PAKISTAN HACKING GROUP SIDECOPY TARGETS INDIA AND AFGHAN GOVERNMENT

Pakistani threat actor “SideCopy” has been targeting Indian and Afghan government officials, especially military officials by stealing their credentials of targets from government portals, Facebook, Twitter and Google credentials, banking information, and password-protected documents.

The latest report by Malwarebytes detailed the new tactics and tools adopted by the APT Group “SideCopy”. This is so-called because it attempts to mimic an infection chain associated with another group that has been tracked as follows: SideWinder Misleading attribution.

A Cyber espionage campaign was observed by Malwarebytes in which a target can be lured via document leading to the execution of a loader that’s used to drop a next-stage remote access trojan called ActionRAT, which is capable of uploading files, executing commands received from a server, and even download more payloads.

Earlier also SideCopy was spotted imitating the Indian threat group SideWinder’s infection chains to deliver its own set of malware. SideCopy hackers appear to be highly motivated by the attack methods used by Indian APT groups like SideWinder that have been tormenting governments and enterprises in South Asia and East Asia since 2012. Other Indian groups that have come into the limelight for the same purpose include Phronesis, Aglaya, CyberRoot Risk Advisory, and ClearTrail technologies.

We can say that Indian offensive market is blooming day by day. Many Indian firms such as Phronesis, a cyber-intelligence firm by security experts Retd. Brigadier Prabhakar Bryan Miranda and Ram Chander Chhillar, has played a huge role in the fifth-generation warfare. One of its recent achievements were listed in the APT report, Monsoon.

Indian firm Aglaya headed by Ankur Srivastava involves security and competitiveness in the changing world by expanding the export of their cyber-surveillance technologies – intrusion software, mobile telecommunications interception equipment, cyber forensics, etc.

Indore-based ClearTrail Technologies set up by Praveen Kankariya is a renowned lawful interception solution provider offering a wide range of communication interception solutions, monitoring & analytics solutions to intelligence agencies that conduct mission-critical operations to neutralise threats & solve the crime.

Vibhor Sharma’s CyberRoot Risk Advisory provides cyber forensics investigation, penetration testing, physical access control and security testing, wireless security, network security and mobile application audit.

 

The companies stating above are the Indian cyber intelligence companies that were participating in ISS Wold fair and are serving across the world especially in Middle East.

Apparently, Indian offensive cyber surveillance was developed to counter or prevent attacks but now their techniques have been picked up by the rival states. These techniques were first mastered by China and later adopted by Asian countries.

 

INDIAN SECFENCE TECHNOLOGIES AIMING TO EXPAND BUSINESS ABROAD

The global surveillance cyber space has taken a centre stage over the last few years and seems to grow at a fast pace, given the changing circumstantial requirements. Apart from the various countries, which have already made a mark in advancing IT security, like Israel, US, Russia, new players are also emerging in the field from countries like India.

Indian IT giant Secfence Technologies having both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities is listed as a sponsor of Berlin’s international security conference OffensiveCon 2022, was struck from the business registry in its country of origin in 2019.Apparently it has been executing various state backed cyber surveillance operations in India and Middle East.

Yet this has not stopped Secfence from attending a host of European security conferences. It will present a seminar on operational security (OpSec) during the ISS World Europe, a gathering of intelligence support systems providers scheduled for December.

Secfence Technologies, headed by Atul Agarwal, explained that the vision of the company was to stand out from the big suppliers of vulnerabilities and develop advanced cyber-offensive operations for their clients that are harder to detect. The vision was primarily to detect unknown vulnerabilities and the development of new malware. Its main focus is on concealing attacks and hiding tracks to counter cyber attacks.

Secfence Technologies developed their capabilities to render their cyber security infrastructure to various regions around the globe, including the Middle East.  The presentation given by the company at the ISS World surveillance fair in Dubai on March 11-13 explained its potential and capability to use malware sort applications that exploits communication channels used by legitimate applications for putting a check on hostile elements.

