India still world’s No. 1 destination for offshore outsourcing

Bangalore: India is still the world's favourite destination for offshore outsourcing, but attractive cost structures in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia and the rapid growth of the business in China are posing tough competition, according to a new study by Gartner Inc.

In the study, the IT research and advisory firm identified the Top 30 countries around the world for globally sourced activities in 2010-11, rating them on the basis of 10 criteria.

Many organisations that choose to move IT services to lower-cost countries are daunted by the task of determining which country, or countries, would best suit their requirement. Gartner conducted an analysis of these countries to assess their capabilities and potential as offshore services locations, it said.

India retained its position as the most successful country among global offshore locations, as per the Gartner study. It scored well across all 10 criteria. While its cost-competitiveness is being challenged due to the rising rupee, this is compensated by its strength in other areas, as per Gartner's study.

"Clients continue to seek a portfolio of offshore countries and with India again experiencing increasing labour costs and attrition, this is creating opportunities for other offshore locations to target the services needs of more-mature Asian clients," said Gartner Research Vice-President Ian Marriott.

China improved its scores for "political and economic environment" from "good" to "very good", and "culture compatibility" from "fair" to "good".

Contributing to the increased rating for China is its rising global political and economic leverage, especially in the wake of the recent global economic crisis.

China experienced a steady positive growth rate, spurred by a USD 583.9 billion stimulus package, in 2009. The Shanghai 2010 World Expo has helped increase cultural awareness within China, which has helped the growth of the business in the country, according to the study.

Gartner''s scores for the Philippines remain largely unchanged, although its rating for "global and legal maturity" fell from "good" to "fair".

Gartner continues to see foreign companies being attracted to the Philippine's young, experienced labour pool specialising in contact centres and finance and accounting (F&A) business process outsourcing (BPO), complemented by its good language and cultural compatibility with western economies.

How criminals use Facebook to commit crime

London, Dec 20 (ANI): Think giving out basic personal information on Facebook is harmless? You might need to rethink, as a reformed burglar has given details on how a criminal can use your user account as a tool for committing a crime.

"The information people give out on Facebook, when linked up with other information freely available on the internet, is an absolute -goldmine for criminals," the Daily Mail quoted Michael Fraser, a reformed burglar who presents the BBC's 'Beat The Burglar' programme, as saying.

"One year, you might have a party and give out your address. A while later, you might tell everyone that it is your 30th birthday.

"So, if you've accepted me as a friend of a friend, I know your name, your address and your birth date.

"From that, I can go to 192.com and on there I can find out what you do for a living, how much your home is worth - and whether you're likely to be worth burgling.

"I might have already made up my mind because you've posted party -pictures on Facebook and I can see what kind of valuables you have in the house - and which rooms they're in. Then you go and tell your Facebook friends how much you're looking forward to going on holiday next Tuesday.

"I can go on to Google Street View and see actual photographs of your home. I can see if you have a burglar alarm, or whether there are any bushes in the garden to hide in. And I can see all the alleyways I can escape down. And, of course, I know you won't be at home.

"Burglars only burgle homes if they think they can get away with it. All of this information is likely to leave them feeling much more confident that they can," added Fraser.

Co-operative Insurance company revealed that 36 per cent of users regularly make use of them to broadcast their whereabouts when they are away from home.

"Once you accept a stranger into your Facebook account, they can begin what we call social -engineering - -delicately asking questions to build up information about you,' said Jason Hart, -senior vice -president of -CRYPTOCard Network Security.

"And that can cause havoc. Let's say they got your email address, then they could go to your email account pretending to be you and saying you have -forgotten your password.

"The account will then ask a security question - something like your favourite food or your first pet. Over the following weeks and months, it isn't hard for them to work -conversations round to subjects like that on Facebook.

"Once they have that secret -information, the email account will let them in. And once they are in there, they can find lots of sensitive information, such as your Amazon and eBay account history.

"They can then go to those sites pretending to be you and saying you have lost your passwords, and guess what happens then?

"Those sites send the passwords to your email account - the one that they have already conned their way into.

"Crooks who do this usually use the credit card details you have stored there to buy online gift vouchers that can be traded on the internet. It is a form of instant -currency.

"Even worse, if you have a PayPal account and have credit in it, your so-called friend could clean it out.

"Effectively, they have become an electronic version of you, they can change all your passwords and begin stealing from you.

