Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

`Web turning a major link for terrorists'

Staff Reporter

Seminar on information security inaugurated

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The World Wide Web has become a medium of communication for everyone, right from the military to the terrorists, said N. Balakrishnan, chairman, Division of Information Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.

He was speaking on `Trends in information security' after inaugurating a national seminar organised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) here on Friday. "If you do a Google search on IISc and LTTE, you will probably get more information on the terrorist outfit than the institute," he said.

Mr. Balakrishnan said 50 to 60 per cent of the terrorist attacks were preceded by Internet or computer activity. However, Indian sites operating from the country were much more safer than those operating from abroad, he said. The statistics on the number of sites defaced showed that most of the sites that came under attack where those based outside the country, he said.

The advancement of computer and communication revolution had resulted in the death of time and distance. People had started using the Internet for things they once used the telephone for. Consequently they expected the same level of security that the telephone system provided.

Emphasising the vulnerability of computer networks systems, Mr. Balakrishnan said `no nation has sovereignty over cyber space.' "Today, even a school student can launch a successful attack. The sophistication of the attacker is coming down while the sophistication of the attack is going up."

E.E. Rajakumar, chairman, IEEE, said the global economy powered by the Web did not recognise geographical borders. This heightened the need for assessing and understanding the risks involved in information security, he said. At present, we did not have any laws for data protection in the country, he added.

The two-day seminar will be attended by speakers and delegates from premier institutions across the country. They will present papers and talk on security issues such as application security, network security, wireless security, encryption, cyber forensics and many other related topics.

Started in 1884 by Thomas Alva Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, IEEE is one of the world's largest professional society and leading authority in technology.

Information on the seminar is also available at http://IEEE.org/Kerala

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