Secfence even reveals flaws in NASA website by identifying their vulnerability as their public websites contained XSS websites. These Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks are the ones in which malicious scripts are injected into otherwise trusted websites. This malicious script can access cookies, session, or even sensitive information retained by browsers and used with that site.

We can say that Indian offensive market is blooming day by day. Many Indian firms such as Phronesis, a cyber-intelligence firm by security experts Retd. Brigadier Prabhakar Bryan Miranda and Ram Chander Chhillar, has played a huge role in the fifth-generation warfare. One of its recent achievements were listed in the APT report, Monsoon.

CyberRoot Risk Advisory an Indian cyber-intelligence firm provides cyber forensics investigation, penetration testing, physical access control and security testing, wireless security, network security and mobile application audit.

Indian firm Aglaya involves security and competitiveness in the changing world by expanding the export of their cyber-surveillance technologies – intrusion software, mobile telecommunications interception equipment, cyber forensics, etc.

Above lines states that Indian Firms are getting much recognition from India as well as foreign countries.

SOCIAL ENGINEERING IS INDISPENSIBLE FOR CYBER PROFESSIONALS IN INDIA

In the war of information and perception, social engineering has emerged as an important concept to target developing nations like India. Ranging from malicious activities such as breaching security to tricking users into gaining access to their sensitive data, these attacks have happened in more than one step.

Roscoe Pound propounded the doctrine of social engineering, under the Sociological School of Jurisprudence deeming it an important factor to achieve balance in the society. Today, the attackers are using attack tactics – phishing, spear phishing, baiting, malware, pretexting, quid pro quo, vishing, tailgating, water-holing etc. to target the industries that they believe are vulnerable.

Human element is one of the common threads joining all the attack techniques with people falling for scammed emails, voicemails, and text messages. The industries susceptible to supply chain-based attacks in India have now understood the psychology of cybercrimes and hence are hiring and attracting the right talent. Likewise, several of the Indian firms are making investments in the cyber sector, building programs and solutions to become more secured.

It has always been easier for the hackers to use social engineering tactics as a first step in a larger campaign to infiltrate a system or network and steal data. By using a people centric approach to security awareness training, India could build a shield against these trending attacks.

Today, India is going to great lengths to address security vulnerabilities that exist within the IT infrastructure and has been worsened by social engineering attacks. Since fraudsters are constantly finding new ways to exploit vulnerabilities, India is also developing social engineering techniques. Moreover, improving meaningful communication skills and security awareness training are also ways by which the rising trend of cyber threats can be mitigated.

The Future of Social Engineering in India

The demand for social engineering and ethical hacking professionals has increased in India. The country is preparing against the rising trends by offering online courses and trainings to the aspirants to deal with growing cyberwarfare situations.

Identification of such attacks is one of the prior ways to keep away from the attack and hence people are searching for ways to improve meaningful communication skills. A report suggested that nearly 90 percent of successful hacks and data breaches in the country have started with a common type of social engineering called phishing.

In view of the current scenario, several colleges in India are offering social engineering training courses and even degrees under the MBA (Social Entrepreneurship), Diploma in Social Entrepreneurship, EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacking (ECH) courses etc. The specifications would help in testing and improving organisations’ security practices.

The placement rates of these courses are also getting higher day by day. Jobs portals like Naukri, Indeed, Glassdoor, TotalJobs etc. recently updated new social engineering job vacancies on their portal.

Those aspiring a career in cyber field must use social engineering, cyber forensics, information security systems, ethical hacking certification, vulnerability assessment, etc. keywords to search for jobs. Clearly, with more and more people joining the cyber sector this art of deception can be timely prevented.

Demands for Digital Forensics are on the Rise in India. How can you get noticed by head hunters?

The fifth generation innovation process in technology has brought more cases of cyber crimes with organisations in developing nations like India worrying for what the future may hold for them. Today, India needs more skilled people in the digital forensics field, social engineering, ethical hacking and vulnerability management, etc., for proper and efficient systems, as well as developed provisions for the crimes to enhance its security levels.

