IF YOU are to become the next generation manager, then you need to become more technology-savvy. This consensus emerged at the conclusion of an interactive seminar on ‘Issues and challenges on Internet security,’ organised by the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute Of Management and Development Studies (LBSIMDS) at Naveen Bhawan, U.P Housing and Development Board.

 

The future honchos studying at various management colleges were educated by some of the technocrats who sailed them through the vast world of Internet, its pros and cons and the ways and means to protect oneself against cyber crimes. Hackers are concentrating on intellectual hacking and not on the financial sector.

 

Jayant Krishna, regional head, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), in his inaugural address, explained the various threats like data tampering, data theft, virus and worm that obtain and also the relevant solutions like the Internet securities and anti-viruses.

 

“The data on the Internet stays only for a few seconds and leaves the system as soon as possible and is dependent upon the RAM. The danger lies when much of information in the form of web content is downloaded on the system,” said HM Srivastava, former director, KNIIT, Kanpur. He also emphasised that India should now come up with production of nano-amplifiers which are still imported from companies like Sony, Intel, etc.

 

“As soon as you log into ‘Yahoo.com’, you are logged into its Indian domain and are automatically redirected to ‘Yahoo.co.in’. It retrieves your information as soon as you click on the domain. Is it not hacking?” asked Sanjeev Batra, one of the students present over there. Answering the question himself, he said the portal had the legal right to redirect to the Indian server for ease of operations. He also asserted that cyber crime cannot be stopped but may be prevented. It can never be foolproof, yet we need to try to make it much more secure.

 

Addressing students on Intrusion Detection System (IDS), he said that this latest technology is the future of corporate houses as far as system securities are concerned. This raises an alarm as soon as any threat to the system is detected. But we need people to inspect the audit logs of the systems to make them more secure. Simply being connected to the system is reason enough to be hacked. A lot of software is freely available on the Internet, which is encouraging these practices among the youth. As far as motive is concerned there is nothing in particular behind hacking. Some people just get into it by chance. ‘Denial of service’ by some specific websites for some specific users results from mischief played by the hackers. Thus, a particular website is not able to provide services to its users because of unethical cyber practices. He said that IDS is like a kid, whom you need to watch and administer.

 

Sanjeev Batra also introduced terms like hacktivist to students. Avinash Agnihotri, sales manager, Planet Comnet, a certified ethical hacker, also educated the participants of the seminar on issues like defacement of websites, virus and worms, data sniffing and spoofing.

 

Sanjay Medhavi, Reader, Lucknow University, made the session interesting by defining an ideal security system as the watchdog of integrity of an organisation. He also stated that although prices of products on the internet are far less Indians do not buy them, as they suspect their system will be hacked. He said that organisations must be able to maintain the confidentiality of the information and must be very easy to use. He advised users to install personal firewalls on the system. He also emphasised the usage of VPN in private companies to curb loss of data to hackers. Usage of private and public keys by customers and the clients would also make people more secure. Firewalls are just guards who are to be told what contents are to be let in, while accessing the Internet.

 

A brisk assessment of the needs, development of a strict security policy, access control using digital signatures or biometrics (touch identification) could be the possible ways to guard against malpractices. The need for an efficient trigger team was also emphasised; it could detect the lacunas of the system before outsiders could get in and repair the loopholes.

 

“A hacker is a guy in his late twenties. He is good at work, but is dissatisfied with his job. He is adventurous and highly motivated. Possibly he is over-qualified for his current position,” said Aarvind Chaturvedi, DSP, STF. It is mandatory for ISPs to maintain the latest records pertaining to its loggers for at least ninety days. The glittering star of the event was Arvind Chaturvedi. The students were enthused by the cyber-cop of STF - he shared his experience with the other side of the cyber world.

 

“A key logger is a device which copies each and every key stroke on the system and is mostly used to retrieve private information in cyber café, which use this information in cyber practices” revealed Pramod Dixit, deputy director PNBIIT.