"The message is simple: you wouldn't invite a perfect stranger into your house simply because they knocked on your door and said they wanted a look around. So why do it on Facebook?," Hart added. (ANI)

top 10 reasons to avoid using facebook

Facebook privacy policies keep going down the drain. That's enough reason for many to abandon it. Here you will find nine more:

After some reflection, I've decided to delete my account on Facebook. I'd like to encourage you to do the same. This is part altruism and part selfish. The altruism part is that I think Facebook, as a company, is unethical. The selfish part is that I'd like my own social network to migrate away from Facebook so that I'm not missing anything. In any event, here's my "Top Ten" reasons for why you should join me and many others and delete your account.

10. Facebook's Terms Of Service are completely one-sided

Let's start with the basics. Facebook's Terms Of Service state that not only do they own your data (section 2.1), but if you don't keep it up to date and accurate (section 4.6), they can terminate your account (section 14). You could argue that the terms are just protecting Facebook's interests, and are not in practice enforced, but in the context of their other activities, this defense is pretty weak. As you'll see, there's no reason to give them the benefit of the doubt. Essentially, they see their customers as unpaid employees for crowd-sourcing ad-targeting data.

9. Facebook's CEO has a documented history of unethical behavior

From the very beginning of Facebook's existence, there are questions about Zuckerberg's ethics. According to BusinessInsider.com, he used Facebook user data to guess email passwords and read personal email in order to discredit his rivals. These allegations, albeit unproven and somewhat dated, nonetheless raise troubling questions about the ethics of the CEO of the world's largest social network. They're particularly compelling given that Facebook chose to fork over $65M to settle a related lawsuit alleging that Zuckerberg had actually stolen the idea for Facebook.

8. Facebook has flat out declared war on privacy

Founder and CEO of Facebook, in defense of Facebook's privacy changes last January: "People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time." More recently, in introducing the Open Graph API: "... the default is now social." Essentially, this means Facebook not only wants to know everything about you, and own that data, but to make it available to everybody. Which would not, by itself, necessarily be unethical, except that ...

7. Facebook is pulling a classic bait-and-switch

At the same time that they're telling developers how to access your data with new APIs, they are relatively quiet about explaining the implications of that to members. What this amounts to is a bait-and-switch. Facebook gets you to share information that you might not otherwise share, and then they make it publicly available. Since they are in the business of monetizing information about you for advertising purposes, this amounts to tricking their users into giving advertisers information about themselves. This is why Facebook is so much worse than Twitter in this regard: Twitter has made only the simplest (and thus, more credible) privacy claims and their customers know up front that all their tweets are public. It's also why the FTC is getting involved, and people are suing them (and winning).

Check out this excellent timeline from the EFF documenting the changes to Facebook's privacy policy.

6. Facebook is a bully

When Pete Warden demonstrated just how this bait-and-switch works (by crawling all the data that Facebook's privacy settings changes had inadvertently made public) they sued him. Keep in mind, this happened just before they announced the Open Graph API and stated that the "default is now social." So why sue an independent software developer and fledgling entrepreneur for making data publicly available when you're actually already planning to do that yourself? Their real agenda is pretty clear: they don't want their membership to know how much data is really available. It's one thing to talk to developers about how great all this sharing is going to be; quite another to actually see what that means in the form of files anyone can download and load into MatLab.

5. Even your private data is shared with applications

At this point, all your data is shared with applications that you install. Which means now you're not only trusting Facebook, but the application developers, too, many of whom are too small to worry much about keeping your data secure. And some of whom might be even more ethically challenged than Facebook. In practice, what this means is that all your data - all of it - must be effectively considered public, unless you simply never use any Facebook applications at all. Coupled with the OpenGraph API, you are no longer trusting Facebook, but the Facebook ecosystem.

4. Facebook is not technically competent enough to be trusted

Even if we weren't talking about ethical issues here, I can't trust Facebook's technical competence to make sure my data isn't hijacked. For example, their recent introduction of their "Like" button makes it rather easy for spammers to gain access to my feed and spam my social network. Or how about this gem for harvesting profile data? These are just the latest of a series of Keystone Kops mistakes, such as accidentally making users' profiles completely public, or the cross-site scripting hole that took them over two weeks to fix. They either don't care too much about your privacy or don't really have very good engineers, or perhaps both.

