Happy New Year 2014 !!!!

 

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Best CIO Award @ Dewang Mehta Presents Emerging CIOs of the Year | (Taj Lands End, Mumbai)

 

The objective of the Awards is to recognize Organizations, Chief Information Officers and Professionals who have shown Leadership combined with consistent Innovation.

The Emerging CIO’s of the year will be a benchmark to recognize excellence throughout the IT Industry. The Awards will focus on the Contribution of Individuals, Projects, Organizations that have excelled in the use, development of IT. The Awards recognized Individuals and Organizations that have demonstrated leadership in using IT for Business Transformation, optimizing costs, developing synergies across business and enhancing customer satisfaction

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Edge Award 2013 @ The Leela Kempisky, Mumbai

 

EDGE - Enterprises Driving Growth and Excellence using IT) is an initiative by InformationWeek to identify, recognize and honour end-user companies in India that have demonstrated the best use of technology to solve a business problem, improve business competitiveness, and deliver quantifiable ROI to stakeholders

Receiving Award in BI / Analytics Category

The “Astute 100” Award 2013 by CIO100 India

 

CIO India

Kamal Matta, GM-IT and Telecom, is developing its IT division as an independent profit-centre by offering IT services to group companies. He has more than 10 years of experience in heading and managing the IT division of large business houses and addressing their requirements. He’s proficient in IT solution and architecture planning, evaluation, up-gradation and integration of the IT, networking, and telecom systems. His clients can vouch for his objective and rational analysis of IT. He looks at IT for what it is worth, without falling for the hype around it. — Receiving Award in Grand Ceremony at JW Marriot, Pune.

CIO India's photos | Facebook

HATT Awards 2013 @ HATT Summit Goa

Award Won in the category “Business Transformation using IT as Strategic Tool”

“Public Private Partnership Crucial To Fight Cyber Crime”

 

Despite being an IT hub and an attractive offshore desitnation, India has a lot to do in securing its cyber space. The recent $45 million global ATM heist which was traced back to two Indian IT companies- ElectraCard Services, based in Pune and EnStage Inc in Bengaluru has put the country in a difficult situation. 

Several other incidences have proven India to be a happy hunting ground for cyber criminals. Experts feel that India's IT law is almost toothless against cyber criminals as its a bailable offence with maximum of three years of imprisonment. The recent Gulf ATM heist has uncovered India as a vulnerable destination in terms of IT security. "India is the weakest link," said Shane Shook, an expert with US cyber-security firm Cylance Inc in a report. 

Shri Rajesh Tope, Minister of Higher & Technical Education, Govt. of Maharashtra said that as incidences of cyber crime have been increasing day by day industry participation is required to fight cyber crime in the country, while addressing the staff of Quick Heal during his visit to Quick Heal’s Research and Development Lab.

According to a report from The Hindu, India currently has only 556 cyber security experts in various government departments, while China has 1,25,000 experts, the U.S. 91,080 and Russia 7,300. India needs to wake up to the crisis as reports of hacking of sites, cyber terrorism, state supported hacking, hacking activism, economic offences are on the rise.

Speaking at The Mid-year CSO Summit 2013, organised by CSO Forum, Dr. Gulshan Rai, Director General, CERT-In, Government of India echoed, “The incidences that we witness today are far more complex. It's time to have a close collaboration between the industry and government to achieve in this domain. India due to its growing economic influence worldwide, has gained attention from cyber criminals. This is the time to come and think together as to what is best for the country. The scenario of cyber security in India needs to be improved significantly.”

Emphasizing on the importance of education in this scenario, Shri Tope also focused on the fact that the current academic syllabus needs to be upgraded to meet these challenges. Going forward industry participation is required to keep the students abreast of the latest developments.

“Public Private Partnership Crucial To Fight Cyber Crime”

No More Support for Windows XP from April 2014

 

Here’s a reminder for all our readers – Microsoft will no longer be providing any services to Windows XP operating system from April 8, 2014. In other words, machines still running this OS, will no longer receive security updates, and will be out of all kinds of support (paid or otherwise). Needless to mention, without all these updates, such computers would be increasingly vulnerable to malware attacks, and would be exposed to compliance risks, as well. Get a detailed insight into how the absence of such updates may affect you, in this post.

