Dear Readers, in this edition I am trying to tell you something about ‘Information Security & its challenges’ which is very important to know in this Computer Era and I am sure that it will help you all in your relative fields. Over the past 10 years the Internet has become very important source in the India. People of all ages use it on a regular basis, and it has become one of the driving forces of the economy. From banking to shopping to communication, it has radically changed the way many people go about their daily lives. The increased availability of broadband connections allows more people to experience all that the Internet has to offer.

Unfortunately, some people have chosen to use the Internet and World Wide Web to hurt both individuals and organizations. They have developed a collection of tools and techniques that can be used for a variety of purposes, including stealing personal information, shutting down a company’s web site, or even chocking entire networks with massive “denial of service attacks”. Although the “Good Guys” try hard to keep ahead of the “Bad Guys”, not everything can be predicted and/ or prevented. Fortunately, there are certain safeguards that can be taken today which will greatly reduce the chances of becoming a victim tomorrow.

As per the current Scenario, almost 90% of the Internet users have experienced some cases of Cyber Fraud, such as Data Theft, Fake Emails, Financial Losses, Phishing, Credit Card Frauds, Key Logging, and many more. Instead of Cyber security solutions, most of the Internet users are not even aware that they are suffering from all of these Cyber Frauds. If we see and compare the stats, we get to know that the Cyber Frauds have been increased up to 70% than the previous year and this ratio is rising up day by day.

Nearly one out of every six Indian enterprises is impacted by critical issues of data loss. The study reveals data loss as the largest information security concern of Indian enterprises today. Large enterprises showed the highest awareness of DLP (84 %) while the awareness and adoption was very low in medium and small enterprises.

Challenges: Now a days, every computer user access the Internet frequently at least four to six times a week for various purposes like Online Shopping, Social Networks and blogs, Information Gathering, Netbanking, E-Communication, downloading of music, data, E-books and many more. However, it has been found that majority of computer users make the following mistakes mentioned below; which help the professional crackers to access the confidential information online, via various tricks & techniques and breach Information Security.

 Internet users use the same passwords for multiple Logins which is the main cause of Information theft.
 Very rare users look for authenticity of the Website by looking at the security provider due to which they become the victims of various attacks and hence lose their important information.
 Though the security awareness is getting increased day-by-day, however still computer users create very less authenticity barriers for the online transactions.
 Even, most of the user do not look for secure Web sites (https:).
 Users open any attachments attached along with their E-mail Ids from the unknown senders and even without scanning through the Anti-Viruses.
 Sharing of passwords with the friends and relatives which breach Information Security.
 Users even write their debit/ credit card no.s with the CVV numbers on papers and leave them on their desks or the cabins while working or making the transactions.
 Users provide their personal information like phone numbers, name, address, date of birth, school/ college name, and even share their photographs while chatting to other anonymous users who misuse the same information and make the illegal transactions or .
 At times, users also respond to the messages or bulletin board items that are obscene, belligerent or threatening due to which they become the victim by the professional crackers who tend to make Cyber Crimes.