Cyber Hygiene Will Only Save Indian From Cyberattacks Becoming cyber-secure requires more than government efforts; digital users across India must learn basic cyber hygiene to protect themselves from cyber attacks and fraud

The year is nearing its end, but 2024 created a remarkable buzz worldwide regarding modern technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, and Cybersecurity. In India, in particular, 2024 will be remembered for transforming the startup ecosystem and initiating government efforts to educate Indians on basic cyber hygiene through campaigns reaching rural populations in vernacular languages among other initiatives. However, becoming cyber-secure requires more than government efforts; digital users across India must learn basic cyber hygiene to protect themselves from cyber attacks and fraud. India is currently the third most cyber-attacked country in the world.

Sridhar Sidhu, Chief Vice President at AT&T, shares this perspective, noting that major global cyber breaches often result from lapses in basic hygiene. "Anything that is basic and routine is boring," he said.

Explaining how cybersecurity issues are universal and affect everyone, Sidhu said, "Even a small artisan in Rajasthan, who probably sells their artistic work on Amazon or Flipkart, is connected to the network, right? So, every organization is either on the cloud or using their own large data center and other third-party service providers and extended services. From that standpoint, you need to be very diligent with your cybersecurity, keeping your house clean while also being vigilant about outside threats."

Discussing how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help address external threats, Bala Prasad Peddigari, Chief Innovation Officer at Tata Consultancy Services, explained, "Detecting false positives is very important so that you're investing your strengths in the right places. Recently, there were several hoax bomb threats to the airline industry. How do you detect whether it's a hoax? You can't take it lightly; you need measures in place to determine if it's real. That's where AI can provide a probability factor—whether it's 90 per cent, 80 per cent, or 100 per cent likely—helping make informed decisions."

Adding more cases where AI can combat cybersecurity threats, Dr. Ganesh Ghalme, Head of the Department of AI at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, explained that AI can help organizations understand behavioral analysis and identify sources of threats, including analyzing an attacker's intent, streamlining security operations, and using predictive AI to anticipate threats before they occur. He further added, AI could be a great help in automating several tasks, "Many level 1 and level 2 security teams work on tasks that can easily be automated, saving time and resources," he explained.

Sidhu further advised, "Keep your foundation reasonably strong, keep your doors closed and windows locked, which means having your basic cyber hygiene in place" to guard against everyday cyber scams.

The speakers shared their insights at the Hyderabad Annual Cybersecurity Knowledge Summit, 2024.