The Women Entrepreneur (WE) wing of the World Zarthusti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC), Pune, organized a much-needed and relevant workshop on Cyber Security and Safety, on 18th January, 2020. In present times, where cyber-crimes are becoming increasingly rampant, the workshop evinced much interest amongst Puneites, so much, so that it had to amend its earlier ‘Ladies only’ stipulation and open it to all, due to the overwhelming demand.

In his welcome speech, Tehmasp Bharucha, Chairman WZCC, Pune, emphasized the need for being alert and watchful while using the internet, smart phones, online banking, ATMs, etc. The workshop was conducted by Chief Guest, Shweta Chawla, a Digital Forensic Investigator with nearly fifteen years of experience, who conducts training programs in Cyber Forensics, Cyber Awareness and Digital Privacy. Shweta shared an audio-visual presentation on various issues including safety measures to be taken and measures to take if you’re a victim of cyber-crime.

An interactive Question-Answer session helped answer a number of queries from the audience with regard to dangers of cyber-crime and misuse of technology by antisocial elements. Some of the simple yet useful tips she suggested included using different emails for personal, professional and banking work; have non-identifiable email IDs; keeping strong password and changing these regularly and never disclosing passwords to anyone; secure your systems with firewalls, anti-virus, content filters; Opting for 2-factor authentications; Secure your browser and adding blockers; Checking your email account and website veracity as well as for account breach; not trusting the online persona; and not waiting long to approach cybercrime authorities immediately and report the crime.

The workshop was ably organized by WE Team under the mentorship of Mahrukh Bharucha, with Benafsha Irani as the charming host and Dinaz Bharucha introducing the Chief Guest. In her vote of thanks, Farida Deboo was appreciative of the good response from the audience and thanked Shweta for her useful and educative workshop.