Are you a cybersecurity enthusiast? Then here are eight things you SHOULD know about the field.
Prof Manindra Agrawal, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur is also Project Director at C3iHub, a Cybersecurity Technology Innovation Hub at IIT Kanpur lists them out.
1. The first known computer virus was created in the early 1970s and called “The Creeper”, simply as an experiment. It led to the creation of the first antivirus programme, “The Reaper”.
2. In 2013-14, Yahoo was hacked and all three billion users’ data was compromised. Yahoo was fined $35 million in 2016 by the SEC for failing to report the breach in time.
3. WannaCry was the first ransomware worm that targeted computers running Microsoft Windows Operating System (OS) and demanded ransom in cryptocurrency.
4. In 2008, NASSCOM established the Data Security Council of India (DSCI), which ran cybersecurity awareness campaigns for law enforcement and other public sector organisations in India.
5. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) released India’s first National Cybersecurity Policy in 2013.
6. The National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) was established in 2014 to build situational awareness of cyber threats in India.
7. The cybersecurity industry is facing a significant skills gap, with millions of positions expected to remain unfilled globally over the next few years.
8. The most common type of cyberattacks are not sophisticated hacks but simple phishing scams that trick individuals into giving away sensitive information allowing the scamster to access the victims’ data.
