SHILLONG, May 29: Member of Parliament (MP) from Germany, Florian Müller has called for a pro-active cybersecurity policy at the international level. Müller said India with its flourishing IT sector is best placed to be the leader in this field.
Speaking at the panel discussion on “Cybersecurity in Comparative Indian and German Contexts” organised by the office of International Affairs, NEHU, in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), Indian chapter, held at the Multi-Convention Hall, NEHU here on Monday, Müller said there is a need to build convergence on the issue of national security at the international level.
According to him, there must be an agreement on what is allowed and what needs to be banned in the cyber space adding that there must be an instrument for punishment for violation of rules.
While urging on the need to decentralise digitisation, the German MP said that if China and USA alone shape digitisation then cyber space would become a risky area.
According to him, the world now needs dominance with cyberspace.
Stating that India is an economic powerhouse and hotspot of digitisation, the German MP said that India’s achievements are outstanding. He further stated that humanity should be thankful for the entrepreneurship of Indians.
Müller further observed that the digital milestone of the future would not come only from California. He said society as a whole needs to build resilience whether as an individual or as a state.
He also stressed that there is a need to decentralise digitisation. “If China and the US are the lone chains of digitisation then cyberspace would increasingly become a risk area,” the German MP said.
Müller also narrated his experience of representing the mountainous province of Attendorn in Western Germany located on the foothills of Alps in Bundestag and found parallel with Shillong and Meghalaya.
Securing data about genetic resources, climactic specialities and overall natural environment of a mountainous ecosystem in the digital world is a prime necessity of securing economy and culture, the MP stated.
Editor of The Shillong Times, Patricia Mukhim said that the public which uses technology and the internet should be made aware of the concept of cyber crime so that they can be more careful with the use of technology. Mukhim lamented that as of now the police are not equipped to detect cyber crime at the rate at which it is happening.
She observed that there are millions of cases reported but a very relatively small number of prosecutions.
Mukhim said there are users of technology who are subject to fraud every single day adding that people are falling trap to messages received on their mobile phones to provide their pan card number and bank details.
“Even educated people are being duped by such messages for fear that their bank accounts would be disabled. But when people go to the bank they are told that they have been alerted not to respond to such messages,” Mukhim said.
Meanwhile, noted economist, Prof B. Panda said that cybercrime is the third largest economy of the world and it is even bigger than drug trafficking.
According to him, global cybercrime will grow by 15% per year over the next five years, reaching $10.5 trillion USD annually by 2025.
Dr. Adrian Haack, German representative to the India Office of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, argued how India and Germany should work together in securing the cyber environment from possible attacks originating from countries like China.
He pointed out how Germany had built up databases covering all important information at the level of cities and how such databases can be transmitted in a user friendly manner. He urged governments to build such databases so that insecurity and prying could be neutralised.
Speaking as an expert in Information Sciences, Prof P Hangsing of NEHU added that there are ethical boundaries that need to be drawn between how much governments be allowed to breach privacy and how much right of privacy be protected by empowering the citizens. He enumerated how poor and the ordinary do suffer from data leaks, fraud and other such cybercrimes and suggested a closer ethical networking for the purpose of cybersecurity.
