Are We Moving To the Cloud Yet?

Is it a good idea for you to shift your business to the cloud? Depends on which country you're talking about. Business Software Alliance (BSA), a global association of the software industry, has come out with a report on the adoption of cloud computing. While Japan and the US ranked at the top, India has been found to have a better regulatory environment for cloud computing. A host of parameters, from data privacy to privacy laws, have been used to arrive at the rankings....................

India scored 19, ahead of China and Brazil, due to a more liberal environment, and because its industry-led standards were found to be world class. India scored low on broadband deployment (which had the highest weightage in the report) and on lack of adequate clarity on intellectual property rights protection..............


Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Cost of Cyber Attacks are Skyrocketing

If your company were hit with a cyber attack today, how much would it cost? The entire bill -- including costs from regulatory fines, potential lawsuits, damage to your organization's brand, and hardware/software repair, recovery and protection?

It's a question you can't ignore, as the costs of online attacks are skyrocketing. According to a 2011 study by the Ponemon Institute, the cost of cybercrime in the US could range from $1.5 million to $36.5 million annually...........

Cyber attacks, often in the form of data breaches and network intrusions, can impact operations, frequently result in lost productivity, legal expenses, third party liabilities, exposed intellectual property, and damage to a firm's reputation.............................

Click here to read more ......
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Man held for sending lewd SMSs

A man who allegedly send vulgar text messages and emails to his friend and her sister was arrested by the cyber crime cell of theMumbai police on Thursday. 

The accused, Mohsin Mansuri, found it tough to profess his love for his friend.............


Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Vimeo, Torrent sites unblocked, new High Court ruling requires URLs to be specified

Indian ISP’s have restored access to file-sharing and video streaming sites, thanks to a new ruling by the Madras High Court that no longer requires ISPs to block entire websites, but to list specific URLs pertaining to the copyright infringement................


Via Medianama:
“The order of interim injunction dated 25/04/2012 is hereby clarified that the interim injunction is granted only in respect of a particular URL where the infringing movie is kept and not in respect of the entire website. Further, the applicant is directed to inform about the particulars of URL where the interim movie is kept within 48 hours.”..........
 
Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Impact of Cybercrime on Businesses revealed

Check Point has announced the results of a new survey revealing 65 per cent of organizations which experienced targeted attacks report the hacker's motivation was driven by financial fraud, and resulted in business disruption and the loss of sensitive information, including intellectual property and trade secrets. The report, The Impact of Cybercrime on Businesses, also showed companies reporting an average of 66 new security attack attempts per week, with successful incidents costing businesses anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000.............................. 

According to the survey, SQL injections were cited as the most serious types of attacks organizations had experienced in the last two years, and more than one-third of the respondents had each experienced APTs, botnet infections and DoS attacks. Following investigations of targeted threats, respondents reported the biggest consequences were a disruption to their business and the loss of sensitive data and intellectual property...........................

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Beware of cyber criminals

If you find visiting the nearby departmental store to purchase essentials loathsome and make online purchases instead, beware. The cyber criminals are on the prowl and they may hack your account. This was learnt the hard way by Dhanbad district chamber of commerce president Rajiv Sharma whose e-bay account was hacked when he made online purchase of a mobile handset. ............


Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Could US cyberspies have moles inside Microsoft?

US government officials could be working under cover at Microsoft to help the country's cyber-espionage programme, according to one leading security expert.

The warning comes in the wake of the Flame virus that targeted key computers in the Middle East, and in part used confidential Microsoft certificates in order to access machines.

Click here to read more ......

 Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Hackers mess up All India quota PG medical seats allotment

NEW DELHI: Authorities may still be grappling with the menace of leakage of question papers, but merit has come under fresh threats, this time from hackers who have succeeded in turning the merit list in prestigious 50% All India quota post-graduate medical courses upside down to allot low-ranked candidates premium seats in prestigious colleges.

Click here to read more ......

 Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Matrimonial sites becoming new crime spot

Wedding portals have become one of the most lucrative venues for new age con artistes to loot people. Cyber Crime sleuths say that hundreds of youngsters are falling prey to the sweet talk of these highly 'educated' con artistes and losing a lot of money.

In the last one year, Cyber Crime sleuths recorded two cases where con artistes successfully used matrimonial sites to dupe people. The recently arrested B Tech graduate B Ravi Kishore duped 54 women by posing as an IIT graduate with a Master's degree from University of California..............

