With technology growing at an unprecedented rate, the unforeseeable exposure to cyber security threats is also increasing. A recent post published by the CEO of Clone Futura, Vidushi Daga, brought light to this under-discussed issue. No doubt the growing advancements in technology has made everything just a click away, raising the living standards of people. But on the other hand there wasn’t enough time for security measures to catch up with these advancements and ensure the safe utilisation of the same.

The threat of vulnerabilities is increasing in countries like India where a large number of the population now has access to a variety of gadgets. Again, initiatives such as digitalisation in India has definitely brought an unprecedented pace in the development of the infrastructure but what it has also done is increased the exposure of cyber security threats to a larger section of the society. This especially applies to the younger generation.

It’s no secret that children and teenagers formulate the demographic that most active on mobile devices. As well as being the most active online, they are also, statistically, the most unaware of the security threats they are exposed to whilst surfing the internet, playing video games, and using social media platforms. They also come under the most susceptible group of people who would fall for the hidden hyperlinks that scammers often utilise. The cases of suicide-provoking games such as Blue Whale and Momo are examples that show the severity of the situation.

The most suggested solution for this problem concerns the optimisation of parental control over the usage of digital products. However, it is well known that this isn’t the most effective solution. Curtailing the usage of the tech that children and teenagers use would surely lead to less exposure of the new tech that is coming out, preventing the generation from making the best use of it.

Therefore, the safest approach towards the problem is to raise awareness on the topic. The younger generation should know more about threats like cyberbullying and malware. They should also be educated on netiquette and their data privacy rights. Efforts should also be made to ensure that the generation learns how to avoid situations like phishing whilst dealing with virtual friends. Although these actions wouldn’t completely prevent cyber-attacks, they would definitely reduce the risks.

It was always known that the evolution of Technology would also lead to the evolution of risks associated with it. But that is not a reason to stop the growth of Technology altogether! It’s not just with technology, every new invention that humanity has seen has had its share of good points and bad points. So just like every other invention that has become an integral part of our life, we will have to grow to make judicious use of it the new tech that comes out. It is also important to ensure that when we are educating the generation on the development of exciting technologies like IoT, we are also preparing for the less exciting part of it, such as security. The most pressing need is to utilise the existing techs such as machine learning and blockchain to create similarly effective security measures.

Resources:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/322471