The process of preservation, identification, extraction, and documentation of computer evidence could play a crucial in investigating the cyber crimes. Hence, India is acknowledging the loopholes in the legal system, and building a broad global coalition on security issues both from an approach and partnership perspective.

Himanshu Khajuria, assistant professor, Amity Institute of Forensic Sciences, says, “Forensic science plays a critical role in the investigation of serious crimes. The court frequently relies on forensic findings for breakthroughs in crime cases.” Reinstating its importance, he added that students can work in state and central forensic laboratories at various levels.

It is important how you distinguish yourself when you are looking for a job in the field of Digital forensics. For instance, Naukri.com which is considered to be a premier job search portal allows you to enter certain skills as your expertise and interests. You must utilise this section for choosing right keywords.

As per our research, the most commonly searched keywords used by hiring personnel in the domain are Digital investigation, social engineering, ethical hacking certification, vulnerability management, cyber forensics, information systems security, network forensics, mobile device forensics, OSINT and Cyber investigation etc. If you are a candidate looking for job in the cyber domain it is important that you use these keywords in both your resume and the skill section of the job portal extensively to get noticed by reputed organisations.

Other than that you may also add certifications and your expertise in the domain. For instance, GCFA, one of the certifications granted by Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC), a professional body established in 1999 offers a suite of more than 20 certifications which covers expertise in computer security and digital forensics. It offers the knowledge and skills necessary to undertake forensic analysis and incident investigation.

In view of the growing cyberwarfare, Indian state and local governments are predicted to hire additional digital forensic, social engineering, and information security specialists and technicians, divided in the computer, mobile device, network, and forensic data analysis and database forensics, to keep up with the demand. They are actively recruiting the best talents from the industry to prepare a cyber incident response and recovery team. This would help in supporting or refuting a hypothesis.

Since the need for computer forensics is growing consequently, individuals with both the bachelors and masters’ degree in Cyber Forensics will have the opportunity to work with the private and government bodies in India. The IT domain specialists need to have a certification in – Certified Forensic Computer Examiner (CFCE), or Certified Computer Examiner (CCE) Certification, or Certified Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI), to work as a computer forensics expert.

According to a source, the Global Digital Forensics Market is estimated to reach $7 billion by 2024. Today, the job portals like Indeed, Naukri, LinkedIn, recruit, glassdoor, simplyhired etc., are introducing the job vacancies throughout the country. Recently, indeed portal posted about the availability of 378 computer forensics job positions offered by the private sectors in different states of India.

Cyber Forensics Expert, Social Engineering, Information Systems Security, Digital Forensics Investigator, Web Penetration Tester, Information Security Investigator, Infosec Analyst and trainer, Digital Marketing Analyst, Jr. Cyber Threat Hunter are some of the jobs listed on the Indeed portal.

A few weeks ago, LinkedIn posted some 93 cyber forensics jobs on its portal, with the vacancies increasing almost every other day. Likewise, Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL) also released the recruitment notification for nearly 51 Cyber Crime Threat Intelligence Analyst, Cyber Forensics Expert and other post vacancies. The mode of inviting applicants to register for the job was online.

Usually the direct recruitment in government sector is done through Advertisement. A month ago, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) released a notification stating the need for cyber forensic examiner post on deputation basis in Delhi Central government for the year 2021-22. Joining a major IT company could be another way to get opportunities to work in government projects.

Such appointments have been considered necessary for the holistic and integrated approach to the growing cyber threat problem. This will further help in responding to the potential cyber threats, and create deterrence and reinstate security to the business and technology platforms in the country.

Media organisations too need Penetration Testing Expertise to defend against rising Cyber threats

Apart from rising information warfare, there are many other cyber challenges that media industry might have to prepare for being the most vulnerable targets of cyber aggressive bullies like China.

As per recent reports, Chinese hackers attacked India’s largest media conglomerate, the Bennett Coleman And Co Ltd, (BCCL). It has been concluded by experts that since BCCL publishes the largest English-language daily in the world and has been heavily reporting on the India-China border violence, it became prey to Chinese cyber espionage attacks.