Users of Windows XP are recommended to upgrade the operating system to the latest available version immediately. Read more about this in Microsoft’s official site.

No More Support for Windows XP from April 2014 | Quick Heal blog

How to Recognize and Dodge Email Scams?

 

Internet scams are spreading rampantly across the world. And guess what the most popular carrier of such scams is? No prize for guessing – our beloved internet darling, email. This post gives you a quick read on some of the most common online scams that are spread via emails.

1. The Lost Traveler
Scam Name – Stranded Traveler Scam

What is it? – You receive an email from someone claiming to be your friend, who got lost or robbed somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The sender solemnly asks you to loan them some money, with a usual subject line “I am writing this with tears in my eyes”. Really, you got lost or robbed but still managed to write a nice, awe-inspiring email instead of just giving a call?

What should you do? – Confirm if your friend really did go to such a trip, from his friends or family. Or, if you find something fishy about it, you always have the “delete” button at your disposal!

2. Hello, I am a Genie, I make you Rich!
Scam Name – Work from Home Scam

What is it? – This is, perhaps, one of the most widespread online scams. You receive an email that takes you to wonderland, where you see yourself going from rags to riches by just downloading a software, and paying an upfront registration fee to begin the “work from home” job. Give money to get money eh?

What should you do? – Simply remember the saying, “there is no such thing as a free lunch”.

3. Help me move Money and I will dip you in Cash!
Scam Name – Nigerian Scam

What is it? – Ever received an email where some person is asking for your help to access a humongous sum of money? This agenda may be sugarcoated with hundreds of stories, explaining why they have chosen “you” as their superman. So what’s in it for you? Well, you will be rewarded for your kind assistance. But first, you must cough up some cash to help them initiate the process.

What you can do? – Well, we just told you about how this scam works. You know what to do right?

4. Congratulations! You just got Rich!
Scam Name – Email Lottery Scam

What is it? – One day your luck strikes and you receive an email that informs you that you have won yourself a huge sum of money in some lottery. To take the process further, you would have to contact some account manager. And the final step would be to pay an advance processing fee so that the money can be transferred to your account.

What you can do? – Think, what on earth did you do that won you such an amount of money? Or, read this post on the Google award email scam.

5. Hello Kind Sir, Need a Bit of your Info!
Scam name – Phishing Email Scam

What is it? – Phishing email scams, unlike the ones mentioned above, do not directly ask the victim for money. Instead, they trick the victim into divulging personal or banking information in response to an email that looks like to have come from a genuine entity like a bank or other financial entities. Such emails usually redirect the victim to a fake website that requests for such information.

What to do? – No genuine financial institution will ask you for your personal or banking information over email or phone. If you get any such emails, confirm the matter with the sender over the phone or by personally meeting them.

6. Child, I can See your Future!
Scam Name – Astrology/Psychic Scam

What is it? – Your inbox receives an email from a Professor Sybil Trelawney, who has had visions about your past and future. It also says that the professor has a magical spell that can turn around your life. But in order for the mojo to work, you would have to spare some money for talismans, golden eggs, pendants, or probably, a half-burned wood or a charcoal.

What you can do? – Ignore Professor Trelawney, for the only person who can have visions about your future is you.

As online scammers are becoming more technologically sound, email scams are evolving with time. Taking the right preventive measures is the only way to doge them. And these measures include employing multilayered security software for your system and having a keen eye to test the legitimacy of every email that hits your inbox.

How to Recognize and Dodge Email Scams? | Quick Heal blog

Made in China, a material that's lighter than air

 

Chinese scientists have developed the world's lightest substance - it is so light that a mug-size of it wouldn't even bend a blade of grass.
Developed by scientists at Zhejiang University, carbon aerogel has a density of 0.16 mg/cubic centimetre - one-sixth of that of air.

Aerogel is a material produced with semi-solid gel dried and solvent removed. It appears in a solid state with many internal pores filled with air, and thus it's of minimal density.

The research team led by Professor Gao Chao freeze-dried solutions of carbon nanotubes and graphene to remove moisture and retain integrity.

Carbon aerogel is also a "super sponge" - one of the materials with biggest oil absorption capacity. The feather-light gel can absorb up to 900 times its weight.

