The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), along with the Department of Information Technology and Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In), came together to organise a seminar on Information Security 'Building Trust in Computing' in Mumbai. "It is not only one company or organisation, but the entire industry and consumers joining hands and taking collective responsibility, which is required to tackle the growing menace of cyber crime", emphasised Deepak Maheshwari, director-corporate affairs, Microsoft India, at the seminar.

Maheshwari went on to say that with more and more people having a criminal background using the Internet, online security and online safety have gained paramount importance. "We must secure our computers with technology and act in ways that help protect us against risks that come with Internet use", he explained and went on to detail various steps like turning on firewalls, use of automatic updates, installing and maintaining antivirus and anti-spy software to meet online risks and threats to computers, families and personal information.

Mukund Pawar, Inspector with Mumbai Police – Crime Branch present at the occasion put forth the role of police and their endeavors in controlling, detecting, investigating and punishing persons involved in cyber crime.  In response to queries on ways and means employed by Mumbai police to control cyber crime, Pawar explained with the help of number of cases ranging from innocent cyber pranks to major cyber thefts, which the crime branch Mumbai police had registered and dealt, resulting in punishing the culprits. He assured the audience that the Mumbai Police was well equipped to tackle any threats in cyber crimes. He suggested the need to scale up this initiative of the CII to reach out to more consumers.  "Cyber culprits are from different strata of society, which show the widespread reach of cyber crime", said Pawar.

Vikram Shah, president – India Operations, NetApp said, "We must treat Internet information as an asset. As individuals we are entrusting someone else with our online assets. While doing this, some are trust worthy, others might not be", cautioned Shah. He further mentioned that most of the companies now had training programmes and information systems for all employees, implying how companies are becoming sensitive towards security of information.

Speaking on safeguarding online identities and fraud prevention, Dr Shekhar Kirani, vice president, Verisign, said that phishing is a global threat where India is the third largest phishing sites hosting country. "Phishing sites have increased from 4,000 to over 55,000 in 18 months with the result that consumer distrust is growing at alarming speeds", emphasised Kirani. He went on to explain various steps  to be taken for identity protection like avoiding public unsecured computers for logging on to online bank accounts, ensuring the padlock sign on the sites, presence of  security certificate providers and seals on sites, among others. 

This seminar is a part of the ongoing CII campaign, which brings together participants from the banking, finance, government and consumer sectors to a common platform to share views, thoughts, experiences and solutions to safeguard the Indian economy from cyber crime.