Shama Tarapurwala, Principal, Anjuman Islam Saiftyabji Girls High School & Junior College, Mumbai: E-Learning can resolve things in crisis

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April 6, 2020

There is no doubt that the pandemic has paralyzed one of the major backbones of any nation “Academics”. In fact, it’s impossible for anyone to imagine how a gentle living being “virus” gradually could grow into a disaster resulting into an entire world lockdown thereby leaving no sector pre-planned so as how to cope with the situation. Meanwhile, Internet (world wide web) emerged as a global hero accompanying most of us in self – isolation and thereby teaching the world a new approach, “WORK FROM HOME “. But the “ifs” and “buts” are still unresolved for the community called “students. Especially, in a country like India , where March – April are the crucial months for conducting final exams across many education boards and universities in the nation, academicians are facing the biggest challenge so as how to cope up with the deep loss. So as to keep the students engrossed, like many schools and colleges, we too are conducting online live sessions using platforms such as Skype and zoom meeting to cover up the remaining curriculum.

With localities that have either poor or no access to Internet, pre-recorded videos are also uploaded on youtube channels so to be viewed as per students’ accessibility to network. Also, during or after each sessions, we offer online notes either in .doc (ms word file) or pdf format. Another measure that our institution has undertaken is organizing the online exams. ClassMarker, the app like many other available online provides the facility to create questions of subjective and objective types, thereby allowing selection of test pattern and test type.

With no idea of lockdown lasting how long, instead of postponing the exams, we have preferred this kind of online exams. Also, we are streaming live webinars once a week during lockdown days, where we meet online students along with their parents. This helps us to maintain the healthy “teacher-parents relationship” . Like many other apps, ” Teach Us ” has been brought into extensive use by us for online attendance and online updation of syllabus covered .

So as not to lose hope and preventing morale letting go down, we have made our faculties available to meet students online for doubt solving or any emotional setback during given specific hours of the day. Exams which are beyond our authority of organizing , like degree final year, and supposed to be conducted by respective universities (Mumbai University, in my case) , we are preparing students for some interviews processes by uploading appropriate links to videos , thereby keeping students engrossed in their activities.

Likewise, many more institutions must too try to remain in virtual contact of students to make sure they utilize the precious time and do not compromise on their careers ahead. Also, once a week, we are arranging some humorous activities like, online quiz and puzzles sessions with respect to syllabus to monitor their weekly preparation and performance.

Since kids love these creative ideas, we find more enhancements in the performance and involvements. We do make use of google forms, asking students weekly regarding feedbacks and suggestions online to improve. We then implement these suggestions positively towards further improvement. Apart from all above mentioned, excessive use of google drive for videos and notes access, WhatsApp groups for messages broadcasting, are always into consideration. Also, even after lockdown is over, we are also coming up with “vision post-lockdown scenario” too so as not to hassle as we switch back to classroom systems.

NTA postpones NEET UG exam over Coronavirus

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 6, 2020

Amid coronavirus outbreak, National testing Agency (NTA) is not going to launch the admit card for National Eligibility cum entry evaluation (NEET) UG 2020. According to the notification, NEET 2020 examination will not be conducted on 3rd May. NEET UG 2020 admit card release is postponed till further notice.

The notification of postponement of NEET 2020, was released on its official site- www.ntaneet.nic.in. Candidates are advised to keep checking the page for updates.

NEET UG Admit Card will soon be uploaded on the official website- www.ntaneet.nic.in. and students asked to stay tuned for updates.

NEET UG Admit card 2020 link will be triggered at the NTA website only- www.ntaneet.nic.in. Candidates may also download the Admit card from this page with the Download link available soon.

Steps to Download the NTA NEET Admit card 2020

– Candidates can log in to https://ntaneet.nic.in/

– Find NEET Admit card 2020 link

– Provide the Application Number, Date of Birth, security code and hit submit button

– Check All the details like name, roll number etc.