"Carbon aerogel is expected to play an important role in pollution control, for oil spills, water and even air purification," Gao Chao said.

The study was published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Made in China, a material that's lighter than air - Hindustan Times

How to use Microsoft Word online

 

Even if you do not have Microsoft Word installed on your computer, you can edit and collaborate on Word documents others have sent or shared with you just by using your web browser. One way to do this is with Microsoft's free SkyDrive cloud service — and its included Office Web Apps versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.
To open and edit the document, just log into your SkyDrive account through your Web browser and upload the file; SkyDrive users can also share files through the service. If you use the SkyDrive desktop program, you can also drag the file into the SkyDrive folder to upload it.
Next, open the document from within the browser and click the Edit Document option in the Sky-Drive menu bar. You can choose to edit the file in Microsoft Word or edit the document in the Word Web App — which is not as versatile as the full Word program, but can handle basic editing functions. Microsoft has more information on using SkyDrive and Office on its site.
Those using Gmail and Google can collaborate on Word files by using the Google Drive and Google Docs services or by opening Google Docs files in Microsoft Word. If you do not want to convert the Word file to the Google Docs format and only want to read it, you can view the document in its original format with the Google Drive Viewer. Google Drive Viewer can also preview more than 15 different file types, including Apple Pages documents, Adobe Illustrator artwork and AutoDesk AutoCAD files

How to use Microsoft Word online - The Times of India

Why your Google, Facebook accounts may be unsafe

 

LONDON: The protocol that provides security for online banking, credit card data and social networking site Facebook has "major weaknesses" which may lead to interception of sensitive personal data, UK scientists warn.
The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol is used by millions of people on a daily basis. It provides security for online banking, as well as for credit card data when shopping on the internet.
In addition, many email systems in the workplace use it, as well as a number of big companies including Facebook and Google.
Professor Kenny Paterson from the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway University and researcher Nadhem AlFardan found that a so-called 'Man-in-the Middle' attack can be launched against TLS and sensitive personal data can be intercepted in this way.
They have identified a flaw in the way in which the protocol terminates TLS sessions. This leaks a small amount of information to the attacker, who can use it to gradually build up a complete picture of the data being sent.
"While these attacks do not pose a significant threat to ordinary users in its current form, attacks only get better with time. Given TLS's extremely widespread use, it is crucial to tackle this issue now," Paterson said in a statement.
"Luckily we have discovered a number of countermeasures that can be used. We have been working with a number of companies and organisations, including Google, Oracle and OpenSSL, to test their systems against attack and put the appropriate defences in place," Paterson added.

Why your Google, Facebook accounts may be unsafe - The Times of India

Facebook opens messenger to non-Facebook users

 

SAN FRANCISCO: Social networking giant Facebook has rolled out its new messenger app, allowing mobile phone users without Facebook account to sign up the service with a phone number.
With no Facebook account and email address required, app with the new feature will be first available to users of phones running on Google's Android platform in India, Indonesia, Australia, Venezuela and South Africa, reported Xinhua citing the company.
The sign up option using phone number will be rolled out globally and its version for users of Apple's iPhone as well as other smartphone platforms are also under way, said Facebook.
Facebook Messenger is an instant messaging service and software application which provides text and video communication.
Its mobile version was released last year for major smartphone platforms, but users need to sign up with a Facebook account.
The latest move is expected to help Facebook reach a larger audience, attracting smartphone users with no Facebook account to gradually use more Facebook services

Facebook opens messenger to non-Facebook users - The Times of India

Happy birthday Facebook!

 

