Last week we all celebrated Gauri Ganesha festival. In our Puranas, Lord Ganesha is depicted as a god who symbolizes knowledge, wisdom, memory and the ability to overcome obstacles. In this article, I am going to tell you what Ganesha’s body parts teach us about cyber crime prevention and cyber security, one of the biggest issues affecting everyone in the world today.
- Elephant Head – Represents wisdom, memory and keen observation. In the context of cyber security, these qualities enable us to stay informed and vigilant about new cyber crimes, trends and suspicious activities. Also it tells us to use keen observation in all digital dealings, i.e. check whether it (website/message/email) is authentic and authorised and then only respond nor react instinctively.
- Big ears – Its a symbol of listening and awareness. In cyber security, this means we listen to cyber experts and follow the best practices they suggest. We also need to be aware of the software updates to our operating system and applications and apply them as soon as possible.
- Tusks – Represents protection and removal of obstacles. It signals us to identify and remove obstacles or vulnerabilities that could compromise the security of our digital systems and install software antivirus, VPN and firewall on our computers and smart phones for protection.
- Trunk – Represents the discrimination of accepting only good things in life. Today in the cyber world all kinds of things are a click away for everyone and there is no tool or guideline to tell us what is good for us and what can harm us, so we should accept only those things that are useful and not harm us like Ganesha’s trunk. Do not click links/scan QR codes/install apps in messages sent by strangers and do not deal with unsecured websites.
- Big Belly – It symbolizes accepting all the pleasant and unpleasant experiences that come our way in life with equanimity and facing difficulties with courage without getting discouraged. It suggests that if someone threatens us or blackmails us(sextortion) or robs us of our money in the cyber world, we should not surrender to suicide and face it with courage and calmness.
- Ganesha’s special body structure(human body + elephant head) – Signifies adaptability and flexibility. It also means that in a fast-changing cyber world, we need to adapt to the new technologies and tools to keep up with the changes and display flexibility to use them securely without leaking our personal and financially sensitive information.
- Ganesha’s calm and patient demeanor – Suggests us to be patient in all digital transactions, and calmly check and then respond and not react. Cyber criminals urge us to do their desired action(share OTP, pay money) in haste, we have to be patient like Ganesha and ensure that we don’t fall into their net or urges.
- Ganesha’s vehicle – Symbolizes humility and cooperation for us. Most of the victims of cyber crime are highly educated people or people holding good positions in society, most of them have this ego issue where they think that I know everything and nobody can cheat me and they are the ones mostly getting cheated by under educated cyber criminals who play on their ego. So Ganesha advises us to be humble and control our ego, such that nobody misuses it and give full co-operation to the organization/government/administrative authorities in preventing and controlling cyber crimes.
- Ganesha Mantra “Om Ganeshaya Namah” – can be used as a slogan for cyber security best practices:
- “Om” represents understanding and the importance of remaining aware.
- “Ganeshaya” symbolizes the removal of obstacles and threats.
- “Us” reminds us to be modest and cautious in our online activities.