Hackers in a digital economy
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Recently a Professor had been invited for a Zoom meeting and then got a call that a code had been sent on his WhatsApp with the caller insisting that he share the code to join the meeting. He had done so reluctantly only to find that his WhatsApp had been hacked. His students had received a message saying he was in trouble and needed money and many had responded. When he found out and told the students not to respond to that fake message, it was too late. All the money they had sent had been transferred out.In another instance, another civilian had the same problem on WhatsApp but luckily, he was able to reach out to friends saying to ignore this message.
“Be careful, don’t share information about the OTP (One-time Password). It’s very difficult to reverse such payments going to bogus individuals or fake websites,” warned a digital media expert.
The problem of hacking, fake websites, phishing attacks or dangers of the Internet becomes even more relevant today as the government is moving towards a digital economy with a top team assigned with this task. A digital economy means all transactions would be online or, at least, most of them and hence the government needs to come up with proper firewalls, anti-hacking platforms and sufficient legal clout to counter these cyber criminals. According to a global definition, phishing is described as a cybercrime where individuals are contacted by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution, luring victims into providing sensitive data.
Considering the government plans to move into rapid digitalisation of the economy, this would help tremendously to tackle large-scale corruption and/or taking bribes at institutions like the Customs, Ports or even the Motor Traffic Department. Under a digital economy all transactions would be online and it doesn’t need a person to physically submit paperwork to these institutions.
If the famous QR code for fuel worked perfectly during the economic crisis in 2022, why not other services too that eliminate the need to go to state institutions? How wonderful would it be if we have all services online linked to government departments and local agencies minimising visits to the Grama Sevaka, Divisional Secretariat or the Income Tax Department (which has an online presence in filing returns). Online services eliminate corruption and would eventually help the country’s global standing in the ‘Ease of doing business’ index.
Whew! As my world was swirling around phishing, WhatsApp, fake websites and corruption, taking a breather I walked to the kitchen to fetch a ‘kimbula banis’ and a mug of tea. While munching the ‘banis’ I heard the conversation of the trio under the margosa tree. “Anthar-jaalaye mechchara prashna thiyana-kota mama bayayi magey wisthara denna (With a lot of problems on the Internet, I am scared to give information),” said Serapina.
“Mata ingiyak nae banku weda kohomada karanney kiyala anthar-jaalaye. Mama kamathi bankuwata yanna (I don’t have a clue about doing banking on the Internet. I prefer to go to the bank),” noted Kussi Amma Sera.
“Mata-nam prashnayak nae, mokada magey padiya madi bankuwata danna (I don’t have a problem because my salary is not enough to put in a bank),” added Mabel Rasthiyadu.
Listening to their conversation, I realised that very soon they would all have to embrace the Internet and learn to manage online transactions and access state services, as the number of mobile phone users grows. According to official data, the number of mobile connections at 32.49 million is much more than Sri Lanka’s population of an estimated 23 million in 2024, largely because many users have more than one connection. According to other data, there are seven million monthly YouTube users in Sri Lanka, 8.4 million monthly Facebook users, 1.9 million monthly Instagram users and 2.2 million monthly Linkedin users, while 12.34 million people use the Internet and 67 per cent of the population uses a smartphone. In moving to a digital economy, the government needs to make it affordable for Sri Lankans of lower income groups to be able to own a smartphone which is essential for online transactions.
Sipping my tea I was picturing an era when there would be fewer queues at Grama Sevaka and Divisional and District Secretariat offices with all transactions being online, when there was a call on the home landline. It was ‘Shifty’ Silva, the always-inquisitive IT expert, who was calling on Thursday morning.
“I say…..the government seems to be in a mighty big hurry to digitally transform the country. Is that wise and do we have the resources to do this?” he asked.
“Well this cannot be done overnight. But on the other hand, we have to start somewhere as the whole world is going digital. Furthermore, if our services were not linked to the Internet we would have had a serious problem during the COVID-19 pandemic in not being able to work from home. By having digital connections linked to office web servers, we were able to work from home and ensure the wheels of the economy were running smoothly,” I said.
“Well, what about hacking and attacks on the Internet. How do we counter these threats?” he asked, again. “That’s something that the authorities have to take seriously and ensure proper safeguards including firewalls and proper virus guards,” I said, adding: “The world is going digital. We cannot be left behind by not embracing this technology.”
The Ministry of Digital Economy, soon to be headed by digital media veteran Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya as its Secretary, will have five different agencies under its purview – the Information Communication Technology Agency, the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team, The Data Protection Authority, the Telecommunication Regulation Commission and the two state telecommunication companies – Sri Lanka Telecom and Mobitel.
At an interesting discussion this week titled ‘Fake websites, phishing attacks and dangers of the Internet’ organised by the Sunday Times Business Club and supported by the Shangri-La Hotel Colombo and NDB bank, it was revealed that more than 90 per cent of the problem was due to Internet users being lured into sharing their private information and OTPs. “That’s the main problem,” said Channa de Silva, CEO of LankaPay, at the discussion.
Most of the problems related to sharing of OTPs, phishing attacks via malicious URLs, fake Internet banking sites, bogus investments via WhatsApp groups and downloading malware plus ‘pushy behaviour’ by crooks seeking urgency “to act quickly, like ‘limited time offer’ or ‘account will be locked’.”
Like in most of the developed world, Sri Lanka also needs to move towards a cashless society but that would take years to fulfil. Until then – and when eventually there are proper safeguards – Sri Lanka would follow a mix of cash transactions and online transactions. With the advent of the proposed Cyber Security Act, Sri Lanka would be well placed to address all these concerns and move forward, linking to the global, digital-savvy economy.
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