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Anonymous India to use RTI in fight against Internet censorship

After a spate of attacks on a number of Indian websites and a ground protest event on June 9, that evoked lukewarm response, hactivist group Anonymous Operation India has chosen the Right to Information Act (RTI) as the latest tool in their battle against Internet censorship.

Anonymous India is urging Indian citizens to file RTI applications to seek information regarding the correspondence of public servants with Google, Facebook or other websites on content censorship. Anonymous India says they will collate the information and use it "in even more powerful ways." But did not venture upon further details.

This phase called 'Operation RTI Engaged' is a part of many initiatives planned by the hacker collective in their effort to force the Government of India rethink its Internet censorship strategy.............

Click here to read more ...... 

Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Student hacks friend's email to deny him admission abroad

Jealous of his friend's performance, an MSc. (economics) passout from the Calcutta University allegedly hacked his email account and sent mails with a view to deny him an opportunity to study abroad........

Soumyatanu Mukherjee, 25, was arrested for hacking the email account of his friend Agnirup Sarkar. Mukherjee hacked the account and sent emails to foreign universities where Sarkar had applied for Ph.D that he did not wish to study there..............

School friends Mukherjee and Sarkar, after completing their MSc. in Economics from the Calcutta University, had applied for Ph.D in several foreign universities, including Virginia Tech in US. When Sarkar did not receive any communication from any of the universities, he called them up one by one. He was told they had received mails in which he himself had said that he did not wish to study there...................


Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Smartphones new targets of cybercrime

Cybercriminals are now targeting smartphones as they are looking for prey beyond the PC and mobiles suit them well, especially those using Android operating system, say experts.

With smartphones becoming more powerful and popular, we have seen a lot threat moving to them from PCs.

Although the risks to computers have not totally subsided, malicious software authors are now creating mobile-specific malware.

The number of vulnerabilities in the mobile space are rising and malware authors not only reinventing existing malware for mobile devices, but creating mobile-specific malware geared to the unique mobile opportunities...........


Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Cyber crime: How real is the threat?

With the announcement of new domain names such as  .porn, .lol and .google replacing traditional .com and .org domain names,  experts say the new web addresses could boost cyber crime. The new domain names, which in some cases will be practical and others comical, not only give web hosts more options but they also give cyber criminals more targets........

It might be easier to get fooled into going to illegitimate website. The chance of phishing attacks will be higher because there will be new domain names.........

A recent survey by internet security software maker Norton Antivirus, found that 60 per cent of Canadians have experienced cyber crime...........

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Terror experts remain vigilant

More than a decade after the 9/11 attacks, al-Qaida remains a potential threat in New Jersey, but officials who focus on homeland security in the region say they are more concerned about the threat posed by radicalized, local lone-wolf operators who could orchestrate small-scale attacks. They also see a growing risk of targeted cyber-attacks on the computer systems of New Jersey utilities, businesses and even law enforcement.........

Many cyber-attacks on businesses go unreported because company officials think their sensitive information was not compromised. But they may in fact have merely been used to infiltrate another corporation or entity........

Most organizations can't detect targeted intrusions. One can't rely on antivirus software – it won't detect it..........

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

IT security: How to put the genie back in the bottle

Regulatory compliance, cyberattacks, insider threats… the list goes on. Gaining control over IT security is a big messy problem for most large organizations, and getting worse with increasing regulatory requirements, more targeted attacks from criminal groups, and the potential for insider abuse. While security can equal compliance, compliance does not equal security.

Since these threats are persistent — point-in-time compliance approaches to security are doomed to fail..... 

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

India's vulnerability to cyber attacks

A much-delayed cyber security policy is only making things worse

A fourfold increase in cyber attacks in the last four years underscores how easily India Inc can be hacked. A much-delayed cyber security policy is only making things worse………...

If the government doesn’t ‘wake up’ and implement ‘urgent measures’ to thwart the threat of cyber attack, much of the destruction has a good chance of coming true………….

Just last week, the proliferation of another powerful malware, Flame, has poignantly raised important questions about India’s preparedness in handling a cyber security challenge. Over the last decade, the country has seen an increase in the number of cyber attacks, from 2,565 in 2008 to 8,266 in 2009 and 10,315 in 2010………….