– Take the print out of the NEET Admit card 2020

Saarah Kausar, Founder and Director, Shine kids Academy, Chennai- Digital education, the only option

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 6, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has created a lot of hassle around the nation, putting the Education sector worldwide in a standstill position. Around the world, schools in over 100 countries are closed to protect against the spread of coronavirus. But the education is an endless learning process and keeps continuing without any hassle. Only method to continue education in this time of crisis is to opt for online or digital education. These online experimental methods will reshape schools, the idea of education and what learning looks like in the 21st century. Many K- 12 Schools are offering free online courses to children in lockdown period which allows students and parents to choose which one to study.

Home schooling is the only method to opt now, though it’s not readily accepted in our country but now it has become the only option to do so. Homeschooling children during the COVID-19 crisis are changing our approach to education.

The current pandemic has resulted in loss of predictability, loss of routine, loss of classroom learning and loss of exposure to space. Families can bring structure to their children’s life through creativity and maintain a routine. All you need to do is structure your children’s days, it will give them a control over the loss of predictability. Parents can put one or two hours of school work in a creative way, some story time, some personal time, sharing some fun facts about each other etc. The lockdown provides an opportunity for families to re-bond with children and tide over their anxiety. Parents can ensure to play indoor games or do story telling together or to give time for one another then only children will remember the pandemic as a crisis if you make them feel it, else they will remember it as a time they did all that could not have done in a normal time. It’s up to Parents to create that lasting memories for children.

As we are a Preschool division we deal with the children in the age group of 3 to 6 years. Children at this age definitely need a Teacher or a Parental support to do their activity, and we are very happy to see our students doing their activities in an enjoyable way, many Parents have forwarded us their colouring, painting, planting, reading, cooking, yoga, dancing, singing and many more activity based videos of our students with SMILING FACES in the amidst time of crisis, it shows children are also learning to cope with boredom. “A creative imagination and problem solving ability are important life skills, so it’s good for children to have these moments of boredom and having to find ways to entertain themselves.”

The global pandemic worldwide is forcing educators, parents and students to think critically, problem- solve, be creative, communicate, collaborate and be agile. It is also revealing that there is another way of learning too…

Praying this distress phase of time passes soon and we all bounce back with good times ahead…

Stay Safe – Stay Healthy.

Sarika Sharma, Vice Principal, DPS, Bandikui, Rajasthan: Students must use time wisely

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 6, 2020

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.

The disease causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as cough, fever, and difficulty in breathing. You can protect yourself by washing your hands frequently, avoid touching your face, and avoid close contact with people who are unwell.

*Only me* that is isolation. So we are suggesting and all the recommendations and precautions measures as declared by the government and *WHO*, the situation of complete lockdown has developed stress among the members of family. So we suggest and repeatedly reminded to engage the children in household activities with parents and treat children with patience. This lockdown will rein for longer period, so we are teaching them by providing academic homework, assignments, worksheets related with innovative & creative activities.

Going to schools is the best public policy tool available to raise skills while school time can be fun and can raise social skills and social awareness from an economic point of view, the primary point of being in school is that it increases a child’s ability.

Perhaps to the disappointment of children, they are not in home to play. The idea is that they must continue their education at home, in the hope of not missing out too much.

The school has also created subject wise class WhatsApp groups for students & teachers. School is also using online education app and the class teachers are remaining in the contacts with each and each and every individual students. So, that they remain engaged and no loss in studies. Most importantly, we are equipped with the smart classes and all my teachers are updated with the latest technologies and online teaching methodology. So, I have a message for parents & students to spend time with your ward, spend time with your loved ones, have patience , meditate and organised yourselves band take future course of action god bless. And hope we come over the situation, we fit.

These methods can be fascinating as well as effective for their studies and academic growth.

