Microsoft Community Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepal

Microsoft meets Nepalese government officials, finance sector professionals, and SMEs to discuss economic opportunities of digital transformation and the importance of cybersecurity. Microsoft recently concluded a series of events targeting government officials, finance sector professionals, and SMEs in Nepal debating the importance of cybersecurity and economic opportunities of digital transformation. Department of IT, Ministry of Science and Communication partnered with Microsoft in conducting the conference themed “Technology & Cybercrime.”

Delivering the keynote address at this event, Mr. Birendra Mishra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, The Chief of Information Technology’ Division stated; “Preparing our nation for the digital age is extremely priority for economic and societal growth. The 4^th industrial revolution is giving the knowledge and tools our people need so they could keep unlocking opportunities anywhere in the world. This is the best journey and not a destination, and I am glad we have organizations such as Microsoft partnering with us in this digital transformation journey.”

Mr. Birendra Mishra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, The Chief of Information Technology’ Division delivering the keynote address

Laxmi Prasad Yadav, Director General, Department of IT

Mr. Laxmi Prasad Yadav, Director General, Department of IT, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology delivering first speech address.

Microsoft partnered with Nepal Banker’s Association in conducting a roundtable discussion involving Banking sector decision makers with the theme “Perils of Cybercrime.” Mr. Chintamani Siwakoti, Deputy Governor, Nepal Rastra Bank delivered the keynote address at this event. CEOs and COOs of leading FSI sector organizations discussed emerging threats of cyber criminals and attacks thereby importance of making cybersecurity a boardroom discussion and not limit this to the IT heads. The Chief Guest Mr. Siwakoti also shared that the regulators are aware of the critical role played by Fintech especially in the banking sector. He added that looming cyber threats had created could risk in financial stability, and it is essential for the banks to adopt strong security measures. He also shared that NRB is in the final stages of revising the IT Policy and factors related to cybersecurity policies shall also be looked.

Mr. Gyanendra P. Dhungana, President, NBA highlighted the importance of technology in the banking sector and, efforts and resources banks have been investing in strengthening their IT infrastructure. He added that programs like this would help to raise further awareness by highlighting IT-related risks including rising cases of cybercrime.

Mr. Chintamani Siwakoti, Deputy Governor, Nepal Rastra Bank (On the middle) adding his opinion on the current situation of Cyber Security status and financial sector challenges. On left Mr.  Gyanendra Pd. Dhungana, President, Nepal Bankers’ Association

Microsoft also conducted a conference named “What does it take to breach a lock” targeting small and medium businesses in Nepal explaining the risks of pirated software and opportunities associated with right licensing products such as Office 365.

Sonia Bashir Kabir, Managing Director of Microsoft Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Laos at the SME conference; “What does it take to breach a lock.”

Expressing her views about the importance of digital transformation and cybersecurity in Nepal, Ms. Sonia Bashir Kabir, Managing Director of Microsoft Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Laos stated; “Digital transformation can unlock extensive capabilities for emerging markets such as Nepal enabling us to leapfrog and seize opportunities out there in the world. A Frost & Sullivan study commissioned by Microsoft revealed that the potential economic loss across the Asia Pacific due to cybersecurity incidents could hit a staggering US$1.745 trillion.

This is more than seven percent of the region’s total GDP of US$24.3 trillion. The study reveals that more than half of the organizations surveyed have either experienced a cybersecurity incident (25%) or are not sure if they had one as they have not performed proper forensics or data breach assessment (27%). This indeed is an active call for decision-makers in both public and private sector organizations to take preventive action in fighting cybercrime in emerging markets such as Nepal”.