The attack on the popular media organisation is one of the first and largest attacks that has come under radar so far. This indicates that cyber attackers are not just enhancing their technical capabilities in the region but are also expanding the field of attacks to gather data. Given the traditional security processes used so far, media organisations will almost certainly put it at the top of their priority list when it comes to accessing vulnerabilities.

On the other hand, China has continued hacking the database of other nations to fulfill its artificial intelligence ambitions. The aim has been to identify the high-value targets while gaining information related to other data sources.

It suggests that apart from other data centric organisations, media too in near future will have to upgrade and equip itself with the Penetration Testing expertise.

Other critical organisations have also been attacked by Chinese espionage groups and would require upgrading their penetration testing expertise. Earlier, the intrusions in the UIDAI were expected to not only offer intelligence to China, but also artificial intelligence’s machine training data. There is huge potential for logging into people’s accounts by using biometrics.

The Recorded Future investigators revealed that nearly 500 MB of data was transferred to an off-site server, predicted to be controlled by the Chinese hackers.

China-linked hacking groups called RedEcho and RedFoxtrot have escalated cyber attacks against India, since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash between both the countries. Earlier this year, RedEcho was also blamed for the act of cyber sabotage that led to 2020 Mumbai power grid failure.

India’s Preparedness and Job Opportunities

In the face of growing threat activity from neighboring adversaries, India too is building a cyber defence army. The aim at large is to gather intelligence relating to cyber criminal and state-sponsored threat activity. Some of the firms are also offering training and courses to individuals in various sectors like digital forensics, vulnerability assessment, penetration testing etc., to track threats over time and attribute activity to groups.

Today, prominent portals like Naukri.com have made special skill segments for such cyber expertise. It is important for candidates pursuing their career in the domain to clearly portray their skills on such portals. Common skill backing keywords searched by the recruiters are penetration testing expertise, social engineering, vulnerability scanning, vulnerability ability, and internal network penetration testing and web penetration testing. In order to contribute to the security of the nation, candidates can upgrade their resumes/profiles with the stated keywords.

Trends suggest that cyber security field in India will grow on all tangents in almost all industries and in future there will be various job profiles that will be introduced by organisations given the rising cyber threats in the world.

India needs its own anti-disinformation army to counter campaigns such as “#BoycottIndianProducts”

The growing disinformation campaigns have become a substantial problem in developing countries like India, which already lacks specific provision of law that deals with fake news. Clearly, India needs its own set of disinformation army to counterattack.

Today, Indian law enforcement is challenged to respond more efficiently. They are using all-source intelligence, OSINT, platforms to perform multi-dimensional visual analysis with advanced analysis capabilities that perform at speed and scale. Moving on with the trend, digital forensics has become an important aspect offering application of scientific investigatory techniques to digital crimes and attacks.

In the internet age, both the government and private sectors in India are rewarding and offering lucrative career path in the digital forensics. Recently, Punjab Police announced to fill 634 positions in legal, forensics, IT and finance domain. Out of the total number of vacancies 81 are in finance domain, 248 in IT, 174 in forensics, and 131 in legal.

Apparently, like Punjab Police other law enforcement agencies would also be introducing such openings in near future to have its own cyber tech army to counter rising disinformation and other cyber attacks.

Recently, a social media campaign called #BoycottIndianProducts was trending on Twitter. The false campaign is aimed at harming India’s relations with the Middle Eastern nations that has been playing a crucial role in improving the Indian economy.

From Iraq, Israel, Oman to UAE, India shares strategic ties with most of the Persian Gulf countries. Hence, the false social media campaigns aims at maligning India’s image globally.

The DisinfoLab stated that most of the handles promoting #BoycottIndianProducts hashtags were related to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The anti-India campaign started after the eviction drive against the encroachers in Assam went violent. Pakistan and Middle Eastern countries including Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, and Iraq launched campaigns using Twitter account and verified handles of citizens to spread the boycott movement.

The anti-India trend also included another tag that stated #IndiaIsKillingMuslims. Mohamed Al Sagheer, Sami Kamal El Din, Ahmad Muaffaq Zeidan, Yasser Abu Hilalah, Omar Abdulaziz, were some of the influencers who led the psy-war against India.