Prof. (Dr.) Kalpana Singh, Head Department of Applied Sciences, Greater Noida Institute of Technology: Impact of COVID-19 on education sector

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 6, 2020

In the past one month the cases of COVID -19, has exponentially increased across United States, Europe, Asia and Middle East and most of the countries have announced or implemented partial or complete lockdown. These decisions have led millions of students into temporary ‘home-schooling’ situations, especially in some of the most heavily impacted countries, like China, South Korea, Italy, USA, India and Iran. These changes have caused a degree of inconvenience, but they have also prompted new examples of educational innovation. Although it is too early to judge how reactions to COVID-19 will affect education systems around the world, there are signs suggesting that it could have a lasting impact on the trajectory of learning innovation and digitization.

As a result of this, there have been multiple announcements suspending attendance at schools and universities. As of March 13, the OECD estimated that over 421 million children are affected due to suspension of school, colleges and universities across globe. In the wake of lockdown most of the colleges and universities have decided to continue the teaching- learning process via online platforms.

In past few weeks, we have seen learning consortiums and coalitions taking shape, with diverse stakeholders – including governments, publishers, education professionals, technology providers, and telecom network operators – coming together to utilize digital platforms as a temporary solution to the crisis. In emerging countries where education has predominantly been provided by the government, this could become a prevalent and consequential trends to future education.

In India, AICTE recommended various online e-learning portals: DIGITAL LIBRARY, SWAYAM, NPTEL, VIRTUAL LABS (provide remote-access to Labs in various disciplines of Science and Engineering), SPOKEN TUTORIAL, E-YANTRA & TALK TO TEACHER. These e-learning platforms would help students at the undergraduate level, PG level as well as research level. Various universities and colleges have started using several app and software to ace the teaching/learning process. Microsoft software, zoom app, google classroom etc has supported the application.

Such initiatives by the govt has received a positive response from both the teachers as well as students and parents, teachers have the opinion that learning via such online platform has not only simplified the typically classroom teaching but also provide a different learning experience. Teachers further shared that students were able to grasp much faster than what they used to grasp during classroom lectures.students on the other hand shares that now they don’t have to travel long distances to reach colleges. They can comfortably sit back and understand the important concepts at home. they further feel that they were able to analyse and understand the topics taught by the teachers without any problems. Amidst of all the positive aspects there are several problems and challenges which are faced by the students due to poor connectivity issues, poor internet speed and costly data plans

Under the leadership of Chairman Shri B. L. Gupta, Greater Noida Institute of Technology, affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi has started teaching – learning process through Zoom App, and helped the students by online notes, Assignments, Question Bank and Video lectures.

The slow pace of change in academic institutions globally is lamentable, with centuries-old, lecture-based approaches to teaching, entrenched institutional biases, and outmoded classrooms. However, COVID-19 has become a catalyst for educational institutions worldwide to search for innovative solutions in a relatively short period of time. The pandemic is also an opportunity to recall ourselves of the skills students need in this unpredictable world such as informed decision making, creative problem solving, and perhaps above all, adaptability. To ensure those skills remain a priority for all students, resilience must be built into our educational systems as well.

Revathi Srinivasan, Director, Singhania schools, Mumbai: Education sector need to be re-designed

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 6, 2020

Excerpts from my thoughts expressed in the webinar on Rebooting the Education system organised by Elets. This was an insightful meet of like -minded educationists from across the country and we had Dr Ravi Gupta curate the panel discussion. The talk was more on the change we are seeing in Education since the lockdown. But we have been discussing about the need of a shift of mind-set, becoming adaptive to the’ infusion of technology’ for over a decade. Most schools have adopted technology in some way or the other. Some have gone a step further to innovate with technology. However, all innovations happen in isolation. We hear or read about it when it is shared , but many of them go unnoticed and unrecognised. If we wish to see the rebooting , innovations cannot happen in pockets .Policy makers and educators have to delve into every aspect of Education-leadership , governance , systems , pedagogy , assessments.

The bottom line is- Education system will see a Renaissance.