Even viruses that don’t specifically target the Indian state, but originate abroad and then find their way here, can wreak havoc…………….

But, is India prepared to handle a coordinated cyber attack? Experts point out that a major flaw in the country’s cyber-security policy has been the absence of any comprehensive cyber security approach. As a result, the legal and law enforcement agencies of the country have been unable to maintain pace with the rapid growth of internet penetration in India and the world…………….

The risk is more pronounced for private companies, where loss of important data could mean a tremendous advantage for the competitor. “Everyone is vulnerable. However, if I have to rank in terms of merit, the IT/BPO sector has the highest standards of security because of the pressure of foreign countries, followed by banks and then telecom,” says Kamlesh Bajaj, CEO, Data Security Council of India and former head of Cert-in…………...

Click here to read more ...... 

Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Youth arrested for cheating girls online

Hyderabad, A youth who dated and cheated as many as 22 girls by collecting money from them using his fake matrimonial profile has landed behind bars. 


Ravi Kishore Bojanki from Masab Tank confessed that he had created a profile on a matrimonial site falsely stating that he did IIT in Mumbai and MS from University of California and was presently working with a IT major here.............


Upon seeing his impressive profile, many girls including the complainant contacted him and subsequently developed close relationship with him online and even fixed matrimonial alliance. However, Ravi, taking advantage of the situation and to earn easy money squeezed huge amounts from these girls by exploiting them emotionally with false stories like his father was undergoing surgery or his mother met with an accident. The accused extracted about Rs 12 lakh from the victims and was leading a lavish life..... 
Click here to read more ...... 

Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Certified IT Security Professional Course launched

Governments across the world are bringing in laws, rules and regulations to safeguard their cyberspace. Demand for IT professionals with sound Information Security knowledge is skyrocketing. In recent past US and Europe were hit by massive unemployment but still demand for IT professionals with cybersecurity knowledge grew by 11%. Indian Government is laying in slew of measures to secure Indian cyberspace and has directed that critical information infrastructure organisations to hire only Indian cybersecurity professionals as CISOs and for Information Security related activities.

Using 25 years of experience in the field, XCySS has developed an in-house focussed course for the IT professional to lay a strong knowledge base over which they can specialise in the field of their choice. This course comprehensively covers all domains of Information Security / Cybersecurity including the emerging field of Cloud Security which is designed to help IT professionals to build and shape their career in the field of Information Technology. 

Who should attend: Undergraduates, software developers, website designer System Administrators, Network Administrators, Database Administrators, IT managers, Penetration tester, IT Service Providers, ISMS implementers, software developers, researchers, incident handlers, Risk Assessors, IT/ITeS Subject Matter Experts, website developer and managers, SEO professionals and Information Security Enthusiast/Aspirants and ISO 27001 Lead Auditors. 

For detail:
Contact: email: info(at)xcyss(dot)com
Tele: 011-25128910
Website: www.xcyss.in

Global energy assets in the frontline of cyber war

Enemies could use cyber-weapons in case of political tension. Therefore, governments are concerned that energy and communications networks would be the first victims of any conflict with a cyber-savvy aggressor........

Global energy infrastructure is more vulnerable than ever in an escalating cyber war thanks to “sons of Stuxnet” electronic missiles, which can be created from the virus designed to sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme.

Cyber espionage is on the rise, with Chinese hackers stealing field data and cutting-edge technology from energy companies around the world since at least 2009. But the biggest threat to everything from power grids to digital oilfields may come from malware based on the Stuxnet worm, widely thought to have been sponsored by western government agencies. Cyber weapons like Stuxnet that can take control of plants appear to be more of an operational danger than the recently-discovered Flame virus, which seems designed to gather data..............

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Certified IT Security Professional Course launched

Governments across the world are bringing in laws, rules and regulations to safeguard their cyberspace. Demand for IT professionals with sound Information Security knowledge is skyrocketing. In recent past US and Europe were hit by massive unemployment but still demand for IT professionals with cybersecurity knowledge grew by 11%. Indian Government is laying in slew of measures to secure Indian cyberspace and has directed that critical information infrastructure organisations to hire only Indian cybersecurity professionals as CISOs and for Information Security related activities.

