SAFE CYBERSPACE

With a vision to help solve our problems with efficiency and accuracy we humans laid the
foundation for a world filled with plethora of information with the help of INTERNET. We named
this virtual entity the CYBERSPACE. We started acknowledging this revolutionary change when
we started to access it with just one click, when every individual regardless of his/her status in the
society got a key to the door to the world of digitisation. With time, Cyberspace evolved in almost
every aspect. We started to find this virtual world much more interesting than real world. This
interest gradually became our necessity and this necessity encouraged the creation of virtual society.
Social media came into being. We started making a virtual profile of yourself in Cyberspace and
sharing your life with your friends, families. But, knowingly or unknowingly, we share our private
life with FRIENDS we didn’t know we had. When people started living in this virtual world, crimes
also shifted towards this digital world. Such crimes are called Cybercrimes. Some common types of
cybercrime attacks are: hacking, phishing, identity theft, computer viruses, software piracy etc.
Suddenly information became more valuable than money. Buying and selling of information started
taking place which led to the formation of Darknet. Cybersecurity measures were instituted to
combat cybercrimes, but the cybercrimes are taking on a new visage every day and so the
cybersecurity measures need to be upgraded.
The most difficult challenge in cyber security is the ever-evolving nature of security risks
themselves. Traditionally, organizations and the government have focused most of their cyber
security resources on perimeter security to protect only their most crucial system components and
defend against known treats. Today, this approach is insufficient, as the threats advance and change
more quickly than organizations can keep up with. As a result, advisory organizations promote more
proactive and adaptive approaches to cyber security.
Given the huge number of online users and continued efforts on affordable access, cybersecurity
needs to be integrated in every aspect of policy and planning. India needs to quickly frame an
appropriate and updated security policy, create adequate infrastructure, and foster closer
collaboration between all those involved to ensure a safe cyberspace.
A fully operational cyber command is the need of the hour, given that India’s digital capabilities lag
significantly behind regional and global players.