The lockdown caught us unawares and unprepared. It did not give us time to re-assess, re-engineer and re-design but it definitely has given us time to ponder and reflect the purpose , process and product output. Schools are no longer physical spaces. One can have similar outcomes even if there’s a school on the clouds . The dynamics of the school does not change, provided we see the processes and the systems differently. One cannot expect the same outcomes with a “set pattern of assessments and examinations”. Standardisation cannot be the norm. After all , every child is not cast from the same mould. Each has his own desires , likes, ability , capability and attitude. So, the current education system needs to be re-imagined and re-designed. We could feel the dynamism of the space and that of the educators in the past two weeks. Schools have begun to experiment with technology in a big wayfaring this pandemic. The whole scenario of challenges, uncertainty, un predictability has led to experimentation, collaboration , sharing of resources , improvisation of the teaching-learning processes. The ‘ rebooting’ is a natural outcome of the work from home .Systems have begun to evolve .The rigid systems of control, standardisation of tests, the marking of assessments from summative examinations have all been tweaked keeping with the current health scare. As educators we are happy that there is flexibility and progressiveness.

The bottom line is – Change is inevitable in a VUCA world.

What is the impact of use of technology on students, teachers and parents? Are parents able to move from a school with all facilities and activities to a tech-driven education? Are teachers prepared to see tech only as a tool to promote better and impactful learning? Education in India has always been one to many .A teacher stands in front of her 40 students and delivers lecture. Sometimes , the teacher demonstrates or involves students in a hands-on activity. Today, in a Zoom class the student experiences a one on one learning despite the teacher addressing the whole class. Technology is a great enabler .But, one cannot use it just as one may taught in a class. The purpose of using technology is then lost. Students should be able to have fun in learning with the various approaches that the teacher will adopt – inter- disciplinary, multi-sensory, cross industry coalition, case -study approach , flipped modelling. We have experienced the shrinking of the boundaries with collaboration among educators and course materials from across the globe.

The bottom line is – Education is integral to the virtual world.

This is very easily stated, though true. But in India , where digital learning cannot embraced by all schools in the country. In many schools , children come to school for the mid-day meals that the school gives. There are teachers who walk long distance to pick children from their homes and bring them to school. How can we talk about bringing the world to them? The introduction of teaching using technology may widen the equality gaps among schools and students. The cost of digital devices and the data plans are high. Access and quality of access has to be made available to all schools and students at subsidised rates. To have the best resources , we must have a consortium of educators, publishers, corporates , technical experts, professionals from the media and entertainment industries to help to create videos, assessment tools, learning materials. Corporates can use their CSR funding for the educational resource centre. The PPP model will help to upgrade schools and will level schools across the country. The baseline of learning outcomes will not show great disparities between urban/rural or private/government or elite/under-priveliged schools. Education cannot be competitive, it has to be nurtured through collaboration. Teacher plays the most crucial role in Education. Things will change in the classroom only when there is a live classroom transaction between the teacher and the students and among students.

The bottom line is – Teacher training is a priority Investment.

This pandemic seems a wake up call for educators and parents. It reminds us that only marks and grades don’t necessarily make us . Academia is more about theory, less about action. This pandemic is a wake up call for all educators, parents and students to remind ourselves that we have skill ourselves to live in this world that is moving at a furious pace. Skills that will need to build in our homes and schools is to build confidence, informed decision making , creative problem solving, effective communication skills and adaptability. We must inculcate in our children values of compassion , empathy , sharing , fearlessness and independence of thought. The catch line of all Apps today boasts “about anytime, anywhere learning “ but learning will have no meaning if we don’t unlock our minds to rethink curriculum, revise attitudes and refresh our habits.

The bottom line is -Learning itself anytime , anywhere . All you need is an open mind to open your parachute.

Green Mentors -Making Every School Germs Free School

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Virendra Rawat

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April 5, 2020

When Planet is united to win the fight against COVID-19 Pandemic, led by United Nations, WHO, Head of Nations, Ministers, Doctors, Police and Paramedical Professionals, a team of green educators are also working to make every School free from deadly virus and other malicious germs.

