Tech Commandments for a safer digital life - 5 principles to adhere to when using Internet

 

Tech Commandments for a safer digital life

 

* Technology has become a mammoth sized factor in our daily lives and to top it all , Technology is always on the change which means that one should always stay vigil of the changes happening around us as many perpetrators and miscreants are on the lookout for finding new ways to infiltrate into the loopholes that we set knowingly or unknowingly which leads them directly in hold of sensitive information which can lead to a big devastation if left unguarded and unprotected

 

* Some experts from leading security firms assert that one should always remember that any piece of our identity that we post online could eventually be used by fraudsters and hijackers / hackers to pervade into our online accounts for which one needs to keep oneself and connected members safe when online . These days bots ( trackers) can track any account and collect account information at any point of time

 

* Therefore in order to keep oneself on the guard and stay safe , some of the commandments that one needs to adhere to all the time are the following :

 

1) One should not overshare personal info

As many of us use high ended camera phones with very high or unlimited storage capacity , one gets into a clicking mode and becomes a self-proclaimed cameraman / photographer . But these days thanks to highly developed AI programs which can take even pictures as input parameters and retrieve all relevant information from the photo , one should stay vigil about the photos that one clicks , location , people in that photo , context and backdrop for that photo and several other factors before one gets into clicking mode to showcase one's photography skills

 

2) One should not use Weak and Easy to crack passwords

We all have a tendency to associate easy passwords which are small and easy to remember for all of our accounts as we normally want to skip ahead of all the mental work of recalling big and complex things whenever we want to get into our accounts .. be it social media accounts , bank accounts , insurance accounts

(and Swiss Bank Deposit accounts too .. ) . As mentioned , these days tracker bots can track all the gateways of access that an individual leaves upon their online pathways , so unrecognised and unregulated access into our trails can beonline pathways , so unrecognised and unregulated access into our trails can be

discovered by bots and provide the information to the collecting agency which is on the lookout of such paths which could be exploited . Many such agencies pass on these trail paths to hackers to peek into and steal out money / documents .. anything precious to them (remember .. "precious" of LOTR , one can turn into

Gollum for such "precious" things ) . Therefore , always make use of stronger and lengthier passwords which is one's somewhat safety check for stopping unwanted and malicious intrusion . Many people make use of password managers who make use of multiple accounts , but this is also vulnerable as these are stored in the form of either xml , json objects in the form of cookies which could be again collected from the browser plugins that one uses on a regular basis . Thats why , one should also try disconnecting from cookie storage from browser when one closes the session . And thus , the best thing to do is to note down all the important passwords over a piece of paper and keep them at a safe storage space .

 

 

3) One should use Multi-factor authentication or two-step verification

 

 

These days password comprehension can be done is so different forms by hackers that , if someone wants to any way hack into some account , then they will eventually get into the account and that too using several tools . Thats why most of the security experts recommend that one should make use of multifactor authentication (two-factor , three-factor etc) in order to access a given account which involves a user's verification before logging into account using a system of OTP over phone and authenticator apps that send temporary always changing codes that ensure that the user who is using the account is the real one and not a dummy or someone else

 

 

4) One should not share data about friends and Contacts

 

This comes as a completely new method of data siphoning which occurs when someone accepts any permissions to any app or software over the phone . This makes the app-owner a party to the shared information as requested by the app within the permission page of the application . Therefore, one thing that one needs to keep in mind is to keep a check over the permission page of the

applications that one installs .Best is .. one should try to limitise one's wants , keep few applications and software over one's phone and do not install those software that require a lot of permissions to be accepted before making use of the software .