NEW DELHI: Social networking website Facebook turns nine-year-old today. Facebook was started on February 4, 2004 in a dorm of Harvard University by Mark Zuckerburg with the help of his four friends Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes. The world's biggest social media site called thefacebook.com in its initial days, and was later renamed to just Facebook.
Facebook, which began as Zuckerberg's hobby projects, was initially a college network. Facebook's expansion to other colleges and universities started in March 2004. Within months, the social network became a huge success. In October 2007, software giant Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook for $240 million. Search gaint Google too is said to have offered partnership deal to Facebook. The deal was, however, rejected by Facebook. The latter went public in May 2012 and was valued at over $100 billion after IPO.
Recently, Facebook co-founder and CEO Zuckerburg announced a new feature called Graph Search, a tool that utilises social data to help compile results for users. The company also rolled out features like Facebook Cards and voice calling on iPhone in North America to attract users. Users are steadily becoming more active on the mobile edition of the website than the desktop version.
Despite tremendous growth, Facebook has been mired in controversies over privacy concerns, underage members, hacking attacks etc. Zuckerburg has been dragged into lawsuits over stealing the idea for Facebook from his seniors at Harvard - Cameron Winklewoss, Tyler Winklewoss and Divya Narendra. Co-founder Eduardo Saverin also filed a lawsuit against Zuckerburg for pushing him out of the company. Both the cases were settled out of court.
In terms of user count, US, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Mexico are the countries with maximum members on Facebook. It enjoys a huge lead over rival social networks like Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn. It topped 1 billion users on September 14 2012 at 12.45 pm, while it crossed the 500 million-member mark in July 2010. Since February 2009, Facebook has witnessed 1.13 trillion users' likes, 219 billion photos being uploaded and 17 billion location-tagged pictures.
A 2011 movie called The Social Network chronicled the events that led to the inception of Facebook as well as the involvement of tech titans like Sean Parker (co-founder of Napster) and Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal) with Facebook. The movie was nominated for eight Oscars and won three.

Happy birthday Facebook! - The Times of India

Section 66A OF IT Act - your friend or foe?

 

There has been a great deal of controversy during the last few months over the questionable use of Section 66A of the amended Indian Information Technology Act, 2000. In April this year, Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested under this section for forwarding caricatures on Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Facebook.  The Ravi Srinivasan Twitter case showed how on a complaint, a person’s tweets on reports of corruption could be brought within the ambit of the section.

In the K V Rao case, two men, K.V. Rao and Mayank from Mumbai, were arrested for allegedly posting offensive comments against some leaders on their Facebook group.

The most recent case, of course, is that of Shaheen Dhada who was arrested by the Palghar police for a rather innocuous Facebook post. Her friend, Rinu Srinivasan, was also detained simply for liking the post. Understandably, there was considerable outrage from all quarters over the way in which the cops used Indian cyberlaw to harass two innocent citizens.

In the last few days, we have been seen various discussions about defective IT legislation in India and the need for changing it.

This article aims to explain in common man's language what Section 66A of the amended Indian Information Technology Act, 2000 is all about.

Section 66A makes it an offence to send, by means of a computer resource or communication device, any of the following information:
1)    any information that is grossly offensive;
2)    any information that has menacing character;
3)    any information which you know to be false but which is sent for purpose of causing annoyance;
4)    any information which you know to be false but which is sent for purpose of causing inconvenience;
5)    any information which you know to be false but which is sent for purpose of causing danger;
6)    any information which you know to be false but which is sent for purpose of causing obstruction;
7)    any information which you know to be false but which is sent for purpose of causing insult;
8)    any information which you know to be false but which is sent for purpose of causing injury;
9)    any information which you know to be false but which is sent for purpose of causing criminal intimidation;
10)    any information which you know to be false but which is sent for purpose of causing enmity;
11)    any information which you know to be false but which is sent for purpose of causing hatred; or
12)    any information which you know to be false but which is sent for purpose of causing ill will.
All the above as per (3) to (12) must be done persistently by using a computer resource or communication device. 
13)    any e-mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance;
14)    any e-mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing inconvenience;
15)    any electronic mail or electronic mail message to deceive the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages;
16)    any e-mail or electronic mail message to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages.

So if you are a social media user or even if you use a computer system or mobile, beware. You could be brought within the ambit of Section 66A of the amended Indian Information Technology Act, 2000.

To help understand the scope of this section, let’s examine some common illustrations of acts, which could come within its ambit. 

