NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said cyber-dependency has increased the vulnerability to attacks against both civilian and military infrastructures.
Inaugurating the two-day Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Singh said called upon the Police Forces and Security Agencies of various countries to collaborate and defeat the threats posed by cyber crimes.
The theme of the Conference is “Challenges to Policing in 2020: How is Cyber Space shaping our approach to Cybercrime & Terrorism, How do we perform with it and take advantage of it.”
“I have identified few essential key drivers, such as threats through Internet, Cyber Security, Cyber Crimes, etc., which are relevant and I am sure this Conference will deliberate on them,” Singh said.
Network outages, data compromised by hackers, computer malware and other cyber related incidents and crimes have affected our lives. As the number of computers, mobile users, digital applications and data-networks are increasing day by day, so do the opportunities for exploitation, he said.
Governments, Defence forces, corporations, financial institutions, utility services, hospitals and other businesses collect, process and store a great deal of sensitive information on systems and transmit data across networks. With the growing volume and sophistication of cyber attacks, each one of us is required to protect sensitive information, as well as safeguard national security, the minister further said.
New technologies like Internet of Things, Virtual Currencies, Advanced Malware, Artificial Intelligence, etc. are fast spreading its tentacles. The Police are now expected to cope with such rapid changing technologies, as well. Across many countries many cyber criminals use technologies like dark net, proxy servers, The Onion Router (TOR) services to hide their identity.
Extensive use of VoIP, caller ID spoofing, use of crypto currencies, encrypted channel for communication, use of social media have virtually created syndicates of criminals irrespective of their nationality, he added.