 

5) One should always stay vigilant and skeptical

These days all the security experts accept the one rule of thumb for all security practices -- " Trust No One in this Greed Infested World" . Whenever you recieve any call ,message , email soliciting any personal information .. then do not trust any of message , email soliciting any personal information .. then do not trust any of the mails . This could be a phishing attack from someone who wants to profit out of undoubting people who out of trust and foolishness get entrapped in their untrustworthy traps , thereby losing security over their devices and mediums .Fraudsters nowadays can embed malware over legitimate looking emails within hyperlinks which once clicked could install unsuspecting software over your system all without anyone's coming to know of such a background activity running on your system . Therefore, whenever any suspicion occurs , always opt out of such apps , softwares , emails , anything (sigh ... wish I had known these earlier )

 

 

These days I personally feel .. the days of Nokia 1100 and Nokia 1600 , movies without real-looking CGI , games like Tetris and Mario were the best .

 

Fast Spreading Digital Adaptation in Emerging Nations and the associated "Theory of Everything" in the trade and commerce world - An article by Vivek Dash

 

Fast Spreading Digital Adaptation in Emerging Nations and the theory of Everything 

 

* Emerging economies have been struggling with growth through the 2010's and still the feeling of pessimism clouds over the present decade whether the steadfast growth trend could be seen to be going strong or whether the trend would be gauged down as it is being seen that People have accrued high amounts of debt during the ongoing pandemic which has become a detrimental factor to growth in not only emerging countries but also countries which are developed like USA , Russia , China , Japan , Germany , France , UK , Finland as questions over Growth tapping and keeping the same pace steady even during a pandemic period is of paramount importance to all

 * The answer to all the woes shrouding the question of development even during such cloudier and gloomy economic conditions, looming large and widespread is the harnessing of the Digital Revolution and Digital Adaptation. As most of the emerging nations have started adopting cutting edge technology at a much lower and lower cost which has allowed the countries to fuel domestic demand and overcome traditional obstacles to growth .

 * According to Reports , the number of smartphone users across the globe has skyrocketed from 150 million to 4 billion worldwide which approximates the total number of such people with a Smartphone device as nearly equals to or over half of the entire world's population . This has enabled most of the residents of the emerging world to access vital consumer and professional services over a phone which is no less than a computer in its kind and is much advanced than the personal computers which were there just a decade back .

 * According to reports from BCG - Boston Consulting Group , since 2014 more than 10,000 tech firms have been launched in emerging markets with half of them outside China

 * As per current trends and reports , India is having almost equal number of technology players as France and Germany and the number of such companies are growing much faster year on year .

* As per some key metrices and data collected by popular editorials , the onslaught and adaptation of digital revolution is much more in emerging economies than that of developed nations and has been growing at a much higher rate year on year .

 * Another report collected from some major editorials state that among the top 30 nations by revenue from digital services as share of GDP more than top 30 nations by revenue from digital services as share of GDP , more than half of them are in the emerging world . In such a scenario, it has emerged that Indonesia is much more advanced that countries such as Sweden and Finland which are Europe's most tech savvy nations

 * India ranks 12th in terms of digital revenues as a share of the economy

 * Since 2017 , digital revenue has grown in emerging countries at an annual pace of 26% compared to 11% in the developed nations

 * Led by e-commerce, the pace of growth in India has been even faster with revenues growing nearly 33% on year over year

* The European Centre for Digital Competitiveness scores G20 nations by the pace of progress in the digital ecosystem and "mindset" and thus puts four emerging nations in the top 5 category - Saudi Arabia , Indonesia , China and Argentina

 * The pressing question that has emerged from all this competitive talk is how have the developing nations adopted to digital technologies faster than the developed nations ? The widely acknowledged answer to such a question has come in the form of a simple answer that is Habit and tenacity. When some are wearing off and losing out on sheen as a result of their comfort seeking, some others rise who have the tenacity to struggle and get more resources for themselves as prize and with analogy it can be only reduced a cyclic process of growth and decay , decay and growth which applies to everyone be it person , society , principles , economies and even countries and continents .. and as well as the planet too (too much philosophy in an nutshell .... )

* The digital divide and access to information and services is narrowing down which used to be the key parameters upon which the developed nations had been brought up and this is trickling down to developing and under-developed nations too .

