science and technology

Google purged 2.7 billion bad ads in 2019, Covid-19 fake ads next target

Google blocked and removed 2.7 billion bad ads more than 5,000 bad ads per minute and suspended nearly 1 million advertiser accounts for policy violations, the company announced on Thursday.




science and technology

Xiaomi phones may reveal your private search, usage: Report

Cybersecurity researchers have accused Xiaomi of infringing on the privacy of its phone users by recording their 'private' web and phone use habits.




science and technology

'Significant' increase in cybercrime against women during lockdown: Experts

There has been a significant increase in cybercrime against women, especially sextortion, during the COVID-19-induced lockdown with "caged criminals" targeting them online, say experts.




science and technology

Fake ransom seeking email scam prowling in Indian cyberspace

The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In), in a latest advisory, has said while there is "nothing to worry" about such emails, users should update or change their passwords, used to login any of their social media or other online platforms, if they find them compromised.




science and technology

Take user privacy seriously, don't collect data without consent: Xiaomi

Xiaomi India Managing Director said that the company does not collect any user data that the user has not explicitly given permission or consent to. He added that in the browser's incognito mode, all user data is completely encrypted and anonymised. He also pointed out that all Mi Browser and Mi Cloud data of Indian users is stored locally in AWS servers in India.




science and technology

Fake ransom seeking email scam prowling in Indian cyberspace

The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In), in a latest advisory, has said while there is "nothing to worry" about such emails, users should update or change their passwords, used to login any of their social media or other online platforms, if they find them compromised.




science and technology

4 in 5 users removing private information from social media apps globally

The Internet consumers are becoming more aware of their personal data and 82 per cent users have tried to remove private information from websites or social media channels, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.




science and technology

131 percent increase in viruses targeted towards remote workers: Fortinet

Cybercriminals are unleashing a surprisingly high volume of new threats in this short period of time to take advantage of inadvertent security gaps as organizations are in a rush to ensure business continuity.




science and technology

Covid-19 has wiped out the goodnight sleep of a CISO

The stratospheric rise in phishing and identity attacks since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic is give sleepless nights to CISOs across the world making them the Digital Security Warriors




science and technology

Hackers put over half million Zoom app login details for sale on dark web: Reports

The video-conferencing app has seen a global usage during the coronavirus lockdowns.




science and technology

Half of employees watch adult content on the same devices they use for working from home: Kaspersky

As social distancing measures become common and workers adjust to their new professional environments, even from their own living rooms, there is potential for private and working life to blur into one.




science and technology

Zoom now adds security feature to avoid Zoombombing

The new features will allow admins to disable the use of a Personal Meeting ID (PMI) for scheduling or starting an instant meeting. As per the company, disabling the use of PMIs reduces that risk altogether and doesn’t leave PMI security up to individual users.




science and technology

Unacademy database of 22 million users hacked, up for sale

Unacademy said that basic information related to 11 million learners had been compromised but no sensitive information such as financial data, location, or passwords had been leaked




science and technology

Don’t forward work emails to a personal a/c, separate work & life: Centre

“Create a separate user profile with minimal privileges for work-only use. Close all work-related windows, applications, files, and documents when not in use. Do not use work email addresses to sign up for unauthorised, free tools. Grant access to your employees to corporate network only though a company-approved VPN with multi-factor authentication,” the advisory states.




science and technology

Chinese hacking group targeting governments across Asia: Report

The group has been very active during the last five years, especially in 2019-20.




science and technology

Hackers disrupt virtual S.African parliament meeting with porn

Hackers on Thursday disrupted a virtual session of South Africa's parliament, posting pornographic images in the second such incident since the coronavirus outbreak.




science and technology

Accenture says Unacademy hack has no impact on its data

"Accenture has no professional relationship with Unacademy, and any implication or assertion otherwise is erroneous. Accenture has suffered no data breach or loss of any records or client information as a result of this incident," Accenture said in a statement.




science and technology

Hacking attacks on educational portal tripled in Q1 amid online learning

DDoS attacks during the first three months of this year have seen a significant spike in attacks on educational websites.




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test

Apple is exploring development of its own car, according to multiple reports. CEO Tim Cook approved development a year ago, according to Daisuke Wakabayashi and Mike Ramsey at The Wall Street Journal. Steve Zadesky, an Apple VP, has permission to hire 1,000 people to build an electric car. This is fairly stunning news. Apple makes high-margin computers that are replaced every 2-5 years.




science and technology

New clause added to IT Act: Onus of content not generated by users on social media platforms

‘Safe harbour protection’ only if intermediaries facilitate and not modify such content, including ads




science and technology

Bengaluru police join TikTok to engage with people

Bengaluru police has opened an account on short video-making platform TikTok to reach out to the people in an engaging and entertaining manner, an official said on Friday.




science and technology

400 million social media users are set to lose their anonymity in India

The advent of new rules for social media applications - like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp - could spell the end for privacy in the Indian internet space. Despite push back from major internet companies, the Indian government is all set to go ahead with the new regulations. The rules are a bid to quell the spread of fake news and trace anti-social elements in the Indian internet ecosystem faster.




science and technology

Social media to join hands to fight fake news, hate speech

The proposed alliance — to be named the Information Trust Alliance (ITA) — will be a grouping of digital platforms and publishers, fact checkers, civil society and academia that will aim to control the spread of harmful content, including fake news and hate speech. So far, discussions have taken place among Facebook, Google, Twitter, Byte-Dance, ShareChat and YY Inc.