3. Facebook makes it incredibly difficult to truly delete your account

It's one thing to make data public or even mislead users about doing so; but where I really draw the line is that, once you decide you've had enough, it's pretty tricky to really delete your account. They make no promises about deleting your data and every application you've used may keep it as well. On top of that, account deletion is incredibly (and intentionally) confusing. When you go to your account settings, you're given an option to deactivate your account, which turns out not to be the same thing as deleting it. Deactivating means you can still be tagged in photos and be spammed by Facebook (you actually have to opt out of getting emails as part of the deactivation, an incredibly easy detail to overlook, since you think you're deleting your account). Finally, the moment you log back in, you're back like nothing ever happened! In fact, it's really not much different from not logging in for awhile. To actually delete your account, you have to find a link buried in the on-line help (by "buried" I mean it takes five clicks to get there). Or you can just click here. Basically, Facebook is trying to trick their users into allowing them to keep their data even after they've "deleted" their account.

2. Facebook doesn't (really) support the Open Web

The so-called Open Graph API is named so as to disguise its fundamentally closed nature. It's bad enough that the idea here is that we all pitch in and make it easier than ever to help Facebook collect more data about you. It's bad enough that most consumers will have no idea that this data is basically public. It's bad enough that they claim to own this data and are aiming to be the one source for accessing it. But then they are disingenuous enough to call it "open," when, in fact, it is completely proprietary to Facebook. You can't use this feature unless you're on Facebook. A truly open implementation would work with whichever social network we prefer, and it would look something like OpenLike. Similarly, they implement just enough of OpenID to claim they support it, while aggressively promoting a proprietary alternative, Facebook Connect.

1. The Facebook application itself ****s

Between the farms and the mafia wars and the "top news" (which always guesses wrong - is that configurable somehow?) and the myriad privacy settings and the annoying ads (with all that data about me, the best they can apparently do is promote dating sites, because, uh, I'm single) and the thousands upon thousands of crappy applications, Facebook is almost completely useless to me at this point. Yes, I could probably customize it better, but the navigation is ridiculous, so I don't bother. (And, yet, somehow, I can't even change colors or apply themes or do anything to make my page look personalized.) Let's not even get into how slowly your feed page loads. Basically, at this point, Facebook is more annoying than anything else.


Facebook is clearly determined to add every feature of every competing social network in an attempt to take over the Web (this is a never-ending quest that goes back to AOL and those damn CDs that were practically falling out of the sky). While Twitter isn't the most usable thing in the world, at least they've tried to stay focused and aren't trying to be everything to everyone.

I often hear people talking about Facebook as though they were some sort of monopoly or public trust. Well, they aren't. They owe us nothing. They can do whatever they want, within the bounds of the laws. (And keep in mind, even those criteria are pretty murky when it comes to social networking.) But that doesn't mean we have to actually put up with them. Furthermore, their long-term success is by no means guaranteed - have we all forgotten MySpace? Oh, right, we have. Regardless of the hype, the fact remains that Sergei Brin or Bill Gates or Warren Buffett could personally acquire a majority stake in Facebook without even straining their bank account. And Facebook's revenue remains more or less a rounding error for more established tech companies.

While social networking is a fun new application category enjoying remarkable growth, Facebook isn't the only game in town. I don't like their application nor how they do business and so I've made my choice to use other providers. And so can you

Rahul Gandhi warns US of Hindu extremist groups: WikiLeaks

This could well turn out to be the most controversial ‘Leaks’ connected to India. President of the Youth Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi is reported to have told the American ambassador last year that Hindu extremist groups could pose a greater threat to his country than Muslim militants. Guardian's report.

The Gandhi scion is said to have warned Timothy Roemer that though "there was evidence of some support for [Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba] among certain elements in India's indigenous Muslim community, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community". More

Read all the latest news on Rahul Gandhi

As per the Hindu -
His words were revealed in one of 4,000 leaked U.S. diplomatic cables sent from Delhi. The cables reveal a difficult but increasingly warm relationship between a prickly emerging power and a superpower keen to be friends but on its own terms.

At a time when the young Gandhi scion is being pitched as the next Prime ministerial candidate, this kind of a revelation could prove dangerous for the Congress party. Already struggling with the scams and almost inconsequential Winter session, the ruling party may have to do some more tight rope walk before the year end.

Read more from the US Embassy Cables on Rahul Gandhi

In another revelation, the Guardian reported:
US officials had evidence of widespread torture by Indian police and security forces and were secretly briefed by Red Cross staff about the systematic abuse of detainees in Kashmir, according to leaked diplomatic cables released tonight.