 * In the last decade alone , the number of internet users have doubled in the G20 nations which is astounding as a decade back access to internet was a distant dream for so many . (I first lay my hands upon internet services in the year 2008 , and the first time I got to own a computer was in the aftermath of 2003 ) . From that to this has been years marked with a boom in technological development which has been significantly very high in the last two decades alone compared to what the last century or any of the centuries ever saw in the history of the world .

 * Robustness of the governments to improve productivity by moving more and more services over to online format in order to make them more transparent and less vulnerable to corruption , which is one of the biggest deterrents / obstacles / vulnerabilities to corruption , which is one of the biggest deterrents / obstacles of doing business in the emerging world , which thereby creates a greater sense of trust and cooperation which in turn facilitates higher economic growth .

 * According to reports , the signle most factor for such kind of marked development to occur , the cost of starting or opening up business is a major driving factor which deters entrepreneurs from taking their feet out to start a business , innovation or self-sustained effort ; but since the cost of such factors has been in the decline in emerging or developing countries coupled with their in government support, guidance, motivation and cooperation such prospective entrepreneurs get a guided push for starting up as they can start their businesses and tools on their own and affordably , which these days could be just monitored and controlled within the grasp of their palms over a smartphone with internet .

 

* But as economies start evolving and growing, chances may arise that the things which catapulted such growth coupled with the rise of globalisation and access to great quality products from around the globe through way-to-go retail apps would slowly and slowly come down again and perhaps this could be a smaller miniscule side-effect of indigenisation which is again a cyclic effect which takes into factor indigenisation and globalisation which would also go all the time (You see ... one has to always keep in mind the cyclic effect of all things to understand all concepts of science , arts , culture , trade , war and even peace ... which encompasses the all round "theory of everything" )

 

 

Noticeable debacles on the part of public and political parties at the outset of Phase-2 of Covid pandemic in India ( a collective analysis )

 

                     Covid Phase-2 noticeable debacles

 

* Central Govt's decision to clear approvals on fast track basis for vaccines used in other countries is a welcome gesture in recognition of the sheer magnitude of the surging magnitude of the second Covid wave .

 

* It is also a grave issue for the officials to adhere to strict appropriate norms which needs to be followed both on the part of the officials as well as the public to adhere to best possible appropriate norms along with spread of the dangerous infection across the country

 

* Along with the Kumbh Mela of some sort , the Covid Tika Divas ensues after a grand function in the form of the "Paschim Bengal" elections which is again a grand amalgamation of people and opinions contained within a densely packed state population which is widely known for its celebrations be it religious ,spiritual , political or opinion based , the state celebrates all the forms of functions on a wide scale with mass gatherings and rallies of swarming people .

 

* This should have atleast called for sensitizing the general populace to adhere to all the mandatory guidelines , code of conduct for assemby and get togethers or rallies but it seems all these have again went for a toss as masses were noticed with no masks . Same situation is again on the notice in neighbouring Odisha where Panchayat Elections are to be held . Again precautions need to be set in place for people who attend any form of rallies or public gatherings as this is the utmost and basic need of the hour in order to curb the spread of the virus which travels in air and gets propagated from infected (be it mild/moderate/severe case) person to person

 

* I am no authority or person in charge to look upon the persisting conditions and what should someone be mindful about when people are in public during these pandemic periods of disease transmission but still then I think some there should be enforcement of law and order by people in charge of high offices within the confines of govenmental powers and positions to keep inculcating civic sense through all possible mediums of communication be in print or through telecom to convey the guidelines at all possible times as I and probably most of the people less or more similar to me have shorter memory spans and attention deficit disorder because of which getting misdirected is not so uncommon , but as because times are critical and the forecast for the second phase of pandemic

is an onset of a ghastlier trail of infections and deaths , a diligent adherence of strictness in the coming months is of paramount importance

 

* The current visuals from Gujarat , MP and Chattisgarh is not much encouraging and looks like the second wave has hit hard which is a grave warning to rest of the people in other states to adhere to proper Covid behaviour , mask up rather double mask up and to get vaccinated ... ( though I am yet to get vaccinated or receive vaccine, as I am not yet sure which vaccine should one take ... out of all the existing known options .. lol )

 

* Another funny thing I came across in one article is how some big politicians and Netas have started demanding VIP treatment from medicals and hospitals in the wake of this crisis which has infuriated some of the doctors and doctors associations.. Here the doctors forget to just chillax as we have been taught to idolise our great politicians , cricketers and filmstars as nothing less than demigods , and so getting a grand treatment from public including doctors , engineers is a sort of entitlement which nobody can negate .. so chillax .

