SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, May 22: Almost everyone, at any point in their lives, has received phishing links, or a forwarded message may be. Some may also have been duped out of thousands, or may be even lakhs, of rupees from their bank accounts, after a phone call asking for a pin to be able to receive a gift.
With cyber security being the next major concern in terms of monetary threats to millions of people or protecting one’s privacy, the Cyber Peace Foundation, a think tank on cyber security and policy, headed by Major Vineet Kumar, works to build resilience against cyber crimes and cyber attacks.
Formed with the vision of pioneering cyber peace initiatives to build collective resilience against cyber crimes and global threats of cyber warfare, the foundation works to provide a common platform on a global level for all experts in cybercrime and cyber security. The foundation does research on a lot of different types of cyber scams used by hackers and brings them to light.
The foundation also does sessions to educate the masses to beware of any kind of link that they are not familiar with. Along with this, they educate people from all walks of life on ways to not only save themselves from cyber threats, but also help others that may be facing similar issues.
When questioned about the foremost thing that they would suggest to anyone for cyber security, Kumar Vikram, manager (projects) said, “Nothing is free in this world.” Never click on a link directly that you’ve been sent, even if it is from someone you would trust with your life. Copy it and then paste it in your browser if you’re curious. ”
“Just in case, you did not know about this and you clicked on the link and did encounter some issue, you can always reach out to us on our WhatsApp helpline on 9570000066, or file a complaint for the monetary loss or consult a lawyer,” he added.
Explaining how exactly they may help, Shubham Sampath, a security researcher said, “We do research on tackling different types of phishing links or malware or ransom ware, or recovering data from a system that has already been stacked and providing a report on it.”
“Whenever we receive a link, we check the story behind it, and get to know the kind of link it is. Along with this, people often receive tiny URLs, which we expand and check if it is a normal link or not,” Sampath added.
Further elaborating, he said, “Many a time, people click on a link like ‘Is this you in this video?’ along with a link to the supposed video. They may be aware of the threats, but sometimes, they may be curious and click on them. A page would open. It may have something written on it or it may be blank. A normal person would press the ‘back’ button and forget about it. However, what happens is, once they open it, their phone or device becomes susceptible to data leaks or attacks.”
He further gave another example, stating, one may receive an image claiming that if they share it 15 times, they’ll have good luck, or they may have a chance of winning an iPhone. These are all cyber threats that the user allows into the system by clicking on it or forwarding it.
Explaining the different types of scams that the team has researched, Vikram said, “We have researched a series of scams during the pandemic. For instance, the deep web and ways to curb the mushrooming of drug traffickers.”
“Along with this, there was another scam in the name of the President of India, wherein, hackers scammed several people into donating to them in the name of helping the President’s COVID fund.” There was another one, which was basically a fake COVID subsidy scheme, where people were sent links to receive Rs 50000 to one lakh, “he added.
“We also saw a job scam, wherein a journalist was scammed in the name of Howard University. They did this only for fun. They were obviously not getting any money from it. Still they did it, just to troll her. This proves that scams can be of different kinds, some may use one for money, while others don’t. The one most important point to keep in mind is that the hackers target people through the lure of mostly three topics these days, weight loss, hair loss, and job. These are the three issues that make people vulnerable,” said Vikram.
The website of the foundation showcases several research papers on a number of scams looked into by the foundation including a phishing campaign replicating Income Tax e-Filing website, Android Application in the name of Free PM Laptop Scheme, Amazon International Women’s Day 2022 Giveaway Scam, Amazon Valentine’s Day Gifts scam, Tata Group’s 150th Anniversary Celebration Gift Scam, and Amul 75th Anniversary Scam among others.
“We also have seasonal scams in India, with Diwali or Dussehra, we have a Big Billion Days scam, around which people shop for things. Another one is between February and May, regarding IT Returns. We also have scams during Valentine’s week. People also send pictures, stating that they found you in a picture, people would download it out of curiosity, but the image may have a malware link embedded in the image,” Vikram added.
