Air India Data Breach

Cyber Attack

• It is an assault launched by cybercriminals using one or more computers against a single or multiple computers or networks.
• It can maliciously disable computers, steal data, or use a breached computer as a launch point for other attacks.
• It targets computer information systems, infrastructures, and computer networks.
• Cyberwarfare: It is the use of digital attacks or computer- or network-based conflict to attack a nation, causing harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting the vital computer systems, infrastructure, etc.
  • In these types of attacks, nation-state actors attempt to disrupt the activities of organizations or nation-states, especially for strategic or military purposes and cyberespionage.
• Tools of Cyber Attacks
  • Malware: It is a malicious software to disrupt computers and can include Virus, Spyware, Trojans, etc.
  • Phishing: It is the method of trying to gather personal information using deceptive e-mails and websites.
  • Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attack: It shuts down a machine or network, making it inaccessible to its intended users.
  • Hacktivism: It is misuse of a computer system or network for a socially or politically motivated reason.
  • Social Engineering: It is the term used for a broad range of malicious activities accomplished through human interactions enticing users to provide confidential information.
• Impact of Cyber Attacks
  • Economic Costs: This involves theft of intellectual property, corporate information, disruption in trading and the cost of repairing damaged systems.
  • Reputational Costs: This includes loss of consumer trust and loss of future customers to competitors due to poor media coverages.
  • Regulatory Costs: GDPR and other data breach laws can impact an organization to suffer from regulatory fines or sanctions due to these cybercrimes.

(Image Courtesy: GL)

(Image Courtesy: CT)

Safeguards Available In India Against Cyber Threats

• Information Technology Act, 2000 (Amended in 2008): It is the main law for dealing with cybercrime and digital commerce in India.
• National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre: It was created under Section 70A of IT Act 2000 to protect cyber-infrastructure.
• Cyber Emergency Response Team, India (CERT-In): It is the national nodal agency for Cyber Security and is Operational since 2004.
• National Cyber Security Policy, 2013: The policy provides the vision and strategic direction to protect the national cyberspace.
• Cyber Swachhta Kendra: Cyber Swachhta Kendra helps users to analyse and keep their systems free of various viruses, bots/ malware, Trojans, etc.
• Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C): Launched in 2018, It is an apex coordination centre to deal with cybercrimes.
• Cyber Surakshit Bharat: It was launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy) in 2018 with the aim to spread awareness about cybercrime and building capacity for safety measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff across all government departments.
• Cyber Warrior Police Force: It was organised on the lines of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in 2018.