Using 25 years of experience in the field, XCySS has developed an in-house focussed course for the IT professional to lay a strong knowledge base over which they can specialise in the field of their choice. This course comprehensively covers all domains of Information Security / Cybersecurity including the emerging field of Cloud Security which is designed to help IT professionals to build and shape their career in the field of Information Technology. 

Who should attend: Undergraduates, software developers, website designer System Administrators, Network Administrators, Database Administrators, IT managers, Penetration tester, IT Service Providers, ISMS implementers, software developers, researchers, incident handlers, Risk Assessors, IT/ITeS Subject Matter Experts, website developer and managers, SEO professionals and Information Security Enthusiast/Aspirants and ISO 27001 Lead Auditors. 

For detail:
Contact: email: info(at)xcyss(dot)com
Tele: 011-25128910
Website: www.xcyss.in

'New age' of cyber threat warning

Last month, I.T security firm Kaspersky Lab uncovered the powerful Flame virus.

Speaking at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms summit in London, the firm's CEO Eugene Kaspersky said we are heading into a new age of cyberwars.

'Now we're living in the era of cyber weapons. The world is different. Not just cyber hooligans, vandals. Not just criminals. But governments are in the game and I'm afraid the worst, I'm still expecting, cyberterrorism,' .................

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

MNC staff steal data, float start-ups

After witnessing cyber crime involving email Id-hacking, obscene Facebook profiles and online cheating, Chandigarh is witnessing thefts of source codes and confidential information of multinational companies. Such confidential data is being stolen by employees, who quit and start their businesses.............. 



Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

India readies firewall to fight cyber attacks

India is set to take steps to protect its cyber infrastructure and designate agencies for carrying out offensive cyber attacks on other countries. The move comes at a time when proof shows countries launching cyber attacks — not only for intelligence gathering — and many nations describing the attacks as an act of war........ 

    
Stuxnet, the cyber worm created by US’s National Security Agency and Israeli military and specifically targeted at Iran’s nuclear enrichment center at Natanz, was found to have infected Indian systems. It was probably unintentional, but an intentional attack on India’s critical infrastructure cannot be ruled out. We haven’t yet seen a cyber attack, but only intelligence gathering. An attack that can debilitate our infrastructure is what we must be prepared for.................

Click here to read more ......
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

India readies firewall to fight cyber attacks

India is set to take steps to protect its cyber infrastructure and designate agencies for carrying out offensive cyber attacks on other countries. The move comes at a time when proof shows countries launching cyber attacks — not only for intelligence gathering — and many nations describing the attacks as an act of war........ 
    
Stuxnet, the cyber worm created by US’s National Security Agency and Israeli military and specifically targeted at Iran’s nuclear enrichment center at Natanz, was found to have infected Indian systems. It was probably unintentional, but an intentional attack on India’s critical infrastructure cannot be ruled out. We haven’t yet seen a cyber attack, but only intelligence gathering. An attack that can debilitate our infrastructure is what we must be prepared for.................

Click here to read more ......
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Hacktivist group Anonymous acts on threat, brings down govt website

Hours ahead of its planned protest against certain incidents of internet censorship in India, hacker collectiveAnonymous has attacked and brought down the website run by Computer Emergency Response Team India (CERT-In), the country's premier agency dealing with cyber security contingencies.

This is the latest in a series of high-profile attacks on government and corporate websites made by the group in the last one month. The India-wing of Anonymous, a collective of internet activists, had downed websites of Internet Service Providers Association of India, All-India Trinamool Congress and Reliance Communications on charges of internet censorship...........

It brought down the official website of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) through the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on Wednesday. In the CERT-In attack too, the group has used DDoS that prevents users from accessing the site.

Anonymous started attacking official websites to protest web censorship after internet service providers (ISPs) like Airtel, Reliance Communications............


Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Cyber experts warn of 'intelligent weapons'

Quick advances in cyber war technologies could soon lead to a new generation of so-called "intelligent cyber weapons" which top global IT defence experts warn could be virtually unstoppable. 

Programmes developed to counter attacks by malwares like Stuxnet can act independently and could possibly themselves spark conflicts. 

They are quite autonomous, and can operate independently in an unfriendly environment and might at some point become very difficult to control... that can lead to cyber conflict initiated by these agents themselves.....

Stuxnet and Flame have shown the side of cyber of which the average user does not think of but which will bring a lot of challenges to all experts who deal with critical infrastructure protection issues - IT experts, lawyers, policy makers................

