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Cyber security is a huge issue in India at the moment. First of all, the country has been the victim of several cyber attacks. Secondly, the recent move by the government of demonetization has compelled many Indians to move from cash transactions to digital transactions. This in turn means that a lot of people now have their financial and personal information online. All of this means that cyber security is becoming more and more vital every day.
So far, it has been our responsibility to protect ourselves from cyber attacks. We have been warned against doing online transactions from computers that are on open networks such as educational institutes or internet cafes or parlours. We are also told that we need to install anti-viruses, firewalls and all sorts of other software that can cost a pretty penny. The expense means that the common man may not be able to afford these security measures.
Government Steps In
The government has stepped in to ensure that the public has greater access to tools that have to do with protecting themselves and their sensitive information online. It has established a new website known as the Cyber Swachhata Kendra. The Cyber Swachhata Kendra is a botnet cleaning center and center for malware analysis. It has been launched by the computer emergency response team or CERT-in. People can use this website or the Google Play app to download free apps to protect your mobile phone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer.
The website has a variety of tools available for people to download that include but are not limited to diagnostic tools that can hunt for malware and viruses on your systems. These solutions have been developed by the Center for Development of Advanced Computing or C-DAC. Below are the tools that are available on the Cyber Swachhata Kendra website.
Free Bot Removal Tool
This tool is provided by the anti-virus company Quick Heal to deal with internet robots that are also called crawlers, web bots and spiders. Bots are usually meant to perform tasks that are repetitive but they can also be part of malware. Such bots can take complete control of your computer and retrieve sensitive information such as passwords, financial information and keystrokes.
USB Pratirodh
The USB Pratirodh tool is meant for the security of your desktop computer. As the name suggest, it monitors and controls the usage of external media such as external hard drives, pen drives, cell phones and other mass storage devices that use the USB ports to connect to your system and are removable. The software scans the device for any type of malware and provides password protection and data encryption.
AppSamvid
The AppSamvid tool has to do with whitelisting on a desktop computer that runs the Windows OS. This means that only files that have been pre-approved can execute on the operating system, unlike anti-viruses that need the user to blacklist files so that they don’t execute. This gives the app a distinct advantage since it doesn’t require regular or frequent updates the way anti-viruses do. The app also provides protection against Trojans and malware.
M-Kavach
The M-Kavach tool is meant for mobile devices, specifically those that run the Android OS. It provides comprehensive security to such devices and deals with threats specifically meant for mobile phones. It prevents unauthorized access to resources such as Bluetooth, WiFi, mobile data and cameras. It also protects devices from JavaScript Malware. It allows users to restrict access to vital apps such as media apps and mobile wallets. In addition, it blocks unwanted calls and messages. In case the device is lost or is stolen, the app helps the owner track changes in SIM and also allows the owner to reset the device to factory settings and erase all contacts and call logs remotely.
Browser JSGuard
As the name suggest, this tool is meant to protect browsers and currently acts as protection for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. It is a browser extension that can detect malicious JavaScript and HTML attacks and protect against them. It also brings up an alert any time the user visits a website that is known to be malicious and provides details of the threat to the user.
Cyber security is vital to the security of the citizens of this country. The government’s initiative means that people don’t have to spend a bomb on ensuring that their information online remains safe. Moreover, the apps themselves are easy to install and don’t have a long list of learning requirements.
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