Blog Details

Author - Advocate Vishnu Kesarwani Associate Runa Jasia

Cybercrime is a crime that is done by an individual or by a group of individuals. It involves a computer or a computer network. The whole world revolves around the computer network system. It is essential for any organization to protect their data from hackers or any cyber-attacks. Data security is everything for any company. In both computers and computer networks, an attack is an attempt to alter, expose, disable, steal, destroy, or gain an unauthorized access to or make an unauthorized use of any asset is termed as a Cyber-attack. 

How to protect a business from cybercrime:

1. Data

The company runs on data. If anything happens to data, the whole of their business can be shut down. Hackers can attempt to erase all the data or can send various worms and viruses to the whole of the primary computer system. It is vital to keep a backup file for all the important data. It is equally vital to understand the nature of data in the sense that files can be easily retrieved in the needful time. The company must know how much amount of hardware storage as well as cloud storage is needed for keeping all the data at one place safely. 

2. Employees

• Giving necessary training to all the employees:

An employee uses the computer system of a company. It is essential to provide the knowledge required to all the employees regarding the importance of data. They must have the necessary expertise to handle all the things regarding data privacy and protection.

• Biometric system:

There must be a biometric system which recognizes only the employees who work in a particular organization. It is an approach to protect an organization from any cybercrime because none of outsiders or strangers can have access to any computer system.

• Unique domain user ID and password:

If an employee is going for a break or any work away from their desk, then they must lock their domain by pressing ‘Windows+L’ in the keyboard. Every individual must have their domain user ID and unique password to protect their data from any unwanted person. It is the responsibility of the IT department of that company.

• Restriction of mobile phones and other hardware devices

There must be restrictions on using a mobile phone in the office area. Employees may click photos, or they may capture any video of essential data and can even misuse it in the future. They may share private information about their projects publicly. Restrictions of bringing hardware devices like power bank, pen drive, external HDD, etc., must be implemented. Nobody can take any data outside the organization. Nobody can sell these critical data to other companies. Their pen drives or other hardware devices may contain viruses or other malicious worms. 

• ID cards

Every employee must wear their ID cards for their identity.

• Background check of all employees

Every organization must check backgrounds of all of its employees. They must verify through the third party if an employee had been involved in any cybercrime activity before or not. 

3. IT department

The information technology department of every organization must look into the security of data very profoundly. This is a grave matter of concern for any company. 

• Putting anti-virus and important firewalls

Anti-virus must be installed in every computer system. Necessary firewalls must also be present in every laptop or computer system. It protects the entering various malicious viruses from any unwanted websites. Anti-viruses must be updated at a regular time interval. They must be updating every feature and upgrade apps carefully.

• Blockage of other devices 

All the additional ports must not be present in the computer system. Nobody can put their pen drives, external HDD, etc., and cannot connect it. 

• Preventing access

Everyone must not be permitted to access the entire file. Unique password and user ID must only be accessible to specific individuals or IT administrator for access to important data, apps, or files. An employee will not be able to install an unwanted application or anything from the internet without permission of the IT authorities further. Social media websites must be blocked. There must be a category of websites that should not be opened in the computer system.

4. Business Continuity and Backup plans

There must be a business continuity and backup plan ready to use if in any case data breach happens. Work of any organization must not be hampered because of any data breach. IT laws must be followed by every organization.

5. Compliance with Applicable Laws and Industry Standards

The organizations must ensure their compliance with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and industry standards & frameworks. Such adherence with compliance requirements secures businesses from legal risks caused due to cybercrime. 

In India, cyber laws are contained in the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) which came into force on October 17, 2000. The primary purpose of the Act is to provide legal recognition to electronic commerce and to facilitate the filing of electronic records with the Government.

ISO 27001:2013 is one of the most famous and important information security standard that is widely implemented by the Industry. This standard prescribes security controls to be implemented for security of data and IT infrastructure of any business. Data Privacy Rules made under the IT Act, 2000 also suggests to implement this standard. 

Data Security Council of India (DSCI) also developed two frameworks for Security and Privacy controls those can also be followed against cybercrimes. 

6. Cyber Security Insurance Coverage

Business must ensure that they have adequate cyber security insurance coverage. Such insurance coverage helps them to mitigate losses caused due to any cyber attack, and even in case of consequential legal risk. 

For any business, it is imperative to plan the ways they will protect their organization from any cybercrimes. It can wreck a company without giving any warning. Every organization must take these securities step to protect their data. Clients and customers will only trust a company based on how they are a concern with their data privacy and security.