National Conclave on Cyber Security

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering conducted a two-day National Conclave on Cyber Security on 10 and 11 February 2023. The Chief Guest for the event was Mr. Shiju Rawther, Chief Technology Officer, SBI Mutual Funds. In his inaugural speech he explained the importance of Cyber Security and also listed the items that he would discuss during his session. The welcome address was delivered by Dr. J. Thangakumar, Head-CSE. He briefed the participants about the Conclave. The special address was delivered by Dr. Angelina Geetha, Dean E & T, HITS who mentioned the importance of the event. She also advised the participants to be more exposed to the internal power of cyber security in order to upgrade their skills and alsobridge the gap between industry and academia. The chief guest was introduced by Dr. Chitradevi D, Associate Professor, CSE department. The vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. Sathyalakshmi, Professor, CSE department, HITS.

Day 1 – 10 February 2023

The day 1 forenoon session was conducted by Mr. ShijuRawther, Chief Technology Officer, SBI Mutual Funds on the topic “Towards a safer cyber world”. He elaborated on the basics of Cyber Security, Layers of Security, Forensics. And then, he explained the Exploitation of technology, Cyber Security Statistics, Threat Landscape, Digital Landscape - Digital footprints, Cyber Incidents - (Ransomwares), Cause of Cyber Compromises. He continued with the topics of Threats and Practices - (Malwares, Spear Phishing, Malicious links, Password Security, browsing in public) and Laws which are related to the same.

Ms. Maya R Nair, Chief Information Security Officer CRISIL Limited explored the second session on “Defense in Depth”. She briefed her experience in the field of cyber security, Human Layer, Perimeter Security, Network Security, Endpoint Security, Application Security, Data Security, Mission Critical Assets.

The third session was titled “Catch me if you can – Logging & Forensics” and was conducted by Mr. Balachandran Natarajan, Global IT HR products and Analytics, Ford Motor Company. He discussed the classification of Digital Forensics like Computer Forensics, Mobile Forensics, Audio Forensics, Video Forensics, Cyber Forensics, etc.He also shared his experience in the Characteristics of Digital Evidence, DevSecOps Playbook, DevSecOps – Cycle in industry point of v and explained the roles are available in cyber security specialization.

The AN session commenced with Mr Saravana Kumar, Cyber Security Solution Architect-Technical BU, Trend Micro India Private Ltd discussing on a “Practical Session on Malware Protection”. He explained the Evolution & History of malware, Malware delivery network, Email Threats, Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks, Email Account takeover attack, Social Engineering attack, Pop-ad scam, Network Threats, Identifying the source of attack, Zero-day Threat, Trend Micro, Extended Detection and Response (XDR).

Followed by the lecture, six quiz sections were conducted for the participants and for each quiz the students won prizes worth Rs. 5000/- sponsored by Trend Micro.

Day 2 – 11 February 2023

The second day session started with Mr. ShijuRawther. He has started with the recap of the day 1. In the next session, Dr. Mahesh Kalyanaraman, AVP-Risk & Compliance, HCL Technologies Limited explained in detail “the Long Arm of Law – Cyber Regulations”. He explained in detail the difference between Law and Regulation which is: a) Law: official rule of country or state, b) Regulation: An official rule that controls how something works. He also dealt with the challenges of enforcing laws and regulations: Jurisdiction, Technology and Limitations, Resource limitations. Key regulating bodies: CERT, NCIPC, SEBI, IRDAI, TRAI and DoT. Critical issues of India's Cybersecurity Laws and Regulations: Law enforcement authorities have a clear differentiation between civil and cyber law. Periodic reviews of cyber laws and mapping. He explained on treaties: Budapest treaty, Palermo Convention, 1989 Convention. Steps taken to deal with cybercrime: issue of alerts or advisories, capacity building and training of law enforcement personal, spread awareness, Launch of Cyber Swatch Kendra, NCIIPC, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centers. Finally, he concluded with question and answer session.

Mr. Venkat Krishnan, Senior Vice President-Cyber Security, Olam Information Services conducted the next section on “The other side of the CyberSecurity – Practical Session on Exploitation”. He used case studies to explain cyber-attacks. Major Global Cyber-attacks - 2017 to present: overall security breaches-137%, Ransomware-483%, Operation Tech.- 200%. Impact: Production loss, physical damage, Environmental hazards (in WTP and STP), loss of sensitive information. He also explained the methods to prevent these attacks: Adapt frameworks / models, prioritize controls and OT systems to protect, basic firewalls and software. Furthermore, Mr. Venkat lectured on privacy regulation and explained how data breaches prompted the governments to revisit privacy regulations and how majority of privacy regulations are based on EU GDPR. He then explained the importance of privacy. Following the session by Mr. Venkat, the second round of quizzes were conducted and very attractive prizes were given by Trend Micro.

Finally, a “Panel discussion on Carrier Opportunities in Cyber security” was chaired by Dr. Sudalaimuthu and the members included: Dr. Sudalaimuthu, Dr. Mahesh Kalyanaraman, Mr. ShijuRawther, Ms. Maya R Nair and Mr. Venkat Krishnan.

The Chair raised questions on Cyber Security which were answered by the panel members. The discussion dealt on:

• To become a team player and work together irrespective of the hierarchy and pay scale and keep learning from everyone and everything.
• Emphasis on strengthening basics and past technologies.
• Keeping up to date.
• Coding and scripting and not hesitating to try something new and be more enthusiastic to learn / know more.
• Emphasis on automating data and its security.
• Strong soft-skills and communication skills.
• Research on Cyber Security.
• Emphasis on cloud security and cloud architecture.

Followed by panel discussion certificates were distributed to the participants. The program ended with vote of thanks proposed by Dr. S. Sathyalaksmni.

Details of the Prize Winners of the Quiz Competition: