The US Consulate and research and advocacy firm CUTS International have entered into a collaboration to jointly mitigate cyber threats for small and medium businesses.

To this effect, the U.S. Consulate General Kolkata and CUTS International, in collaboration with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), and Arunachal Pradesh Micro & Small Industries Development Association, organised a daylong workshop in Itanagar for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to equip them with the knowledge and hands-on training to identify and combat cyber threats and become cyber resilient, the firm said in a statement Sunday.

“The U.S. Consulate General Kolkata is supporting the initiative across East and Northeast India to help the region and its people to cope with the growing threat of cybercrimes for small businesses, especially those led by women entrepreneurs,” CUTS International said.

A delegation of officials from the Arunachal Pradesh government participated in the workshop, led by Hage Tari, Secretary, Department of Industries, Arunachal Pradesh.

Other members of the delegation included Taru Talo, Director, Department of Industries, government of Arunachal Pradesh; Haj Dodung, Director, Department of Textile & Handicrafts, government of Arunachal Pradesh; and Shailendra Chaudhari, Additional Managing Director, Arunachal Pradesh Industrial Development & Finance Corporation, government of Arunachal Pradesh, as per the statement.

“Cyberspace and its underlying infrastructure are vulnerable to a wide range of risks stemming from both physical and online threats and hazards. sophisticated cyber actors exploit vulnerabilities to steal information and money and are developing capabilities to disrupt, destroy, or threaten the delivery of essential services,” said Melinda Pavek, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General Kolkata.

Businesses, regardless of their size and industry, are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Hackers are getting more sophisticated, and exploiting vulnerabilities in the systems to their advantage.

 

“For our partners in industry, the U.S. seeks your collaboration to find better solutions,” Pavek added. “That means putting operational collaboration into practice, working together to share information in real-time, reducing risk, and building strength from the start to protect critical infrastructure and empower the small businesses that U.S. and India rely on every day.” Tari said that cybercrime is on the rise in the northeast states of India and people are becoming easy targets to hackers, as per the statement. He attributed the rise in cybercrime to a lack of awareness among the masses about cuber threats.

Arnab Ganguly, Associate Director of CUTS International stressed that adoption of digital technologies has accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and many MSMEs adopted online technologies without the required understanding and safeguards to combat cyber-attacks, rendering them vulnerable. He added that the training would help the entrepreneurs to combat at least 70 percent of the cyberattacks.