science and technology

Facebook to ramp up promotions in India

Facebook also recently announced the appointment of Avinash Pant as the marketing director for India to drive the consumer marketing efforts of its family of apps.




science and technology

India Inc tiptoes through CAA social media minefield

​​Companies are seeking to balance freedom of expression with the potential for damage to their business, not for the first time, but more gingerly perhaps, given the level of polarisation. ​​




science and technology

PM Narendra Modi mulls giving up social media on March 8

Government officials remained tightlipped on the reasons and said the PM would reveal more in a day or two. It was also not clear whether Modi, who has used social media to communicate directly with the masses, would be giving up the platforms for a long time or only for a day on Sunday — which also happens to be the International Women’s Day.




science and technology

Facebook kills Delhi-based fake accounts targeting Saudi

Facebook has revealed that it removed a network of 37 Facebook accounts, 32 Pages, 11 Groups and 42 Instagram accounts that originated in India and used fake accounts masquerading as media outlets to target the Gulf region, the US, the UK and Canada.




science and technology

Social media giants warn of AI moderation errors as coronavirus empties offices

The Silicon Valley tech giants have asked employees and contractors to work from home if possible, to slow the fast-spreading respiratory disease




science and technology

Govt talks to Facebook, Google, WhatsApp for virus info blitz

Big Tech firms have already sent in their suggestions to govt on creating awareness




science and technology

Indian government asks social media firms to curb Covid-19 fake news

The government asked social media platforms to start awareness campaigns, remove misinformation from the platform and promote authentic information




science and technology

Living in the golden age of social distancing

Working from home was never so good. Five tips from a pro for social distancers and the social distanced on not just how to survive self-quarantine but thrive in it.




science and technology

Fake news pandemic surges on Facebook, Twitter

In novel coronavirus times, there is so much fake news going around and according to new research, there's a price to pay when you get your news and political information from the same place you find funny memes and cat pictures.




science and technology

Faster way to replace bad info in networks

In a breakthrough, researchers have demonstrated a new model that shows how competing pieces of information spread in online social networks and the Internet of Things (IoT).




science and technology

Facebook expands Community Help feature for COVID-19 efforts

Facebook has announced to expand its Community Help feature as part of COVID-19 efforts which will help people offer help to those affected by the new coronavirus pandemic, as well as donate to nonprofit organisations.




science and technology

Instagram updates web application, allows users to send DMs and watch live videos on desktop

Direct messages on the desktop have been in the works for a while now.




science and technology

Facebook displayed warnings on 40 million posts related to Covid-19 in March

Facebook said that when people saw those warning labels, 95% of the time they did not go on to view the original content. To date, the social media giant also removed hundreds of thousands of pieces of misinformation that could lead to imminent physical harm.




science and technology

Facebook sees 'signs of stability' in ad spending after coronavirus drop

Facebook said advertising revenue was roughly flat in the first three weeks of April compared with the same period last year




science and technology

Twitter lets developers study real time COVID-19 conversations

Twitter has introduced an update to its API platform to allow developers and researchers to study crucial public conversations around COVID-19 in real time.




science and technology

With 7.45 lakh followers, RBI most popular among central banks on Twitter

With the microblogging site emerging as a key platform for information dissemination, many central banks are active on Twitter, especially in these times of economic uncertainties amid the coronavirus pandemic.




science and technology

Accenture forms alliance with Paxata to help clients build an intelligent enterprise

The alliance aims to help clients provide enterprise end users with exceptional data control across multiple data sources.




science and technology

Government of Rajasthan selects Teradata big data solutions to improve citizen services & engagement

Rajasthan to create a common data and analytics platform for all government departments across the State to collate and utilize data more effectively and efficiently, improving the delivery of citizen services with the help of Teradata solutions.




science and technology

View: China's big data advantage isn't enough

To believe that China will have a significant advantage due to its population size requires us to believe that each additional user adds as much to an informational ecosystem as the first one.




science and technology

Now, a big data boost for infrastructure sector

The integrated database on infrastructure projects can be accessed to study & analyse trends in the sector almost on real-time basis.




science and technology

Big Data: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

View: Data is the oil that fuels digital economy. It promotes innovation, increases democratic quotient of the society, enhances productivity & efficiency of systems and helps better understand different worlds.




science and technology

Nasscom checks into Guiyang for analytics, big data projects

As part of the partnership with the Guiyang Municipal government, agreements worth 25 million Yen between Chinese customers and Indian service providers are also going to be announced.




science and technology

Big data analytics: No big money needed as most solutions go 'freemium'

Big infrastructure and cost requirements have long kept data analytics a fiefdom of large enterprises; however, the advent of cloud tech has made it possible for SMEs to use data analytics with a fraction of a cost.




science and technology

Persistent Systems invests in big data firm Cazena

The company has gained significant traction as enterprises face massive skills shortages in big data, cloud and associated development operations, or ‘DevOps’.




science and technology

View: Big data - Next year will see a big shift in big tech

The short point is that data protection is not just about Aadhaar.




science and technology

Big data offers profit only if you employ it sagely

The benefit from big data only comes if you have knowledge of data capabilities and limitations.




science and technology

Microsoft joins tech race to clean up shipping with big data

Maritime ships, which transport around 90 percent of the world’s goods across the seas, generate about 3 percent of global carbon emissions.