 

* Another point that I would probably like to bring into picture is approval of foreign vaccines without passing through phase2 , phase-3 or whatsoever number of trials to be catered to India's population is a digrace from natural biological behaviour as what I presume is that the vaccines which have been procured from other countries may not be that much effective in our case as most of the people of India and south-east Asia have a different genetic makeup which is different from that of Americas , or that of Europe , Australia and hence administering the vaccine which has been created from samples belonging to other countries may not work out well ( Though I have to be optimistic about them as my domain and forte are different , hence I may not call myself an analyst in this field )

 

* I would acknowledge once again that some of the things that I have mentioned in this collected and referred article is an opinion of my own and may be seen as a case of counter opinion to popular opinion from a general public ( You can happily call me a dimwitand nota virtuoso if some of the points have not been put very appropriately as written by noted columnists and writers for lack of great jargons and plausible points or the lack of proper statistical figures ... its all upto the readers discretion )

 

Govt fast-tracks nod for vaccine procurement from other countries on emergency basis

 

Govt fast-tracks nod for vaccine

 

* Vaccines authorised by World health Organisation or Vaccine Regulators in US ,Europe , UK and Japan would be granted an emergency use approval in India mandating requirement of post-approval parallel bridging clinical trials

 

* First 100 beneficiaries of such vaccines shall be kept for assessment for 7 daysfor safety outcomes before they are rolled out across the entire country as per reports in the leading newspapers in India

 

* Among the healthcare giants , one of the largest drug manufacturing organisation Pfizer has a production capacity of 2.5 billion doses per annum and almost 1.6 billion confirmed dose purchases . From this one can confer that India has 900 million doses that India could tap into for procurement.

 

* Moderna and Johnson&Johnson , two of the largest drug manufacturers and retailers have also bid in equal terms for the same and in the process have taken in more orders than what could be produced

 

* On 12th April , Govt of India also granted permission permission for restricted emergency use of Russian vaccine Sputnik V

 

* The aforementioned regulatory approvals are intended to increase the availability of the jabs amidst a steep second wave of the infection .

 

* The vaccines can be imported in a ready- to use vial cylinder bottles or in the form of fill and use form

 

Russian made covid-19 vaccine "Sputnik-V" to be used for emergency use in India

Russian made covid-19 vaccine "Sputnik-V" to be used for emergency use in India

 

* Expert panel on drugs and vaccine regulation and adminstration in India has cleared "Sputnik V", Russia's largely used vaccine for circulation within India

 

* The administration has given in to this proposition amidst high concerns over the need to step up Covid-19 vaccine and dosages manufacture and supply within India as there is a wide bridge in demand and supply within India and thus the need for procuring the vaccine for restricted emergency use within India .

 

* The final approval upon this is to be taken by the Drug Controller of India very soon as per reports over some of the major daily newspapers circulated in India

 

* Once this proposal would be approved , Hyderabad based drug manufacturer company "Dr Reddy's Lab" will initially procure the importing license post which it will import from Russian manufacturing company and then it will supply to GOI

( Government of India )

 

* The GOI will procure "Sputnik V" from Dr Reddy's Lab for the national Covid vaccination programme but this will be in small quantities in the initial period.

