A lecture discussion on “Cyber Security” was conducted on 13^th September, 2024 at NIM, Lahore with an aim to enlighten the participants of 41^st MCMC. The lecture discussion was conducted by Dr. Haider Abbas.

At the very outset the guest speaker emphasized that in modern world individuals, organizations and countries are dependant on cyber world for simple as well as specialized and critical tasks. Therefore, cyber security is of utmost importance in order to keep the pace with the modernity. The guest speaker explained that any malfunctioning device connected to an internet, can be a potential entry point for the hacker from where he can gain unauthorized access to the system. Then it becomes a spying device for the system. The guest speaker elaborated that the malwares now are so sophisticated that it is difficult to sift reality from cyber generated deepfakes. All systems are at a threat of Zero Day Exploit; a computer-software vulnerability previously unknown to those who are at the helm of cyber security affairs. According to the guest speaker all gadgets, clouds, internet and mobiles face vulnerabilities of cyber security.

The guest speaker discussed some of the ways in which individuals and organizations can protect their data on all three stages, data at rest, in transit and in use. The steps that the guest speaker identified for securing mobile phones and preventing web-based security threats were, keeping soft wares updated, installing a firewall, downloading from official sites and reading the user agreements while installing various applications. For network security threats, he narrated simple steps like using cellular data, avoiding public networks, using a VPN, two factor authentication, and using websites with https prefix. He touched upon some of the indicators to help government officials understand whether they are being spied upon or not. These included unusual battery drain, increased data usage, slow performance, automatic turning off and on of the gadget, back ground noise during calls, overheating and unexpected permissions for applications. The guest speaker advised all to review threat surface regularly, keep gadgets simple, restrict physical access to important information, use file encryptions, ensure offline back up and use strong passwords.