At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is leaving no stone unturned to promote cashless economy after the demonetisation drive, which can be achieved only with high internet speeds and high cyber security, it has been found that the country figures poorly in the global cyber stakes.
According to a Times of India report, India stands at the 96th spot in terms of download speed and 105th when it comes to average bandwidth availability. Moreover, the country also has a record of poor internet security, which is progressively becoming worse.
While India lags behind Bangladesh and Nepal in terms of download speed, it tops the list in terms of ‘ransomware’ attacks. These attacks target banks and establishments with sensitive, confidential information.
Users and experts are worried about the growing cybercrime in India, with almost conviction. Cyber experts feel that the public is wary of cyber transction as they are afraid of falling victim to hacking attacks that personal data.
According to the report, experts believe that the government should simultaneously give thrust to expanding support infrastructure and vigilance to safer online monetary transactions.
India ranks 6th in the world when it comes to cybercrime. Moreover, cybercrime incidences in the country have doubled in just a year.
Another shocking fact is that Sri Lanka, China, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia are far ahead of India in terms of availability of bandwidth.
“In card-based transactions, no one should disclose pin number or OTPs to anybody over the phone. People give fake calls claiming their association with banks and ask security details. Always swipe your card in front of yourself as sometimes it is swiped in skimmer devices which read your magnetic data on the card,” Sachin Patil, Deputy commissioner of police (cybercrime), Nagpur, was quoted by Times of India as saying.