 

* Stocks of the same are expected to rise by June-July 2021 as per published reports in the newspapers

 

* The Central govt expects that "Sputnik V" could be seen as a major welcome addition to "Covishield" and "Covaxin" which

are India's inhouse conceptualised, developed , manufactured and served vaccine for the citizens as well as for export to interested countries . This is expected to improve the lurking gap between the prevalent supply and demand gap as per the current trend

 

* It is however expected that with increased production of Covaxin , India's dependency over other countries for vaccine will fall and India might be able to cater to its citizens needs and welfare as per the dictats of AtmaNirbhar Bharat

Double Shield - Two Mask Theory ( Prevention is Better than Cure - Strategy for Covid-19 new impacts )

 

       Double Shield - Two Mask Theory

 

* As the second wave of Corona Virus Pandemic hit the country , many of the people have accepted a double-mask approach in order to keep the corona virus at bay as experts said that this is one of the most "advisable" and "best" methods to stop transmission

 

* Most of the people who have started practicing this trend have started wearing a surgical mask and a cloth mask or two cloth masks .

 * A double mask is the most advisable approach when someone intends to hit outdoors or to any crowded place like vegetable or grocery markets where social distancing is not usually put to best practice by the general public

 

* Also experts say that as many of the common masks that we generally use do not fit well and tightly to our faces , wearing a double mask definitely reduces the risk of the droplets from any infected person susceptible to escape from the sides of the mask either while breathing in/out or sneezing etc

 

* The double mask recommendation is based on a study conducted by US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

 

* The CDC has conducted experiments to assess two ways of improving the fit of the medical procedure masks - ie fitting a cloth mask over a medical procedure mask and knotting the ear loops of a medical procedure mask and then tucking in and flattening the extra material close to the face which substantially improved source control and reduced wearer exposure .

 

Future Shock of Technology - Cyber Threats on the Rise

 

Future Shock of Technology - Threats on Rise

 

* India is on a high alert after several cyber attacks have jeopardised the operations of major business houses and market establishments in the aftermath of UpStock's data theft

 

* One of the articles in a major newspaper circulated in India states that “With conventional weapons of mass destruction having reached frightening proportions, incentivisation of cyber warfare has become a daily news affair which requires a few resources and could be carried out discretely "

 

* So what is Cyber-Warfare.. " Cyber-Warfare by its very nature is well suited for grey-zone warfare where offensive activities are carried out below the thresholdof all out war and assymmetric attacks " . So all of those who do not have a great idea of this can relate to those scenes in hi-fi sci-fi movies over where Hackers launch their malicious automated code at targeted companies / individuals / institutions in order to either usurp classified data or usurp money in order to jolt the financial system of targeted entity or launch a series of malicious code which would infiltrate into their database and throw the complex database system out of order in order to de-stabilize the system or corrupt the system as these days most of the organisations have their secured systems connected to the world wide web and not all have secure and robust tech to deal with a cyber invasive attack of a gigantic to deal with a cyber invasive attack of a gigantic proportion until and unless the organisations that keep vigil let go off their vigilance and purport themselves as a party involved in it .

 

* It is mentioned and also needs mentioning that these could be classified as a type of threat from both China-Pakistan axis or single entities .

 

* The Union Home Ministry recently informed the Parliament that cyberattacks have risen nearly 300% during the last year amidst the growing Covid Pandemic

 

* Additionally, the Union Power and Resources Ministry of the GoI has admitted that state sponsored Chinese hacker groups have tried targeting India's critical power infrastructure . One such group whichhas surfaced called as "Red Echo" was behind the Mumbai power outage last year

 

* The article has cited its apprehensions and urges the netizens to imagine the chaos that could be caused if by chance a Chinese or Pakistani cyber strike on an Indian nuclear facility happens in future . In such a scenario , the country should cultivate both "defensive and offensive" cyberwarfare capabilities . Chief of Defense Services Mr Bipin Rawat recently revealed that the country is taking steps to counter China's cyber warfare through risk mitigation strategies , building firewalls and recovery systems and integrating the firewalls and recovery systems and integrating the three services cybersecurity resources . But it is touted that India is still way behind China in Cyber Crimes and Offences . And in order to bridge the difference, GoI (Govt of India)has to work in close range with other higher powers like USA and Russia in order to quickly upgrade their cyber tech . The article in its closing points mentions that , this being the need of the hour is a major arena where the Quad nations need to coordinate .