Now, Nano loan in 48-hours to boost sales

In a bid to push-up sales, Tata Motors, today announced a special finance scheme by which a customer will get a loan in 48 hours, for its small car Nano.

Tata Motors Finance (TMF) will provide finance up to 90 per cent for the Nano, at easy rates. TMF, which provides customer finance for all Tata Motors vehicles, is present in all the 540 passenger vehicles outlets of the company, Tata Motors said in a statement here.

Last week, the company announced a four-year or 60,000 kilometre manufacturing warranty on its small car Nano to woo customers.

"The Tata Nano will now come with a four year/60,000 km (whichever is earlier) manufacturer's warranty, at no extra cost. Besides being applicable on new deliveries, the warranty is also being extended to all existing owners of the car," the company said.

The company had said all new Nano customers will have an option to avail a comprehensive maintenance contract at Rs. 99 per month.

"These benefits will further enhance the satisfaction of Tata Nano users," it said.

From a sale of 9,000 units in July, Nano deliveries fell in every following month and touched a low of 509 units in November. Sporadic incidents of the small car catching fire have made it difficult for the company to push Nano sales, despite a number of assurances through various campaign initiatives.

Tata Motors earlier this month had asked Nano buyers to bring back their cars to add safety devices free of cost to prevent the vehicles from catching fire but insisted it was not a recall.

Even after registering 85 per cent fall in sales at just 509 units in November this year, Tata Motors claimed that customer satisfaction with the small car is high.

"Customer satisfaction studies with current Tata Nano owners indicate that over 80 per cent are satisfied or very satisfied with the car, because of it being small yet spacious, its performance, manoeuvrability, durability, mileage and safety," the company said.

Tata Motors has made the Nano even more robust, as announced on November 9, with enhanced features in the car’s electrical and exhaust systems. All new cars being delivered to customers come with these enhanced features. Existing owners are being offered the option to install these in their cars, at no extra cost, it said.

Since August this year, the company has already begun open sales of the Tata Nano and it is already freely available in 12 states. Retail sales have substantially increased in the first five states of open sales, it said.

Besides its already existing showrooms, the company is setting up Special Nano Access Points for customers in the hinterlands to experience, test-drive or test-ride the car, Tata Motors said.

Gradually expanding these reach-out initiatives, coupled with customer benefits, Tata Motors will cover the entire country with open sales by March 2011, it said.

Drive away winter blues

Viruses thrive in the cold. Add to that your reduced physical activity and lowered immunity, and the seasonal bug may get you. Here, what to expect and how to be prepared.

Respiratory illnesses

These manifest as common cold, flu, bronchitis, pneumonia. Symptoms include cold, cough, fever and body ache.

Who is vulnerable? Children and the elderly population, those with prevailing medical conditions such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, structural lung disease and smokers. High-risk individuals should consult a doctor even when mild symptoms occur, as simple flu or viral infection can develop into something more serious like pneumonia.

What can you do? Dr Rajesh Chawla, senior consultant, respiratory medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, recommends getting a flu shot. Do not move out in low temperatures, do not expose yourself to crowded places, wear warm clothes and take medical help when symptoms show. In most cases, the illness is self-limiting and treatment typically symptomatic. For example, analgesics for body ache or anti-pyretics for reducing fever.

Must read: Side-effects that are actually good for you

Heart disease

Winter also affects your heart. January has been reported as the month when the majority of heart attacks occur, states Dr Sandeep Budhiraja, HOD, Department of Internal Medicine, Max Healthcare, New Delhi. This is because the flu virus triggers an inflammatory response making the blood vessels expand and contract, increasing chance of plaque rupture and blood clots.

Who is vulnerable? The elderly and those with heart conditions are at high risk and must take particular care. People with high BP and diabetics must be careful as the cold weather sees fluctuations in their readings.

What can you do? Monitor your condition more frequently and be diligent in taking medications.

Also read: A spoonful of sugar will help calm your anger

Allergies

Wheezing worsens in the winter.

Who is vulnerable? People with asthma and chronic allergic conditions, such as bronchitis, allergic rhinitis and sinusitis.

What can you do? Consult your doctor to help fine-tune your medication doses in this season. Minimise exposure to cold and smog by avoiding early morning walks.