As we know, schools will be opening later or sooner for new session in India and other parts on the planet after lockdown,the first question of every parent will be about the hygiene safety of their children in the school.

Most of schools will have their general answer that, their school is safe,but if parent will ask what are the standards of hygiene safety school is following ?,answer of schools many not be satisfactory to the parents.

Can School assure every parent that, their children are protected from deadly virus and nasty germs in the school and children will go back to their home without any infection?.

Indian School investors haven’t made enough investment on hygiene safety; neither regulatory body focused more on the hygiene safety. Today schools are not in the position to assure every parent about the hygiene safety of their child in the School.

Green Mentors is UNGA Award winning Nature driven Research organization, bringing Power of Nature into Education through its Global Green Schooling Concept designed the School Hygiene Audit and Germs Free School Certification program for Schools.

Green School Concept of this organisation is selected as Global Solution by United Nations and placed it on UN Global Innovation Exchange. Green Mentors is also an organizational member of North American Association for Environmental Education based at Washington DC.

Protecting and supporting the health and well being of our students community is top priority of this organisation. Green Mentors is committed to create safe and hygienic environment in Schools.

School Hygiene Audit is a scientific process of knowing hygiene level in the School especially in Toilets, Drinking Water area, Food Eating Place, Classrooms, Library, Laboratories and any potential area and behaviour of infection.

Trained and certified auditors of Green Mentors visits registered schools for hygiene audit and collects the data in prescribed format with videos.

After collecting hygiene audit data from Schools, a team of hygiene experts analyzes the data and submit its reports with recommendation and list of deficiencies if any for compliance to the School.

When School fulfils the deficiencies of hygiene standards, the auditors visits school again to verify compliances. If compliance are satisfactory than auditor recommends school name for Germs Free school Certification

Germs Free School Certification is a process that makes whole School free from nastiest germs and deadliest viruses and safe for students and teachers.

This Certiﬁcation process is very stringent in its nature that veriﬁes every potential infection point, area, practice &ambehavior in School & suggests preventive initiatives. Certiﬁed Germs Free School is a zero infection school and safe for students and teachers.

Green Mentor is transforming conventional schools into green schools. Hygiene safety is very integral part of Green Schooling that makes us as a legitimate agency for School Hygiene Auditing and Germs Free School Certification.

Green Mentors is well aware that life of every student and teacher of every school is precious and we are committed to make every school safe from infection for every child.

We also know that School Investors will never compromise with Hygiene Safety in their School, they will definitely register their school for school hygiene audit before opening for new session.

Green Mentors will be happy to certify every registered School as Germs Free School to ensure that every student and teacher is safe from germs, nastiest virus and infection.

Virendra Rawat is founder of Green Schools , who is transforming conventional schools in green Schools worldwide to bringing maximum nature and maximum culture into education everyday and every way.

Divya Lal, Founder and MD, Fliplearn Education: Lockdown created opportunity to learn more

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 4, 2020

Divya Lal, Founder and MD, Fliplearn Education

The Coronavirus outbreak has not just tested the world’s patience but also their dedication as everyone prepares to fight off this global pandemic. While it is disturbing to see the way every sector is affected and the entire nation is now put on an alert mode.

However, despite the risk, the basic necessities are still available to the common man. Food, medicines, groceries are still getting delivered at our doorsteps. Professionals from various industries have adopted work from home so that things keep moving and goals are still met despite the lockdown. But what about students’ education?

With parents spending more time with their kids, this is a great opportunity for them to engage together, have fun together & even learn together. It’s great to see how families are responding to the lockdown, with everyone, from children to grandparents indulging with household chores, watching movies together, etc. Then why not learn together?

We understand in these challenging times you only wish to provide the best for your child. Fliplearn is your partner in providing personalised learning and attention at home for your child. Parent’s concern and care for child’s learning cannot be defeated by the fear mongering of Covid19.