When you send either by means of a Computer, Computer System, Computer Network or using Mobile Phone, Smart Phone, iPhone, iPad, Tablet, Smart Devices, Personal Digital Assistants, BlackBerry or any other communication devices, the following kind of information, you could be covered under Section 66A of the amended Indian Information Technology Act, 2000:

1)    If you swear or abuse somebody, the swear words could be said to be grossly offensive. The same could also be said to be having menacing character and your act could come within the ambit of Section 66A(a) of the amended Indian Information Technology Act, 2000. 
2)    Anything defamatory which affects the character, reputation, standing or goodwill of a person could also be deemed to be grossly offensive.
3)    Making false allegations against the character of a person or character assassination could also qualify as grossly offensive and having menacing character.
4)    Using insulting words or symbols which are obscene, could also qualify as grossly offensive and having menacing character.
5)    Calling someone names could also be brought within the ambit of being grossly offensive or having menacing character
6)    Posting pictures of a person in uncomplimentary situations and environments could also be said to be grossly offensive or having menacing character. For example, if you morphed someone’s face on the face of erotic/nude model’s body, your action wouldn’t be just obscene, but would also be grossly offensive and menacing.
7)    Electronic morphing which shows a person depicted in a bad light could also be seen as an example of information being grossly offensive or having menacing character.
8)    Using vernacular bad words in English alphabets could also qualify as grossly offensive or having menacing character.
9)    Threatening somebody with consequences for his life, apart from being separate offences, could be also construed as information which is grossly offensive or menacing.
10)    Threatening to expose the ill-deeds of somebody could also qualify as menacing.
11)    Information containing malicious, mischievous character assassination
12)    Information containing morphed pictures aimed at hurting religious sentiments.
13)    Information showing deities of particular religions in an uncomplimentary light.
14)    Putting the picture of a person against a slogan/phrase/saying which does not depict his true character or personality.
15)    Deceiving the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages. For example, sending emails from a fake email account to another person, could qualify as an offence under Section 66A. 
16)    Further, misleading the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages, e.g. sending e-mails and SMSs in the name of Reserve Bank of India for big lotteries, could also invite the provisions of Section 66A.
17)    E-mail containing fake recruitment offers to unsuspected members of the public, could also qualify as an offence under Section 66A.

The aforesaid are just some illustrations to demonstrate how broad Section 66A is, and how it can impact you. The illustrations are neither comprehensive nor complete but have been given as selective examples of the ambit of Section 66A for academic, research and review purposes only.

The language and scope of legal terms used under Section 66A are very wide and capable of distinctive varied interpretations. Seen from another angle, the section can be effectively used as a tool for gagging legitimate free online speech. The problem here is that Section 66A comes with extremely wide parameters which have not been given any specific definitions under the law.

These parameters are capable of being interpreted in any manner possible by the law-enforcement agencies. As such, while the section talks about sending any information that is grossly offensive or having menacing character, the law does not give any guidance as to what is grossly offensive or information having menacing character.

Thus, it is left to the subjective discretion of the law-enforcement agencies in this regard. All wide meaning terms used under Section 66A have not been defined, which itself provides huge amount of flexibility in Section 66A to be used in any circumstances perceivable. Thus, large portions of legitimate free online speech could also be brought within the ambit of the section. Given the advent of technology and the way people are misusing the same, there could be millions of situations which could qualify as offences under Section 66A.

Learnings:

Till such time Section 66A is either changed,  modified, varied or amended, it will be imperative that you exercise due diligence when you send information on the Internet, social media and mobile networks. The focus of the law is not on publishing information, it is on the offence of sending information. This assumes more significance, since whenever you are on the Internet or when you are sending e-mail or posting or publishing a blog or creating an SMS, as you are sending these electronic records from your computer system or communication device. Hence, be very careful before you send information on electronic platforms and computer networks.

Conclusion:

There are tremendous problems in the way Section 66A of the amended Indian Information Technology Act, 2000 has been drafted.  This provision, even though has been inspired by the noble objectives of protecting reputations and preventing misuse of networks, has not been able to achieve its goals.  The language of Section 66A of the amended Indian Information Technology Act, 2000 goes far beyond the reasonable restrictions on free speech, as mandated under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India.  For India, being the world’s largest, vibrant democracy, reasonable restrictions on free speech need to be very strictly construed.  Section 66A of the amended Indian Information Technology Act, 2000 has the potential of prejudicially impacting free speech in the digital and mobile ecosystems.  Section 66A of the amended Indian Information Technology Act, 2000 needs to be amended to made the Indian Cyberlaw in sync with the principles enshrined in the Constitution of India and also with the existing realities of social media and digital platforms today. 

Pavan Duggal is an advocate at the Supreme Court of India