Cyber Security Issues in Social Media

Gopinath Shanmugam, Lead Consultant – ERP for CII’s Session on Achieve CyberSecurity Together

In today’s civilization Internet is an increasing element of day to day activity. In particular children and youth, for whom social networking is one of the most popular activities, has opened the security threat matrix adding to the challenges of online internet experience. Protecting them from cyber space malice adds to the woes of cyber-paternalism, and cyber-libertarianism opening up issues related to national cyber security spectrum. 

Achieve CyberSecurity Together

Calling Out to all those interested in cyber security and wish to convey their thoughts

CII is organising a conference on  ‘ACT – Achieve CyberSecurity Together’ on 13 July 2013 at Hotel Hilton, Chennai, and coinciding with this, we are reaching out to those who might be interested to contribute articles on Cyber Security

All articles will be compiled and circulated to all the delegates, senior officials and participants from the Cyber Security sector.

Your article should imbibe any one of the below listed topics:

• Establishing Reliable Security in Cloud Networks
• Establishing an effective national cyber security infrastructure – especially what the Govt intends to Private sector participation
• Cyber and Network security for Banking
• Cyber and Network security for MSMEs
• New trends in Cyber Forensics
• Future trends in Data Management
• Containing the Deadliest attacks

Submission: We would like you to maintain the limit of 500 – 600 words and send a brief profile of the author with photograph. The paper needs to be forwarded to the undersigned on or before 30st June 2013 by email.

The conference will analyse the identified Problem: “Internet” = a hostile network like the wild-west WITHOUT a sheriff! 

The objective of the “Achieve CyberSecurity Together (ACT)” – with a theme “Face Cyber Threats & Challenges” is to discuss greatest emerging cyber treats across the nation. The challenges, technological gaps and necessary research directions related to cyber security, as well as the best suited instruments to implement the tasks.

Please contact us directly if you have any questions on 044 – 42444555  / dhwani.shukla@cii.in

Please note: plagiarism & a paper without proper references & sources will not be accepted.

National Optical Fibre Network: viable business models for inclusive growth

A report on the role of broadband for inclusive growth in India, ‘Creating viable business models for inclusive growth through the National Optical Fibre Network’ by CII & KPMG, was recently released by Mr MF Farooqui, Secretary, Telecom. 

The report explores how, using the national fibre infrastructure, commercially feasible business models for relevant e-services in areas such as education, healthcare, banking and agriculture can be built on the foundation of a Public-Private-Panchayat ecosystem.  This report is expected to serve as a useful reference for the Government and the industry as they jointly deliberate on how best the national fibre network asset can be leveraged.

Key Highlights:

• With its promise of delivering speed up to 100 Mbps, the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) has significant potential to deliver e-services to India’s six lakh plus villages in the areas of education, healthcare, banking and agriculture. These services can speed up the Government’s inclusive growth agenda while generating rural employment, skill-building and growth.
• Private players may have been hesitant in certain instances to venture out into the remote areas as the business case of being able to provide scalable, profit-driven services appears uncertain. However, several e-service pilots have been trailed successfully on a limited scale and with a non-profit motive, indicating that there is demand for such services
• To scale up these e-services, a Public-Private-Panchayat ecosystem – comprising the Central and State Governments the providers of enabling products and services (both public and private), and local governing bodies (Gram Panchayats) – needs to come together and build commercially sustainable business models that provide affordable services to the end-users and also generate adequate commercial and social returns
• In Healthcare, telemedicine services involving remote consultations using two-way video conferencing can address the dual challenges of low doctor-to-patient ratio and the lack of access to specialist advice in rural healthcare delivery. Such telemedicine units can be set up directly by private healthcare service providers or offered through the Common Service Centres (CSCs)s, with the Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) leading the service.
• In Education, NOFN can enable remote learning environments in Government-run rural schools, and thus address the challenge of high pupil to teacher ratio and declining learning quality. Such ICT-enabled environments can be operated by private education service providers. High-speed broadband can also enable online vocational training imparted at the CSCs for a nominal fee
• Private business correspondents can use connected point-of-transaction terminals to conduct nearer-home cash-in-cash-out banking transactions for the rural population. Such models already exist, but NOFN can further boost these models by resolving connectivity issues. There could also be a model where private sector banks integrate their IT systems with that of the Post Offices to offer a bouquet of banking-related services to rural customers
• In Agriculture, broadband can address the high information asymmetry existing among farmers by providing them with timely information and advice on relevant topics. There could also be software tools provided by technology companies for farm management, soil analysis, seed analysis, etc. These services could be provided through kiosks run by rural entrepreneurs or through the CSCs at a nominal fee charged to the farmers.
• While many of these business models could be self-sustaining, a few would require some money to be infused in the hands of the consumer to generate demand. The report proposes the possibility of channeling funds from existing Government programs such as Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and the new National Health Mission (a new program created in FY14 combining the National Rural Health Mission and the National Urban Health Mission) to create this corpus.
• For many of the priority sectors, the existing network of nearly 1 lakh CSCs can form a good starting point. Equipped with computers, basic peripherals, Internet connectivity, and a VLE owning the centre, these CSCs can act as multi-service delivery points for several e-services. High-speed broadband access is expected to broaden the range and improve the quality of e-services available at these CSCs.
• Recognizing the potential of coupling the Government’s social imperatives with the private sector’s commercial interests, and appreciating the need to bring together multiple stakeholders from the government and the private sector to this effect, the report proposes a CII-Government Working Group with a well-defined set of objectives and responsibilities. With such a diverse, yet cohesive body at the helm of planning and execution, it will be possible to bring the multiple facets of expertise, decision-making and administrative guidance that will be essential to harness the NOFN into a medium of holistic inclusive growth.

Click here to download the report

IT for India – New Horizons, New Opportunities

CII has been making sustained efforts to create a conducive business environment to propel higher growth rate for India Inc. and will continue to play a meaningful role in this direction. CII believes that the adoption of Information Technology is a key transformational tool that will help India “leap–frog” to achieve competitive advantage for its growth. 

India is at the forefront of the large IT –ITES market and is well established as a ‘destination of choice’. Having grown manifold in size and matured in terms of service delivery capability and footprint over the past decade, the Indian IT industry is now at an inflexion point—and faces a unique opportunity to enhance its role as a full–service, value–adding partner to the domestic industry as well. There is significant headroom in the addressable IT adoption opportunity for India Inc., and there are sizeable untapped opportunities across a wide spectrum of verticals. Also, the Indian IT industry is favourably positioned to benefit from its established delivery capabilities, which bear a key influence on user industries’ decision to adopt IT .

Over the next three years, the right choices by stakeholders of the Indian IT industry could effect a three–fold growth. The aspired target is aggressive, but is surely achievable, and will bring huge payoffs to India’s economy, employment and role in the global marketplace.

For the last few years, businesses have been trying to harness the power of information technology to transform the way they work. In CII’s interactions with CEOs across industry verticals, four common themes resonate:

• Increasing growth
• Building a competitive advantage
• Enhancing user productivitya
• Reducing costs of operations

As the four interconnected technology megatrends—Mobility, Social, Big Data and Cloud, dominate the next decade, the IT industry has a compelling opportunity to bring a paradigm shift in the way technology gets adopted by businesses across verticals at lower costs and at scale.

The CII-BCG report on IT enablement of Indian business, titled “IT for India – New Horizons, New Opportunities”, discusses the trends in IT enablement of Indian businesses and lays down the opportunities, challenges and the role of different stakeholders. An 8 point action plan is also outlined to ensure the active collaboration of the key stakeholders.

Click to download the report