When we designed Fliplearn – The Learning for Everyone App, we thought of making learning an immersive experience for kids through a personalised experience. What we later found out through the hundreds of thousands of parents that access the app to see their child’s performance, was that the quizzes the app has and thousands of videos it uses to explain concepts are not just interesting for kids, but immersive even for parents. I have received countless instances when parents and children together solve Fliplearn Gamified Quizzes and in the journey of learning, end up as a team.

What we follow as a principle when we offer Fliplearn to students is the + 1 (plus minus 1) approach. The reason behind this approach is that learning is not a constrained phenomenon, it’s rather divided in stages like reception > observation > conceptualization > practice > implementation. Even when you look at statistical forecasts, business growth projections, etc. you’d always notice the figures carry a variation of plus minus 5% & so on. When we analysed the studying behaviour of children, we observed that all the information they need couldn’t be found in one year’s syllabus. That provoked our thoughts to offer access to content for one class above and one class below, for the student to understand concepts from their roots to the tips.

Our society puts Teachers at a higher position as compared to parents. The “Gurus” of today are putting an enormous amount of effort to groom the leaders of tomorrow. I’m glad to say that Fliplearn has not only helped teachers meet the challenge of grooming each child in a personalised manner, but has also brought students closer to teachers. The schools that use Fliplearn’s services, teachers often tell us that their students openly raise their doubts, seek not just answers but the reasons behind it, enabling teachers to unlock their students’ potential to grow beyond their limitations.

Fliplearn is a complete platform meant to fulfill requirements not just of students but also for schools. Fliplearn for School offers a single platform that can be accessed by the school, students, teachers and parents to make the learning process effective with better communication, trackable and performance oriented. It helps raise the performance of school by helping students learn better, retain more, revise, practice and ultimately score better. With Fliplearn for School, teachers track each student’s individual performance and provide personalised attention to address each student’s unique requirements. Teachers can use Fliplearn for School as a medium for recording lesson plans, assigning homework, projects, reading lists, practice papers etc. thereby streamlining the learning process. Parents can access their child’s performance records and important school information, all at one place and have a channel of communication with the school.

Fliplearn for School can also be the preferred medium to send homework and assignments to students.. Fliplearn builds a bridge between parents and school, by keeping parents involved and updated regarding school events, time-tables and school calendar.

Fliplearn for School helps the school transform into the most modern and high-tech institution and helps school heads, parents, teachers and students stay informed and focused on learning progress. The system is designed in a way to auto check not only questions available in the ready question bank but also the ones which are designed by the teacher. With all its features like automated corrections & performance assessments , automated dashboards on each student and class progress , its a gift of Productivity to teachers & school management, and the benefit of accountability & transparency for parents, thereby creating an environment of trusted progress.

This passion to collaborate and learn is an attribute sought for by teachers and parents across the nation and is what every student across the country deserves. Technology has enabled us to cross physical & geographical barriers and as we gladly utilize it to bring food & groceries to our doorsteps, our kids deserve to utilize it for their personal growth too. My request to every parent, teacher or any responsible individual reading this is to not let there be any hindrances in our kids’ growth. With unlimited access to the right tools & learning methodologies, we should ensure our kids are always geared up to lead the future.

COVID-19 Lockdown: Course of Rajasthan Polytechnic Colleges on YouTube with 4000 e-Lectures

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 4, 2020

Amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic crisis, there is good news for the students of Rajasthan Polytechnic colleges. At the instructions of Department of Higher & Technical Education of Rajasthan Government the faculty of around 44 Polytechnic colleges created online e-lectures of their respective subjects. As a result, with around 4 thousand e-lectures the complete course of polytechnic colleges is now available on online video platform- YouTube. On the YouTube channel with the name TTE, courses related to mechanical, electrical, IT, Computer Science and other subjects are easily available. With the due verification by experts, these e-lectures are being published on various YouTube Channels. More than 10 thousand students have already subscribed to these channels.

Dr Shuchi Sharma, Secretary, Higher & Technical Education, the Government of Rajasthan, who is personally monitoring the initiative had also instructed college education department to ready the e-lectures and make them available for students on YouTube and Facebook.

