In the cyberworld, safety is your job: Mumbai Police chief Sanjay Pandey

As per the project MTHL will connect south Mumbai to Navi Mumbai in a mere 20 minutes as compared to the current travel time of 120 minutes File picMumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey who has pleasantly surprised most with his level of engagement with the citizenry got a warm welcome as he entered the venue for his talk on Cyber Safety Pandey had been invited to speak by the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the IMC Ladiesrsquo Wing The event was held at the Walchand Hirachand Hall of the IMC building at Churchgate on Monday eveningCyberworldAs the world moved online in COVID times cyber became the buzzword of our times There was a substantial uptick in cybercrimes in the two years where we more or less traversed a parallel digital universe even more so than a physical oneAfter introductions and a welcome address Pandey began ldquoI am a trained cyber security professional I am going to keep this talk interactiverdquo He asked the audience first up ldquoHave you all ever been to a seminar on how to control theftsrdquo The resounding answer was No ldquoWhyrdquo asked Mumbairsquos police commissioner ldquoThis is because we have an established system to tackle this There is a pattern You report the theft to the police station Then the investigation beginsrdquoPandey added ldquoYet we are attending a seminar on cyber safety That illustrates the difference This is because we still do not have extremely strong fundamentals in this realm There are so many gizmos gadgets and appliances There may be a new one almost every day This makes the background extremely fluid and there is a need for constant updates to safeguard against and combat these crimesrdquoHow safePandey continued with the physical and cyberspace analogy telling his audience that people use a good lock when it comes to their homes ldquoYet when it comes to computers we are not as cautious When we buy laptops we are driven by aesthetics so slim so sleek and fits in our budgetrdquo he said to some laughs ldquoYet do we use the applications we downloadrdquo As the audience sat raptly Pandey explained ldquoToday is somebodyrsquos anniversary they go to buy diamonds Out comes the digital transaction mode we click lsquoyesrsquo or lsquoacceptrsquo as we put in details Do you know the route of the data Sometimes there is a shaky engine taking your money on an uncharted routerdquoWary wisePandey said the top of the cons are the numerous fraud websites ldquowhich look very similar to the bona fide ones Clicking these is how many people lose their money There is also the problem of stalking getting personal details especially of women via the dubious digital routerdquoSome of the dos Pandey said were ldquoto download a good antivirus programme and you get several good ones free Also use a good firewall which you can also get for free one does not have to pay huge amounts for bothrdquoThe official who was concerned that the audience was absorbing his message used a whiteboard like a teacher writing and then erasing his points He added ldquoSome of the other donrsquots are do not click on searches that throw up results but ask you to accept cookies Also do not store your card details with sitesrdquoA peppy interactive session followed where he said to questions ldquoYou are asking me whether it is wise to store details like Aadhaar and PAN card on your device I say just do so as long as you need it for a specific purpose and delete it afterwardsrdquoTo a question about ethical hacking he said ldquoI am against ethical hacking as a citizen What is ethical about itrdquo he asked an amused audience ldquoInstead make the basics of your computer knowledge very very strongrdquo he saidHe also spoke very strongly about the need for a Cyber Crime Act ldquoTill then cyber security is left very largely to you The Act is the need of the hour The digital universe has given us a lot of freedom but we have to use it with checks and balancesrdquo he ended