Cyber Security
In my last blog I elucidated the vital role of education in the Digital Globalization journey of New Zealand. In this blog I will talk about yet another important aspect of digital globalization i.e. Cyber security. I will also discuss some of the steps New Zealand can take to counter the increasing cyber crime incidents.
With more and more data and information coming online the cyber crimes are increasing many-folds in New Zealand. Around 900 different types of cyber-attack are detected every month, along with a large increase in cyber-ransoming. The Symantec Internet Software Threat Report 2016 revealed New Zealand is having 108 attacks per day last year from ransom-ware. More recently cyber ransoming has been increasingly effecting individuals and organizations in New Zealand. In cyber ransoming, hackers locks files or intellectual property, and demand money before they are unlocked. Some individuals are asked to pay up to $400 but big businesses or organizations are sometimes demanded ransoms of tens of thousands of dollars to decrypt the files. These activities have increased by 163 percent over the last year. Government security agency GCSB has detected series of cyber-attacks aimed at New Zealand public organizations. In a cyber security summit in Auckland Mr John Key told that more than 8,56,000 New Zealanders are affected by cybercrime each year and last year cyber crime costed New Zealand around $257 million.
To counter this upward trend in cyber threats the Government is investing 22.2 million from Budget 2016 to set up a new national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). This team will be responsible for monitoring, tracking and advising on cyber security incidents or attacks affecting New Zealand. The national CERT will be solely dedicated to cyber security and will also work closely with other international teams to manage cyber attacks, providing advice for organizations and individuals on how to respond to these attacks.
While this clearly shows that the government is heading in right direction but certainly much more is needed to train and educate the people about keeping their information and identities safe online. While big organizations may have good tools to protect their data online but SMEs need more support around securing their data online. At this stage it will be good to go through some of the steps being taken by other governments to handle cyber security.
Stay Smart Online: This is an Australian government’s cyber security website. Stay Smart Online Alert Service is a free service for Australian internet users, to make people aware about recent online threats and how they can be managed.
Subscription to the website sends up to date security threat alerts. It also provides home and small business users with easy to understand online safety and security information and solutions to help protect their personal and financial information online.
SingCERT: Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team was set up to facilitate the detection, resolution and prevention of cyber security related incidents on the Internet.
SingCERT provides technical assistance and coordinates responses to security compromises, identifies trends in hacking activities, and works with other security agencies to resolve computer security incidents. SingCERT also disseminates timely information and alerts on the latest violation security issues to the general public via SingCERT website and SingCERT Mailing List. Companies with interest to learn about general security issues can attend seminars and conferences organized by SingCERT. The general public can also obtain security-related information from the SingCERTs website.
Cyber Street Wise: Cyber Streetwise is a cross-government UK campaign, funded by the National Cyber Security Programme, and delivered in partnership with the private and voluntary sectors.
The aim of the website is to measurably and significantly improve the online safety behavior and confidence of consumers and small businesses. It also provides free tools like antivirus, privacy scanners, firewall etc to protect all kind of devices.
Stop Think Connect: It is a global online safety awareness campaign sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security to help all digital citizens stay safe and secure online.
It shares approaches and strategies for the public to keep themselves, and their communities safer online. It also aims to engage the public, the private sector and state and local governments in an effort to improve cyber security.
After all this discussion in conclusion i would like to add that it is great move that New Zealand government is looking to invest in strategies to counter cyber security by setting up a new national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). It will be great if the government organizes regular seminars and conferences to make people and organizations aware about general cyber threats.
Having strict laws to take action against cyber attacks would discourage some of the cyber crime activities. For example in Singapore, the Computer Misuse Act (the CMA) is the fundamental legislative body that deals with matter related to cybercrimes. The government has taken much stringent actions on cyber crimes, including censorship.
Following on the policy of “prevention is better than cure”, keeping the people and businesses aware of the impending cyber security threats through some website, email alert or radio announcements will save a lot of money spent in fixing the damages later on. Singapore Government’s scam alert website has been a great success in preventing its people from falling into the traps of fake website and forged online advertisements. Scam alert website contains an extensive list of type of scams and the people or businesses being targeted. Through this website people can also share their own stories to prevent other people from falling prey to the online scams.
In short along with the government the effort to curb cyber crimes would need a collaboration from people, communities, private sector, technology gurus and international cyber cell teams.
Please do share your view about how cyber crime can be prevented in New Zealand.