What does it take to breach a lock? The first thing that strikes our mind after reading the statement is breaking the lock. In this era of Digital transformation, everything is moving towards technology. As days are passing by Cyber crimes are increasing rapidly. Now, people are not interested in robbing your houses or jewelry shops they are transferring towards looking into your systems. Cybercrime, or computer oriented crime, is a crime that involves a computer and a network. The processor may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target. Cyber crimes: “Offences that are committed against individuals or groups of individuals with a criminal motive to nationally & internationally harm the reputation of the victim or cause physical or mental harm, to the victim indirectly or directly, using modern telecommunication networks such as Internet (networks including but not limited to Chat rooms, emails, notices and among the groups) and Cell phones (Bluetooth/SMS/MMS)”. Cybercrime may threaten an individual or nation’s Cybersecurity and Financial Institutions. Most of the Issues surrounding crimes have become high-profile, notably those surrounding hacking, copyright infringement, unwarranted mass-surveillance, extortion, child pornography, and child grooming. There are so many problems of privacy when confidential information is intercepted, lawfully or otherwise.

After realizing that this is a huge problem that’s rising ahead and can attack us even before we know about it, Microsoft organized an event today at Annapurna Hotel, Dubarmarg from 9:15 to 12:15 PM. In this event, we had some guests who arrived from Microsoft South East Asia New Markets to take over the session on Cybercrime and cybersecurity. They gave the brief knowledge about what it looks like to get breached and made us aware that none of us are untouched by this problem. Also, they talked about how does Microsoft helps to prevent Cybercrimes.

The session kicked off with the welcoming speech of Sonia Kabir, Managing Director Microsoft Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Laos. She focused on what digital transformation looks like in the developing countries like ours and how can we go hand in hand with Microsoft to empower every individual and organization on the planet to achieve more.

Followed by her, we had Shalini Ratwatte, Head of Corporate, External and Legal Affairs speaking about what Cybercrime is, how can a small or significant organization get affected to it and why is Microsoft interested in Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity. She presented us with a whole new perspective of looking into how can we secure our systems and data from these crimes.

Then, we had Chinthaka Dunuwille, Microsoft Software Asset Management Team who sparked a light on cloud technology and how safer, more comfortable and convenient this technology today has become to make sure that our data and everything that we want not to be stolen is kept safe and untouched inside the cloud. With his session, we were able to realize that Cloud Technology is more reliable and is decidedly less likely to get hacked or get attacked by malware. Today every individual and organization are moving towards the cloud because we know this is where future is.

Now, we had Arafat Khan Chowdhury, Microsoft Premier Support Team who gave us the knowledge about Microsoft’s cybersecurity capabilities and how Microsoft is integrated with existing security architectures and capabilities. He also introduced us to the services, devices and many other areas of Microsoft security through which we can protect our systems and data. Finally, for ending the event, we had Deependra Bajracharya, Business Development Manager, Nepal, and Bhutan.

He gave a brief description of how Microsoft operates in Nepal with the conclusion he thanked all the guests who gave their time and shared their knowledge in today’s event. With this, the formal event came to an end followed by a Q&A session and lunch.

Author: Melish Ghimire

Global Azure Boot Camp(GABC), a global event organized by Technical Communities and User Groups all around the world. The Annual Global Azure Boot Camp is set to be held in Nepal along with 68 countries from across the globe. The Global Azure Boot Camp is a one-day event organized by WinServer Community Nepal which focuses on Microsoft Azure’s cloud offerings and open source technologies.

The Global Azure Bootcamp (#GlobalAzure) is a worldwide series of one-day technical learning events for Azure. It is created and hosted by leaders from the global cloud IT professional community. This is a community, pure and simple, at its very best. And you can join too!

These aren’t Microsoft events, but Microsoft loves us and what we do! Microsoft will help us set up attendees with free Azure trials for testing and learning. All totaled across the world we’ll get over 10,000 global IT professional skilled up on Azure.

Global Azure is an unstoppable force of thirst for knowledge with 244 locations in 68 countries! It all goes down on April 21, 2018, everywhere at once, rolling from the first time-zones to the last circling the globe, lasting for almost 30 hours end to end.

Program Details:

Date: April 21, 2018 (Saturday)
Venue: Conference Hall, Uniglobe College, Kathmandu, Nepal
Registration fee: Free of Cost! (Sponsored! Minimal seats)