Pan Dugal: India’s Leading Cybersecurity and Law Expert:-
Pan Dugal one of India’s best known cyber security and law experts but Danny to you first what are you picking up.
Lebanon Incident: Death Toll and Injuries:-
What’s the latest the death toll at 11 and close to 3,000 injured how could this happen yes G as you rightly said there are two possibilities one being a hack uh and the other being uh problem in the global supply chain so roughly around 5,000 Pages were reportedly uh gathered in this one batch where it it is being said by Lebanese authorities that they were rigged with explosives .
Vulnerabilities in the Global Supply Chain:-
So now this also shows the vulnerability of the global supply chain of devices but and but uh Israel if Israel was behind it uh it’s also possibility that uh it was easy for them to Target the Hezbollah members because not a lot of people in this day and age use pagers and it is being said that a single pager text was able to uh detonate that pager while they had it for months before so they were using it as normally and they were going through their normal scanners uh the experts are saying that it’s very difficult to trace that kind of an explosive and that’s the reason it went unra for such a long time and it happened right at the moment .
A Spy Thriller Scenario?:-
When it was supposed to it just sounds too fantastic to be true I mean it’s it’s straight out of a spy Thriller pan Dugal how do you look at it I’ll come to you in just a moment to talk about its implications for other countries whether it can be replicated in a mobile phone how safe or unsafe are our mobile phones but that’s in a moment how do you look at this development in Lebanon sir .
Pan Dugal’s Analysis: A Cybersecurity Breach:-
I look at it there development as a manifestation of a cyber security breach at the end of the day it was the cyber security of the pager that was compromised to achieve the desired result well first and foremost hasbullah was testing and relying upon a technology that’s almost two decades old number two at that point of time cyber security was not a big thrust area so a lot of loopholes and vulnerabilities were existing and number three the hackers or the Cyber actors were able to come inside the said uh network of plages and able to then Implement and execute any command which led to this synchronized attack I think it’s a much bigger stuff .
A Wake-Up Call for Digital Stakeholders:-
Currently it’s too early to say what’s happened but one learning is this has to be a wake up call for every nation for every digital stakeholder because now any kind of a technology can be weaponized as a means of a cyber security breach to cause bodily harm physical harm apart from harm to property and stuff like that so I believe it’s a wakeup call but lot of things have yet to emerge as investigations surround this particular episode you know since you since you say it’s a wakeup call the point .
Are Indian Mobile Phones Safe?:-
I was coming to if we were to talk about the Indian Armed Forces if we were to talk about the police forces across the length and breadth of our country uh a lot of mobile phones in our country where are they manufactured what kind of software do they have can there be a similar uh explosion triggered in these mobile phones is that even possible especially those who have these sensitive uh mobile phones in in our country or those who hold sensitive appointments .
In our country well Good tells us that nobody is secure your mobiles in your purses or in your pockets are sitting time bombs that we are all carrying together and now this new approach of misuse of technology is telling us that potentially nobody is safe and in the Indian context we don’t exactly know where our mobiles are getting manufactured what kind of a malware spy wear or contamination is already fed in as part of supply chain what kind of potential targeting can be done.
Cybercrime as a Service: The New Normal:-
So somewhere down the line the ignorance is bliss Paradigm range Supreme in India everybody believes I can’t be targeted I’m good to go but the reality is today you don’t need to be a Mr tomick and Harry you can be just be a common person and yet still be potentially targeted the idea is now with cybercrime as a service powered by artificial intelligence predominantly emerging on the horizon thanks to the developments on the dark net this is now the way forward this will be the new normal where these devices communication devices and computers will be routinely targeted hacked till now we had only talked about hacking .
The Need for Cybersecurity Laws and Policies:-
But right now it’s going to go in the direction where hacking could lead to physical injury or harm or even death to the concerned persons I think it’s a huge wakeup call countries don’t only need to have dedicated s cber security laws cyber security policies but more significantly the need for inculcating cyber security as a way of life amongst all digital stakeholders has to be the Urgent priority today .