The DisinfoLab stated that the content was mostly posted in Arabic and presented the boycott campaign as a response to the Muslim atrocities in India. The fact-checkers debunked several videos and images that belonged to unrelated incidents claiming them to be the attacks by Hindu majority. The report revealed that the handles also targeted the Middle Eastern countries i.e. Saudi Arabia and the UAE that had close ties with India.

The Middle Eastern news channel – Al Jazeera, the Turkish state-owned news channel TRT World, Egyptian Rassd News Network (RNN), Arabi21 from Egypt funded by Qatar, Al-Araby News from UK funded by Qatar, US-based Arab-American newspaper Watan Serb etc., became the most prominent media houses promoting the campaign.

Pakistan also aligned itself with the social media campaign against India. It was at the forefront in sharing a video of a Muslim family attacked Muslims in India to claim that the Muslim family was beaten by Hindus.

Over time, Pakistan has tried to propagatise Kashmir using its own disinformation army. They used hashtags like “redkashmir, KashmiriLivesMatter, IIOJK under Seize”, which started circulating from Indonesia, Vigur, and Rohingyas and #ThanksJinnah, #ExposeIndia, #ShameOnIndia etc., to manipulate global media.

In view of the growing social media disinformation from the neighbouring adversaries, India too has responded with the similar intensity, with the help of private firms like Srivastava Group. The Indian firm got the center stage as a shadowy business conglomerate that had been running a global operation for nearly 15 years, aimed at targeting Pakistan.

Despite being a non-state actor, the Indian firm constantly operated a network of physical and digital assets, while offering services to its clients. With several untraceable and unidentifiable links, Srivastava Group-led disinformation became one of the greatest Indian campaigns against Pakistan.

Many rival nations have come forward and are attacking Indian cyberspace on a regular basis. And, Twitter has clearly failed to monitor the incidents of disinformation, and info-war on its platform. Against the spectre of disinformation campaigns that have continued doing serious reputation damages to India, the country needs to have its own anti-disinformation army. By promoting career and training in digital forensics it is making extra efforts to mitigate the existing gaps in cyber sector and prove its capability all over the world.

India Bolsters Cyber Capabilities amid Growing Attacks from Chinese Actors like Earth Baku

An advanced persistent threat group called Earth Baku has gained a center stage for launching cyber espionage campaign on public and private entities located in the Indo-Pacific region. It’s not the first time when a Chinese cyber campaign has gained attention for carrying out cyberattacks against India.

The Earth Baku group has a history of launching cyber attacks and campaigns on targets through multiple mediums, under the name APT41. It is a cyber threat group responsible for carrying Chinese state-sponsored espionage activity.

Earth Baku’s activities can be traced back to July 2020, when unidentified shellcode loaders, later termed as StealthVector and StealthMutant, were gaining centre stage in the world of malware tools. Both the loaders possess ability to disable an ETW.

Upon analysing, it was revealed that most of the StealthMutant samples used AES-256-ECB for decryption; alternatively, an earlier variant of the loader uses XOR. Once the payload is decrypted, StealthMutant performs process hollowing to execute its payload in a remote process.

The reports suggested that Earth Baku has developed and upgraded its toolset with StealthVector, StealthMutant, and ScrambleCross to facilitate targeted attacks on public and private entities. Indo-Pacific nations like India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines are by far the most impacted nations.

Cybersecurity companies like FireEye and Positive Technologies reported a coincidence in Earth Baku’s recent cyber activities stating that they were related to another campaign that has been active since at least November 2018.

The reports suggest that the frequency of cyber attacks in India have increased over the time. Hence, the country has sought to promote penetration testing, vulnerability assessment and investigation, cyber forensics, and other similar profiles in the government sectors too.

Penetration Testing (PT) and Vulnerability Assessment (VA) are the key components of any cyber forensics investigation. PT helps organisations in learning to handle all types of break-in from a malicious entity. Similarly, vulnerability management has the ability to combine the scanning, monitoring, reporting and remediation of risks to other organisations. Cyber forensics too aims to gather evidence targeting potential crimes and disputes that could have adverse impact on an organisation.

