel, Ernakulam. Mr. V Venugopal, President of the Chamber delivered the welcome address and introduced the speaker for the meeting. Mr. Nandu Govindankutty, Director – Barclays UK & Co-founder of MADTA spoke on the importance of Psychological Resilience and Cyber Security, a rapidly changing threat landscape.
Using internet has become an integral part of life in the modern world. From communicating via instant messages to banking and shopping, nearly every aspect of our life revolves around the cyber world. But with every leap in technology comes its own set of side effects. These unwanted features are a challenge that every developer should be able to tackle to ensure optimum results.
Mr. Nandu Govindankutty touched upon the importance of cyber security and also how everyone are prone to cyber attacks. A situation where almost everyone ranging from a business organization to an individual could be victimized is by email or SMS phishing. Phishing is a type of attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers by disguising as a trustworthy entity. Here the user is tricked into clicking a malicious link, which can lead to the installation of malware thereby revealing sensitive information.
Another important aspect which contributes to cyber attacks is the use of public Wi-Fi without a VPN protection. The same features that make free Wi-Fi desirable for consumers make them desirable for a hacker also that it doesn’t require an authentication to establish a connection. This gives the hacker uninterrupted access to one’s information. But if you have a VPN, even if hacker manages to get into the system, all your sensitive data will be encrypted.
Another major contribution to the cyber attacks which mostly go unnoticed is giving permissions to applications in your phone. For example if an app has permission to microphone it can record whenever at its will. The same sets of problems are applicable to smart TV also.
Through social media, one can share thoughts, images, and activities and so on. Also one can take a peek look into somebody else’s lives anonymously through social media. Unfortunately these sites pose a threat to privacy and even personal security. Even the details one put on LinkedIn can be accessed by anybody around the world. All these collectively form a huge threat to not only business organizations but also to a common man.
Mr. Nandu Govindankutty also cited examples of cyber attacks that happened around the world like Bangladesh Bank attack, Cosmos Bank attack, the involvement of Zattara. He also shed some light on the involvement of insiders in an organization in cyber attacks.
Mr. A.K. Nair, the Past President of the Cochin Chamber presented a Memento to Mr. Nandu Govindankutty. Mr. C.S.Kartha, Past President of the Chamber delivered the Vote of Thanks. The interactive session came to an end with a networking breakfast by 10 am.