The number of cyber conflicts keeps rising and it is important to understand who the actors in these events are, how to classify these events and participants, and how to interpret all that.........

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Cyber experts warn of 'intelligent weapons'

Quick advances in cyber war technologies could soon lead to a new generation of so-called "intelligent cyber weapons" which top global IT defence experts warn could be virtually unstoppable. 

"Rapid developments in cyber (technology) might lead to intelligent cyber weapons that are hard to control and it's practically impossible to use formal methods of verifying the safety of intelligent cyber weapons by their users," Enn Tyugu, IT expert at Tallinn's NATO Cyber Defence Centre said at its fourth annual conference Thursday. 

He also warned that programmes developed to counter attacks by malwares like Stuxnet can act independently and could possibly themselves spark conflicts. 

"They are quite autonomous, and can operate independently in an unfriendly environment and might at some point become very difficult to control... that can lead to cyber conflict initiated by these agents themselves," Tyugu said. 

"Stuxnet and Flame have shown the side of cyber of which the average user does not think of but which will bring a lot of challenges to all experts who deal with critical infrastructure protection issues - IT experts, lawyers, policy makers," Ilmar Tamm, Head of the NATO Cyber Defence Centre told reporters on Thursday. 

"The number of cyber conflicts keeps rising and it is important to understand who the actors in these events are, how to classify these events and participants, and how to interpret all that," Tamm said, noting Western leaders have been slow to become aware of even existing cyber threats. 

Experts at the conference noted that both China and Russia have significantly upgraded their cyber-defence capabilities in recent years by creating new IT units. 

"But the most powerful weapon today in cyber space is still the propaganda, the chance to use the Internet to spread your message," Kenneth Geers, US cyber defence expert told some 400 top IT gurus attending the meeting Thursday. 

Keir Giles, head of Oxford University's Conflict Studies Research Centre, noted that some Russian leaders seemed to "sincerely believe that the recent opposition rallies after the presidential elections in Russia were initiated by the US in cyberspace."
Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

U.S.-India Relations Must Deepen, Grow for Peace

NEW DELHI | The U.S.-India relationship must deepen and grow to truly provide security for the Asia-Pacific region and the world, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses here.

India is one of the largest and most dynamic countries in the region and the world, with one of the most capable militaries. The Indian military has more than 1.3 million members on active service and another 1 million in reserve……………..

At a strategic level, the United States and India have worked to counter piracy and terrorism. Panetta wants to expand that cooperation. “We can do more to drive the creation of a rules-based order that protects our common interests in new areas like cybersecurity and space,” he said. “We need to develop ‘rules of the road’ in these domains to help confront dangerous activities by states and non-state actors alike.”………………….

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Beyond Anonymous: Shit people say on Internet piracy

9 June is going to be a big day in India, for all concerned with internet regulation, censorship and the current attacks on file-sharing.

The International Hacker group Anonymous has called for marched protests in 16 Indian cities, to demand a free and open Internet.............

They have already started launching Denial of Service attacks and taking down websites owned by the Indian government to express their displeasure about the recent regulation of the internet....

There are hordes of people who think of them as the NewAge Mutant Ninja Hackers, who are protecting our digital worlds from being clamped down. There are others who paint them as the Big Bad Wolf who huffed and puffed and will blow our houses away...............

You might be sympathetic, suspicious or scared of the emergence of such a ‘crowd vigilante’....................

These are concepts with very material realities that affect our everyday functioning and require not only better policies but also a more nuanced public discourse...............

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Cyber crime detection: A long road ahead for India

India cannot proclaim that it has the infrastructure to counter cyber attacks with ease. Statistics pertaining to the number of cyber attacks in the country say so.

While in 2007, India witnessed 217 attacks, 2010 saw 966 and in 2011, the figure crossed 1,000.

India's cyber security is definitely a cause for concern and every day there are new forms of onslaughts.

The latest form of an assault which the world is talking about is the Flame. The latter has targeted countries like Iran (189 attacks), Isreal/Palestine (98 attacks), Sudan (32), Syria (30), Lebanon (18), Saudi Arabia (10) and Eqypt (5).

