N. Raghuraman’s column – In this interconnected world, doing what is morally wrong may not actually be considered wrong | एन. रघुरामन का कॉलम: आपस में जुड़ी हुई इस दुनिया में नैतिक रूप से गलत करना असल में गलत नहीं माना जाएगा

N. Raghuraman, Management Guru

The notion that cyber security is limited to securing only information technology (IT) has been termed wrong by experts. They feel that it has moved from its original place of IT to OT (Operations Technology).

Security people in IT focus on protecting information and data, among other things. But in OT security, the world is ready to make this process completely secure, from power plants to production lines, and thousands of other things, even websites, where outsiders come in and have the chance to break the security protocols. There is apprehension.

At the recently concluded Global Cyber ​​Security Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, global cooperation was called for and digital security was at the center of discussion. The digital future is going to be the lifestyle of our next generation, so many industry leaders are focusing on taking collective action to make it secure.

This could be one reason why big companies appreciate young minds when they break the company firewall to make OT secure. 20 year old A., doing BCA from Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Chennai. Take Mageshwarhan, who hacked NASA’s email system.

She immediately reported the hack to NASA through BugCrowd under NASA’s Vulnerability Disclosure Policy (VDP). As soon as he received the information, Mageshwarhan received a letter of commendation from Mike Witt, NASA’s senior information security officer, on September 18.

It read, ‘On behalf of NASA, we would like to recognize your efforts as an independent researcher in identifying the weak link on the NASA website and reporting it to us responsibly while following VDP policy and guidelines.’ It read, ‘Your information has increased our awareness of generally unknown vulnerabilities and has helped us protect the integrity and availability of NASA information.

Please accept this letter as a token of our appreciation for your efforts. Mageshwarhan’s discovery has been rated as a high-medium bug, and the agency worked quickly to secure the servers.

Earlier, the UN had also inducted Mageshwarhan’s name in its Information Security Hall of Fame, informing him about the open access of the UN directory, which contained sensitive business data and personal information.

Since the world is connected to technology, anyone can attack from anywhere, hence democratization of cyber security expertise is going to be necessary in the near future to deal with the increasing digital crime (which is being fueled by AI tools).

In the first quarter of 2023, Microsoft reported a tenfold increase in password-based attacks on cloud identities, from three billion to 30 billion per month. The company also detected nearly 6,000 cyber attacks over the past year that targeted critical infrastructure. Talents like Mageshwarahan will help companies overcome the shortage of skilled people. Every company is securing itself not just by design, but by default.

Most IT companies have developed a “security first” mentality and culture after such incidents, instead of honing their security. That’s why these companies will always be on the lookout for intelligent people like Mageshwarhan. Tomorrow the idea of ​​providing a simpler but more secure way to identify individuals without the need to remember passwords will gain importance.

The bottom line is that In this interconnected world, doing something morally wrong may not actually be considered wrong and, in some cases, may even lead to job offers. But for that, not only does your mind need to be good, your morals should also be of high standard!