The nation has to grapple with many digital demons, with most of them rearing their head in the wake of demonetisation. Concerted action is needed
The pros and cons of demonetisation can be debated, but demonetisation is here to stay. Demonetisation is leading to democratisation of digital payments. The demonetisation drive is a shot in the arm for financial inclusion. labourers, farmers, people working in the unorganised sector, are all getting to use the banking system.
As per the website of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, there are 25.6 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts and 19.5 crore Rupay cards. The implementation of direct benefit transfer schemes (gas subsidies etc)have also ensured the usage of bank accounts. Demonetisation is dependent upon these underlying crores of bank accounts to help tide over the difficulties arising from demonetisation drive. Demonetisation is expected to give a big push to digital money. The use of debit cards, credit cards, digital wallets, mobile wallets, online payments and other digital channels, has increased manifold.
However, this is where demons of the digital kind start surfacing. Digital money use means more avenues for potential hackers and more number of digital frauds. Identity thefts, passwords getting stolen, credit card frauds, phishing scams etc. Given that there will be millions of people who will be trying out plastic money for the first time, or using online transactions etc for the first time, these people can be easy prey to cybercrime.
More so, because many of these first timers are getting initiated into this digital world in an environment lacking adequate security precautions. These days, when you go to an ATM and enter your password, there are at least two to three more people in the ATM standing next to you, in the queue.
At a merchant establishment, when you enter your password while using your card, how many of us try to cover the number pad with our handIJ Paytm launched the app PoS, but had to take it off for some time because of security concerns. In an environment where adequate precautions are not being taken, chances of cybercrime shooting up are high. Most of the ATMs in our country still run on old ATM software and Windows XP, an operating system version which even Microsoft does not support anymore.
Recently, there were an estimated 30 lakh bank cards which were compromised in our country because of an ATM-related malware. Further, there is a deep divide, a digital divide, which exists in India. Even by liberal estimates of Internet penetration in India, at most one-third of our population will be covered by the Net. This is a big gap. How do you bring the remaining population online so that the left out can also do online transactions safelyIJ Getting elderly citizens and housewives to use the Internet in a secure manner has its technology-adaption challenges. The digital divide is a demon and has to be tackled. It is only when we address this issue can digital payments show a revolutionary change.
Going digital means living with digital demons. Demonetisation is helping us leap-frog into an era of digital money. Whether we link these digital bugs to demonetisation or with going digital or with both — the demon of the digital kind is here to stay. This is a time when the cyber agencies, banks, financial institutions, ecommerce companies etc in our country should increase their cybercrime vigilance. This is a time when individuals need to be made aware of cyber security issues so that they do not fall prey to these demons. This is a time to take digital bugs seriously. Just like demonetisation is here to stay — so are the digital bugs.
The World Wide Web, in its origins at CERN, was designed to share information in a trusted community; hence, security always came as a distant afterthought. That is why digital demons have always been around. These digital demons, more than anything, are driven by human greed. How much we want to attribute this demons to demonetisation, is debatable. The combination of human greed and demonetisation makes it easy for digital demons to rise. As the popular Demons song goes, “No matter what we breed, We still are made of greed.. It's where my Demons hide, It's where my Demons hide.”
(The writer is Professor of Information Technology at FORE School of Management, New Delhi)