In India, according to Kaspersky Lab which first discovered this piece of malware there has been one detection……………

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Nations must talk to end cyber terrorism: Eugene Kaspersky

Eugene Kaspersky, whose lab discovered the Flame virus that has attacked computers in Iranand elsewhere in the Middle East, said on Wednesday only a global effort could stop a new era of "cyber terrorism". 

"It's not cyber war, it's cyber terrorism and I'm afraid it's just the beginning of the game ... I'm afraid it will be the end of the world as we know it," Kaspersky told reporters............... 

In recent months US officials have become more open about the work of the United States and Israel on Stuxnet, which targeted Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.The West suspects Iran is developing atomic weapons....

Governments must cooperate to stop such attacks, as they have done with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Operating systems must be redesigned............

Software that manages industrial systems or transportation or power grids or air traffic, they must be based on secure operating systems. Forget about Microsoft, Linux, Unix.............


Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Anonymous takes down MTNL website

Anonymous, a hactivists’ conglomeration which is opposing the internet censorship has claimed to have taken down the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) website using the technique of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on Wednesday.

A posting by Anonymous on its webpage claimed that it hit the website ‘mtnl.net.in’ with a massive DDoS attack. Attempts to log onto the website returned pages with error messages saying the requested URL could not be retrieved.

Anonymous has called for non-violent protests across several cities in India on June 9 to protest against what it alleges as ‘censorship’ of the internet. It accused the department of telecom of instructing the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block file-sharing websites unilaterally, while the courts had ordered blocking of certain websites..............

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Dealing with threat of cybercrimes

Companies must start thinking ahead of the hack and locking their doors.

The alarm bells sound regularly: cybergeddon; the next Pearl Harbour; one of the greatest existential threats facing the United States. With increasing frequency, these are the grave terms officials invoke about the menace of cybercrime – and they’re not understating the threat.

Some cybercrime is aimed directly at our national security, imperiling our infrastructure, government secrets and public safety. But as the recent wave of attacks by the hacker collective Anonymous demonstrates, it also targets private industry, threatening the security of our markets, our exchanges, our bank accounts, our trade secrets and our personal privacy.......................

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

India: Cyber Terrorism And The Fifth Domain – Analysis

Expressing grave concern about the growing threat of cyber terrorism in his opening statement at the meeting of Chief Ministers on National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) held on May 5, 2012, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram stated:

…there are terrorist threats in the cyber space, which is the fifth domain after land, sea, air and space. Much of our critical infrastructure lies in cyber space. Cyber crimes such as hacking, financial fraud, data theft, espionage etc. would, in certain circumstances, amount to terrorist acts. Our counter terrorism (CT) capacity must be able to meet the threats in cyber space. Since there are no boundaries in cyber space, how will the Central Government and the State Governments share the responsibility to face the threats in cyber space

Chidambaram was, of course, using the cyber threat to buttress his arguments in favour of the NCTC, a pet project that has met with tremendous resistance from the States. Nevertheless, the threat of cyber terrorism is real and growing, as global and national systems become increasingly interlinked and interdependent...................

Click here to read more ...... 

Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Watch out for cyber bullies

The suicide of Tyler Clementi, the 18-year-old New Jersey student in 2010, had triggered a strong debate on invasion of privacy in the cyber age. His roommate, an Indian student, captured the boy kissing another man in their hostel using his web camera.

The boy jumped into a river unable to take the humiliation, when the former tried to circulate the clip. Though the court refused to link the recording with the death, it sentenced the Indian youth to 30 days in prison last month.

What Clementi was subjected to is cyber bullying. Along with other cybercrimes, cyber bullying is on the rise in India too……………

This offence is punishable with ‘imprisonment which may extend to three years or with fine not exceeding two lakh rupees, or with both.'

Security and privacy awareness in India is very poor. It would be very useful if both the government and civil society was more aggressive in awareness raising and triggering change in behavior……

MR Pavan Duggal, Chairman of Cyber Law Committee and Cyber laws expert, said there is no specific data on cyber crime in India and the data available with the NCRB (National Crimes Records Bureau) of around 900 cases for overall cybercrime is also doubtful……………….

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Use of cyber warfare can help reduce casualties

War throughout history has been fought on many fronts and cost countless lives. From the battlefield to the homefront, war has created havoc and taken a toll on our existence, both physically and psychologically. Empires have been won and lost on the strength of the most advanced weapons and skilled people who pursued victory in the face of death and destruction..................