As of now there have been 4000 e-lectures of polytechnic colleges and 1500 e-lectures of general college education have been prepared under this initiative. These many e-lectures will also help in case of shortage of faculty. The quality of lectures will also be ensured through the verification by subject experts. Students can study from home or anywhere through e-lectures.

Dr Shuchi Sharma informs, “We have got good response from faculty members for creating the e-content. We will ensure that we don’t compromise with the quality of content hence we are getting each e-lecture verified from subject experts. We are ready to bring online the entire course of high education.

Corona Virus (Covid-19) Pandemic and Work from Home: Challenges of Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 4, 2020

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to biggest number of employees globally bound to work remotely. The people working from home required awareness and knowledge of phishing scams, the fastest growing type of cybercrime, many of which are now playing on fears of the Coronavirus. Employees from organizations of all sizes and types now have minimal cybersecurity resources, if any, compared to what is normally available to them.

Organisations are required to ensure any endpoint that an employee is using is fully protected. As the Absolute 2019 Global Endpoint Security Trend Report showed, 42 per cent of endpoints are unprotected at any given time. Therefore, the people working from home should immediately get educated about their cyber privacy and cybersecurity failing which the global cybercrime damage may costs as much as double by the end of this year.

As the home-working becomes the new normal, criminals are seeking to capitalise on the widespread panic – and succeeding, alas. New coronavirus-themed phishing scams are leveraging fear, hooking vulnerable people and taking advantage of workplace disruption.

Cybercrime is the greatest threat to every company in the world, and one of the biggest problems with mankind. The impact on society is reflected in the Official Cybercrime Report, which is published annually by Cybersecurity Ventures. The most effective phishing attacks play on emotions and concerns, and that coupled with the thirst for urgent information around coronavirus makes these messages hard to resist.

According to the report, cybercrime will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015. This represents the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history, risks the incentives for innovation and investment, and will be more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined.

Cybercrime costs include damage and destruction of data, forensic investigation, restoration and deletion of hacked data and systems, fraud, post-attack disruption to the normal course of business, stolen money, lost productivity, theft of personal and financial data, embezzlement, and reputational harm and theft of intellectual property. There are 10 tips on how to spot a phishing scam. As the Phishing emails usually want you to click on something, for instance to update your payment details, or access the latest information on COVID-19.

People working from home should be aware on how to detect and react to phishing frauds, and other types of cyber-attacks. If they act immediately and thoroughly, then cybercrime damage costs can be contained and kept at the current level. If the carelessness due to lack of awareness will continue, it may cause heavy loss globally. As per the Cybersecurity Ventures’ estimation that cybercrime damage costs could potentially double during the Coronavirus outbreak period is concerned not only with phishing scams, but also with ransomware attacks, insecure remote access to corporate networks, remote workers exposing login credentials and confidential data to family members and visitors to the home, and other threats.

Malicious actors are also using COVID-19 or coronavirus-related names in the titles of malicious files to try to trick users into opening them. One example is Eeskiri-COVID-19.chm (“eeskiri” is Estonian for rule), which is actually a keylogger disguised as a COVID-19 help site. If unpacked, it will gather a target’s credentials, set up the keylogger, and then send any gathered information to maildrive[.]icu.

The mention of current events for malicious attacks is nothing new for threat actors, who repeatedly use the timeliness of hot topics, occasions, and popular personalities in their social engineering strategies. In haste to uncover the supposed good news you could inadvertently reveal personal and professional secrets. Indeed, in these difficult times, when it comes to cybersecurity, it’s worth to relax and ask yourself that to Whom you should trust before proceeding on cyberspace.