-Vaidehee Deshpande

''Govt may introduce plastic currency to counter fake notes''

Ranchi, Dec 14 (PTI) The Government is seriously considering introduction of plastic currency notes in the country to check the menace of fake notes, RBI Governor D Subbarao said here today.

"We are seriously considering introducing plastic currency notes in the Indian economy to check the fake currency problem and also for their longevity," Subbarao said while interacting with students ofRanchi University.

"We will also take into consideration the experience of countries like Australia and New Zealand who have been using plastic notes," he said.

The problem of fake currency notes being circulated has been affecting the economy and the RBI was taking steps to check it, he said.

The RBI, Subbarao added, was consulting other banks of the country and the Centre on the ways to check the problem.

When a student pointed out that fake currency notes were being distributed even through bank ATMs, he said the RBI was preparing stringent standards in this regard and very soon they would be implemented.

Subbarao said the RBI was focusing on inclusion of the rural economy into the banking system as it was imperative for faster growth of the country''s economy.

"RBI is organising several outreach programmes in association with other banks to reach the rural population and the objective is to provide core banking facilities in all the panchayats of the country," Rao said in reply to another query by a student.

The Indian economy, he added, was fast growing and with the inclusion of rural population, it would even surpass Chinese economy.

Subbarao, who is on a two-day trip to the state to popularise rural banking, attended a high-level meeting here later in the evening, where Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, chief secretary A K Singh and other senior officials were also present.

Nokia vs Android: Requiem?

An HTC Android-based smartphone Legend is displayed during a news conference in Taipei March 24, 2010. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang/Files

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HELSINKI (Reuters) - Mobile maker Nokia's Symbian operating system is on the ropes, its lead being stripped away blow by Android blow, but if its new boss throws in the software towel now, the relief will be brief and the scars permanent.

Stephen Elop, appointed Nokia's chief executive three months ago, is due to present his plans to arrest the market leader's decline early next year, and there are siren voices that would have him turn his back on mobile software and focus on handsets.

The runaway success of rival Apple's iPhone and its online App Store took Nokia by surprise, and while the Finnish firm still makes eight phones for every iPhone sold, for many quarters Apple has generated a bigger profit from its phone business than Nokia.

Following Apple's footsteps, Google rolled out its open-source Android operating system, which has become the standard for smaller phone makers. On current trends it will surpass Nokia's old workhorse Symbian in 2011 as the world's most used mobile OS.

"The software battles have been fought and won by Google and Apple. Nokia can either join the winning camp, or wither in a status quo of software wars already lost," said Alexander Peterc, analyst at Exane BNP Paribas.

Elop's personal history -- a former Microsoft executive -- gave vigour to rumours that Nokia would decide to use Google or Microsoft software in its smartphones.

This week in San Francisco, Android chief Andrew Rubin fuelled speculation further by ducking the question on possible talks with Nokia, while saying its new management was open to new ideas.

Nokia has undoubtedly had a rough time of it this year. Its shares have have fallen 15 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Technology index has gained 13 percent.

It's entirely possible that by embracing Android its shares could avoid the punches for a while and rise a little; the company's costs would fall and it would enjoy the effects of moving with the newcomer's momentum instead of fighting to preserve a shrinking corner.

For his part, Elop said in October that using external software was an unlikely step.

Not just unlikely, but unwise, say others.

"When Nokia picks Android, investors will sell their shares," says John Strand, CEO of Danish telecoms consultancy Strand Consult. "That would be the day Nokia turns itself into a Dell of the mobile world."

He has a point; Nokia shares trade at 11.3 times next year's earnings, well below Apple's 16 times, but ahead of computer maker Dell's 9.1 times. At Dell's valuation, Nokia shares should be at 6.19 euros, not the 7.62 euros they traded for on Thursday.

Dell's gross margin is 18 percent, while Nokia's is still 31 percent, with Apple standing at 38 percent.

STRATEGIC ASSET

And the logic goes much deeper than just share price.

"For a company that regards software as a key strategic asset, shifting to Android and losing control of its own destiny would not be considered a viable option," said CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber.

"I do not think it would be a solution. That would be a failure," said Alan B. Lancz, president of wealth management firm Alan B. Lancz & Associates, which holds Nokia stock.

"Software is going to be a key component of their success; that's the reason they brought in Stephen."

To avoid becoming just a hardware manufacturer, Nokia is redoubling its efforts to develop its new open source smartphone platform MeeGo into a formidable rival to iPhone and Android.