In this new age of war, we must look for new ways to battle terrorism on new fronts. This includes cyber warfare, which the U.S. has been using in its fight against al-Qaida in Yemen.............

An attack via the Internet could cripple the infrastructure of a nation, as evinced by the recent infection of Iranian computers with the "Flame" virus...........

These sorts of attacks have the potential to reduce the risk of military and civilian casualties while affecting our enemies' capability to use computers and mobile devices. They focus on defeating the enemy through psychological and technological rather than physical means. In this digital age, when so much information and public opinion can be swayed by what is seen and heard on social networking and other websites, using these techniques could present a much more effective way to fight the war on terror................

Click here to read more ...... 

Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Students taking to cyber crime for fun

Twenty seven-year-old Vipin Kumar Chouhan, a doctor pursuing PhD in microbiology, is facing a sentence of five years imprisonment for a small act of fun that he tried out on his senior at SMS Hospital.

Chouhan allegedly hacked the password of the Facbook ID used by his senior at SMS's microbiology department. He allegedly wrote a few obscene lines on his wall. Chouhan was arrested by Moti Doongri police under the IT Act on May 29. If he is proved guilty, he may be sentenced to imprisonment that can extend to five years and a fine of Rs one lakh.............

Like Chouhan, students in the city are taking to cyber crimes just for fun or carrying out small acts of revenge on their teachers, girlfriends and even colleges in which they study. Morphing pictures and positing them on social networking sites to defame others have landed some such students in trouble recently..........

Students are committing cyber crimes for things like they are rebuked by their teacher or ditched by their girlfriend. A girl had last month approached Police after her Facebook ID was hacked. The girl's morphed pictures were uploaded. Similarly, a female blogger's profile was hacked in Jawahar Nagar police station area. The hacker morphed and uploaded objectionable pictures of the girl. The hacker also forwarded the links of the site to the girl's father................... 

Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Porn MMS goes viral in Jawaharlal Nehru University, 3 suspended

Another case of MMS involvingJawaharlal Nehru University students has come to light on campus. A source in the university administration said three students were suspended for their alleged involvement in the MMS, which was shot in Narmada Hostel. The MMS started circulating nearly a month ago and some students apparently complained to the varsity authorities...................


Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

India ahead of US, Japan in PC security: McAfee

India may have low penetration of computers, but it is ahead of countries like US, Japan and Singapore when it comes to basic PC protection, says a report by security software maker McAfee.

It conducted a global study across 24 nations, analysing data from voluntary scans of an average of
27-28 million PCs per month to determine a global estimate of the number of consumers who have basic security software installed.

Finland had the highest number of 90.3% PCs with a basic security software solution in place, followed by Italy (86.2%) and Germany (85.55%).
Basic security protection is defined as working anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall technologies 

Click here to read more ......

Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Lack of defence against hacking?

With several government websites hacked or defaced over the last few days, members of the hacker group “Anonymous” have labelled the country’s cyber security setup as a “joke”, and said they could easily hack into servers of most government organisations.

Answering a question in Parliament last month, Union minister of state for communications and information technology Sachin Pilot said, 248 government websites had been hacked last year, and 133 in the first three months of this year. The figures notwithstanding, there is no nodal agency in the country to look after cyber security.


Under Section 70A of IT Act, amended in 2008, the Centre is required to designate a government organisation to secure Critical Information Infrastructure Protection, or to secure cyber space. But four years on, no such organisation has been designated.

In replies to various questions on cyber security in Parliament, HRD minister Kapil Sibal and Mr Pilot have referred to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team as the agency to tackle cyber issues. But In-CERT can only respond to cyber incidents; preventive measures are not its domain.

In fact, Anonymous hackers made a Denial of Service (DoS) attack on the CERT website about 10 days ago. Though CERT denied any attack, it quickly issued an advisory about hackers attacking websites using DoS..........
Click here to read more ...... 
Solutions : www.xcyss.in

Internet safe zone not 'bulletproof'

Efforts to create a safe zone within the World Wide Web might help raise online security standards, but security players warn such a space is not "bulletproof" and might invite more negative attention from hackers instead.

The technology tools for thwarting online hackers and scammers are commonly available but typically unused..............

Businesses registering for .secure Web sites will also be required to verify their identity and accurately represent what they do............

Click here to read more ...... 

Solutions : www.xcyss.in