Delhi Police issued advisory on cybercrime threat amid coronavirus. People are advised to be careful before login to any website and carefully check the authenticity of the website. Most of the website are malicious and engaged in Phishing. Think very carefully before clicking on a tempting link purporting to be from the World Health Organization (WHO), or similar, with positive information about the cure for COVID-19. Chances are it will be a hacker preying on your understandable anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic. Please be careful and double cross check before login or clicking to any links and websites. The following website have already been blocked and categorized as phishing sites.

adaminpomes[.]com/em/COVID-19/index-2[.]php

mersrekdocuments[.]ir/Covid/COVID-19/index[.]php

bookdocument[.]ir/Covid-19/COVID-19/index[.]php

laciewinking[.]com/Vivek/COVID-19/

teetronics[.]club/vv/COVID-19/

glofinance[.]com/continue-saved-app/COVID-19/index[.]php

starilionpla[.]website/do

ayyappantat[.]com/img/view/COVID-19/index[.]php

mortgageks[.]com/covid-19/

cdc[.]gov.coronavirus.secure.portal.dog-office.online/auth/auth/login2.html

Data from artificial intelligence endpoint security platform SentinelOne shows that from February 23, 2020 to till 4th April, 2020 there was an upward trend of attempted attacks with peaks at 145 threats per 1,000 endpoints, compared to 30 or 37 up to 22nd February, 2020. In the UK alone, victims lost over £800,000 to coronavirus scams in February, reports the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. One unlucky person in particular was left £15,000 lighter after buying face masks that never arrived.

Banking trojan malware is masquerading as a WHO-developed mobile application helping individuals recover, or virtual private network (VPN) installers. And consider that Check Point research shows some 4,000 COVID-19 domains have been registered this year, many likely fronts for cybercrime. So-called ‘scareware’ will only ramp up as uncertainty rises and online searches increase as people seek information about the outbreak and solutions,” predicts Terry Greer-King, vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa at California-headquartered cyber organisation SonicWall. They know people are looking for safety information and are more likely to click on potentially malicious links or download attachments. Approximately 70 per cent of the emails Proofpoint’s threat team has uncovered deliver malware and a further 30 per cent aim to steal the victim’s credentials.

Due to high demand for virtual conferencing and other collaboration, tools could expose more vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit. Companies quickly adopting consumer-grade video conferencing can make it easy for an attacker to pretend to be a member of staff. Worryingly, Apricorn research published last year found that one third of IT decision-makers admitted their organisations had suffered a data breach because of remote working. Further, 50 per cent were unable to guarantee that their data was adequately secured when being used by remote workers.

The UK government’s National Cyber Security Centre published a home-working guide earlier this week that offers tips for organisations introducing home working as well as highlighting the telltale signs of phishing emails.

Computer viruses can spread just as easily as human viruses. Just as you would avoid touching objects and surfaces that are not clean, so should you avoid opening emails from unknown parties or visiting untrusted websites. Keep you devices and networks secure. You may use hand sanitiser to remove germs from your hands, and you should have an effective antivirus solution to keep germs off your computers and networks.

Home-working people must follow the following Cybersecurity Tips for their Own Welfare.

Enable multi-factor authentication wherever possible, adding another layer of security to any apps you use. Additionally, a password manager can help avoid risky behaviour such as saving or sharing credentials.
Try to use VPN solution with encrypted network connection. It is safe for the worker to access IT resources within the organisation and elsewhere on the internet.
Organisations should update their cybersecurity policy and include home and remote working. Ensure the policy is adequate as your organisation transitions to having more people outside the office. They need to include remote-working access management, the use of personal devices, and updated data privacy considerations for employee access to documents and other information.
Employees should communicate with colleagues for official matters using IT equipment provided by employers. There is often a range of software installed in the background of company IT that keeps people secure. If a security incident took place on an employee’s personal device, the organisation – and the employee – may not be fully protected.
Without the right security, personal devices used to access work networks can leave businesses vulnerable to hacking. If information is leaked or breached through a personal device, the company will be deemed liable.

Hope the people working from home and the concerned organisations understand the challenges of cybersecurity and follow the suggestions to be able to get the genuine output in the ongoing difficult phase of life, business and global economic downturn.

Prof. ( Dr. ) Tabrez Ahmad,
Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean,
Galgotias University, India

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