By promoting these profiles, India is bringing a change in its existing framework. The firms offering advanced cyber services, promising courses, and certifications are today gaining traction. Indian cyber firms like eSec Forte, ISECURION, SumaSoft, Kratikal Tech Pvt. Ltd., etc. are actively assisting organisations with critical security issues. They are offering penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, threat intelligence services and trainings to businesses to protect them from cyber threat attacks.

With the help of private firms, the country is not only executing measures for remediation, by detecting and eliminating vulnerabilities before they are exploited but constantly looking for areas of improvement. It is both adapting to cyber defences, and at the same time leveling offensive cyber capabilities to target the adversary nations.

Bitter APT Becomes a Suspected Indian Group to Conduct Cyber Espionage against China & Pakistan

In the wake of growing cyber warfare activities, cyber domain has become one of the most conflicting sectors in today’s society. Every country is preparing for large-scale, nation-backed attacks to win the defense and security game.

India has also bolstered its cyber game. In doing so, the country has laid down protocols for prevention and audit to secure the critical infrastructures. Moreover, it has also increased its offensive cyber building by promoting private actors and firms offering advanced services.

A recent report stated that India abused an American company’s tech to target the governments and organisations in China and Pakistan. The researchers at Kaspersky, a Russian cybersecurity firm, revealed that cyber espionage targeting Microsoft Windows PCs in both the countries began in June 2020 and continued through to April 2021.

Kaspersky named these digital spies Bitter APT. The firm stated that the attributes of the hacking software were similar to another company, previously code-named as Moses. The latter has been an active provider of hacking technology also known as “zero-day exploit broker.” Moses has actively been helping hackers or spies to break into the target systems by finding loopholes in their operating systems or apps.

The Kaspersky research also suggested that Moses was an Austin, Texas, company otherwise known as Exodus Intelligence. The latter made a name for itself with a Time magazine cover story and the leak of a tool that law enforcement used to hack the anonymizing browser Tor to ensnare child predators. The research also stated that Bitter APT, the Moses customer, is India.

Exodus is marketed primarily as a tool for defenders, but it is up to the customers to use the Exodus zero day information that covers operating systems from Windows to Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. Logan Brown, CEO, Co-Founder, Exodus believes that India handpicked one of the Windows vulnerabilities from the feed – that allowed it deep access to Microsoft’s operating system, and used it to launch offensive cyberattacks on targets.

It is not the first time when India has been accused of launching attacks against China and Pakistan. With the help of threat groups and private actors like Phronesis, Aglaya etc., India has launched offensive cyber attacks against the neighbouring adversaries. Few months ago, the Indian government was accused of spying on the journalists and human rights activists, with the help of NSO surveillance software called Pegasus.

Earlier this year, Pakistan-based hackers used new malware – Remote Access Trojan (RAT) to target the power sector and one government organisation in India. Similarly, Chinese state-sponsored hacking group called RedEcho also targeted India’s power sector organisations last year, post the border standoff incident.

India has a history of skirmishes with both China and Pakistan. The growing rivalry has upgraded from border battles to covering cyberspace, making India another of the South Asian nations with advanced cyber capabilities. Today, Indian hacking activity has also expanded horizons to targets in the Middle East, all of which has together heightened alarms of growing cyberwarfare activities in the world.

FIVE BEST COLLEGES OFFERING POPULAR HACKING COURSES & TRAINING SERVICES IN INDIA

In an era of growing international conflicts and cybercrimes, state-sponsored hacking has become a way for governments to secure intelligence information. The doubling number of ransomware, malware etc. has made ethical hacking the need of the hour.

Ethical hacking method actively defends corporate networks, institutions, and personal data against malicious cyberattacks by discovering risks and vulnerabilities, and fixing them. Ethical hackers today are playing a very important role in preventing cyber-terrorism and terrorist attacks. They are helping government agencies to identify and locate potential threats by implementing secure networks to prevent breaches.

Realising the need for advanced measures to strengthen cybersecurity, several colleges and institutes in India have started providing ethical hacking courses, study tools and techniques to the aspirants. Mentioned below are some of the colleges that offer budget-friendly Bachelor’s and Master’s courses in ethical hacking, helping the learners to identify, and correct vulnerabilities in software and computer network.

1. Delhi Institute of Computer Courses (DICC): Founded by Nasir Mirza, a well Known Financial Analyst with more than 12 year of extensive experience, the firm was established in 2009. Today, the Delhi-based firm has a great reputation in providing high quality training by faculties that have more than 10 years of experience. Moreover, the small batch size facility helps them to focus on every student individually. It provides specific career-oriented courses that develop practical experience within the students.

Ethical hacking is one out of the most advanced and updated courses offered by the college to turn students into professionals. It also offers Web Application Security, Bug Bounty, and Android Hacking courses. The students here could get placements in major companies – Reliance Capital, Reliance Money, Religare, Sharekhan, SMC etc.

2. CyberTron Network Solutions: Since July 2014, the Delhi-based training course provider has grown in size, reputation and client profiles. It provides information security services and products – penetration testing, application security, end-point security, web app security etc. to industry leaders in banking and financial services, software services etc. Amid the growing cyber threats, CyberTron is providing Ethical Hacking and Information Security training services to the aspirants both through classroom and online courses.

Founded by Nitish Gupta, the organisation aims to reduce the security risks by testing web based applications and infrastructure for advanced persistant security threats. It also conducts cyber awareness campaigns, and ethical hacking trainings to educate people about the vulnerabilities existing in the cyber sector. Through innovation, expertise and excellence, CyberTron aims to build a network of IT professionals for global industry requirements.

3. Innobuzz Knowledge Solutions: It is one of the best digital marketing and ethical hacking institutes in Delhi. It aims to bring knowledge, training and IT solutions to people all over the world. Training programs include Information Security, Penetration Testing, Ethical Hacking, Web Application Security, Cloud Computing, Android Hacking, Digital Marketing, Network Security etc.

Innobuzz’s team of industry experts conducts seminars, information security checks and looks for system vulnerabilities, to identify relevant areas for improvement and suggest the requisite course of action. Founded by Atul Agarwal and Ankit Oberoi, Innobuzz also has strong presence in Australia, United States of America and Canada, apart from many other countries.

4. Entersoft Labs: It is one of the leading online courses training institute in Hyderabad launched Entersoft Information Systems (EIS), a Hyderabad-based offensive security company started by Mohan Gandhi and a certified security expert Nityanand in 2012. Entersoft Labs offer Red Hat Linux, Ethical Hacking, Digital Marketing, cloud computing etc. The world-class and experienced trainers in the institute help students in building skills.

Its team of experts includes Nityanand N, Co-founder, Director, and CTO for the firm, with 21+ Years of Red Hat Expertise; Jaya Krishna – Ethical Hacking Expert with 13+ Years of Experience; Venkat alias Nitya – Red Hat specialist with 21+ Years of Experience etc. Other than providing hacking and Red Hat Linux programs, it also provides training in Certified Security Analyst v10, Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator, Certified Application Security Engineer (.NET), and Certified Secure Programmer – JAVA.

Entersoft Labs provide free Digital Marketing/SEO Training to students with good skills. The tools covered by the institute include, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEMrush, Woorank, Google Keyword partner, and google business. In the first year of its operations, Entersoft Labs trained over 500 students and professionals from 10 Fortune-500 companies in RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) and CEH certification.

5. Mastermind Technologies: Pune-based institute was founded in 2009. It offers a wide range of courses across multiple streams such as Ethical Hacking, Cyber Forensics, Cloud Computing, Hardware / Networking & Infrastructure Management courses.

Mastermind Technologies has an extensive and well-established experience in the IT industry. Other than the courses, it also provides simple, flexible and user friendly products that meets the expectations of the professional users of our software. It offers consulting services, staff augmentation, application management, testing services, etc. Some of the top recruiters include, Tech Mahindra, IBM, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Google, Reliance, HCL, and India Mart.

MOST PROMISING INFORMATION SECURITY CAREER OPTIONS IN INDIA

Implementing information security has become crucial for organisations in an increasingly interconnected environment. Today, every organisation needs protection against cyberattacks and security threats. Hence, the implementation could result in data breach risk prevention, detection and respond to internal and external threats.

Malicious code, computer hacking and denial-of-service attacks have only grown in the age of digital advances and technological trends. Hence, several of the Indian organisations are now looking to update their information security strategies, improving staff awareness, and policies to meet the requirements.

Evaluation of threats and vulnerabilities has today become an important task. As a result, many Indian firms are now offering promising careers in the information security sector. This would help to establish and implement control measures and procedures to minimise cyber risk and privacy monitoring and compliance.

Following are the five information security careers that are today in huge demands:

1. IT Security Consultant: Also known as security analysts, they are known for pinpointing vulnerabilities in computer systems, networks, and software programs. They work with the design, implementation and operational teams to find solutions against hackers. The IT security consultants play an important role in both the small and large business organisations.

To become one, the applicant needs a Bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity or other similar fields. Both technical and soft skills are necessary to understand the overall security and threat landscape and propose solutions to mitigate risks. Those with professional certifications have a higher chance of getting noticed by big companies.

2. Ethical Hacker/Penetration Tester: The role of an Ethical Hacker or a Penetration Tester is to find loopholes and vulnerabilities in systems. The penetration testing is often carried out by ethical hackers, which are information technology (IT) experts who use hacking methods to help companies identify possible entry points into their infrastructure.

Organisations can also use pen testing to test their adherence to compliance regulations. The process involves performing an authorised cyberattack on systems to evaluate the security of the system, find configuration issues, zero-day vulnerabilities etc. The goal is to minimise the number of retroactive upgrades and maximise an organization’s security. Though, it’s clearly very different from a vulnerability assessment.

A bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity is a must to become an Ethical Hacker or a Penetration Tester.

3. Cyber Forensic Analysts/Investigator: They have a very important role of assisting the cybercrimes and cybersecurity investigations. They possess the ability to recover hidden, encrypted or deleted information in special cases involving espionage, hacking, fraud, organised cybercrime and distribution of illegal content etc.

The candidates with this qualification have a strong job outlook. They even offer expert insights to law enforcement personnel and prosecutors, and also help in preparing evidence before criminal trials. These are employed both by private industries offering financial services, information technology, computing, network security and defense sectors and criminal justice systems that represent a significant employment base for these professionals.

To become a cyber forensic analyst, one needs to have a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree in computer forensics and computer engineering, or a cybersecurity degree. The candidates will have to constantly upgrade their skills to be able to respond to any incident or threat. The link includes some of the top colleges in India providing cyber forensics.

4. Chief Information Security Officer (CISO): It is one of the higher positions responsible for organising and directing all the security-related issues and needs within the cyber field. They have the authority to interact with upper management and respond to incidents, establish appropriate standards and controls, and manage security technologies, with detailed plans to ensure cybersecurity of the company.

The candidates with a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity along with an experience of a few years are qualified to become a CISO. However, the ones with the master’s degree in cybersecurity are preferred by large companies. The candidate must be flexible enough to work with the other executives so as to profit an organisation in a responsible and ethical manner.

5. Compliance and Auditing: Those opting for this job profile must know how to operate businesses so that they can review an enterprise’s adherence to regulatory guidelines and promote growth. Clearly, one needs to have a proper knowledge of the underlying technology and business models, rather than programming skills.

There is quite a difference between compliance and auditing. The first is all about meeting legal and regulatory obligations in a compliant way. Meanwhile, the other one is responsible for taking these objectives and check if they were achieved.

Compliance is an ongoing process that is open to improvement and change of laws and requirements. Whereas audit function involves being independent, evaluating how effectively and efficiently the business has met own internal control policies, processes and procedures.