Earlier this year Nokia and Intel, the world's largest semiconductor firm, merged their mobile Linux versions into MeeGo, which has reached consumers through one small tablet manufacturer, but Nokia delayed its rollout into 2011.

In October Elop dropped Symbian into the background of Nokia's software strategy, and all Nokia phones software will be developed with cross-platform Qt technology.

"It's providing an easier developer environment than the old Symbian tools, which were quite complex," Jo Harlow, the head of Nokia's smartphone unit, told Reuters in a recent interview.

Adam Leach, analyst with research firm Ovum, says selling the Qt story to external developers will be the key to success.

"They need to convince a lot more developers -- the ones currently working with Apple's iOS and Android. Developers need to buy into the story around Qt," Leach said.

Easier said than done.

When Alexandre de Rochefort, CFO of Gameloft, the world's second-largest mobile gaming firm, was asked last month of his company's plans for Qt development, he said he had not heard of the technology. But he was fluent in explaining the nuances of different Android versions.

Seconds out. Round two.

Why India can’t have its WikiLeaks

Don't expect a Julian Assangne clone to start a desi version of WikiLeaks on Indian soil anytime soon. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the reasons. The government can instantly block such a site. 

And the penalties are gargantuan. Supreme Court advocate Pavan Duggal, who specialises in cyber law, points out that starting a site like WikiLeaks could make you liable to paying a fine of up to Rs 5 crore per contravention under the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008. 

You can also attract criminal liability of three to ten years in jail under various statutes and the Indian Penal Code. If that doesn’t kill your urge to blow the whistle online, you should also consider the burden of liability you could attract. Or the possible raids on your home and office premises, besides the likelihood of the state agencies restraining the distribution and transmission of a potential leak. 

Theoretically, though, it is possible for someone from India to set up a WikiLeaks-inspired site. “The Internet allows you to host content anywhere and view it in India. It will have to be hosted elsewhere in the world, and out of reach of the Indian law and political pressure,” says Nikhil Pahwa, editor, MediaNama, a website that analyses the digital media space in India. Trouble can erupt the moment you want to fulfil the website’s raison d’etre — getting hits. 

“You would get into trouble the instant you start publicising yourself as the owner of such a site,” says web pioneer and technology blogger Rajesh Jain. Agrees Aniruddha Bahal, who runs the investigative online journal Cobra- Post.com. “It is difficult but not impossible to run such a site in India. But half your time will probably be spent in battling the home ministry,” he says. 

Jain suggests that it is easier to use an already existing platform like WikiLeaks than to set up one of your own. But not all are convinced with the WikiLeaks format. “It’s interesting. It’s also the first time in world history that such a quantum of information is being released in one go. But I believe too much in editorial filtering to go for something as raw as WikiLeaks,” says Bahal. 

Government sites also keep getting breached. The more such chinks get exposed, the stronger will be the voices demanding close scrutiny and preventive actions against the growing tribe of hacktivists.

WikiLeaks: A new cyber threat to govts?

Wikileaks battle: a new amateur face of cyber war?

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The website attacks launched by supporters of WikiLeaks show 21st-century cyber warfare evolving into a more amateur and anarchic affair than many predicted.

While most countries have ploughed much more attention and resources into cyber security in recent years, most of the debate has focused on the threat from militant groups such as al Qaeda or mainstream state on state conflict.

But attempts to silence WikiLeaks after the leaking of some 250,000 classified State Department cables seem to have produced something rather different -- something of a popular rebellion amongst hundreds or thousands of tech-savvy activists.

"The first serious infowar is now engaged," former Grateful Dead lyricist, founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation John Perry Barlow told his followers on Twitter last week. "The field of battle is WikiLeaks. You are the troops."

Some of the more militant elements on the Internet clearly took him at his word. A group calling itself Anonymous put the quote at the top of a webpage entitled "Operation Avenge Assange", referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Online collective Anonymous appears to be using social networking site Twitter to coordinate attacks on websites belonging to entities it views as trying to silence WikiLeaks.

Targets have included MasterCard , Visa and a Swiss bank. All blocked payments to Wikileaks on apparent U.S. pressure.

The Swedish government website and Swedish prosecutors behind Assange's arrest in London for extradition and questioning over sex allegations were also hit. Some Wikileaks supporters view the accusations as politically motivated.

Twitter and Facebook shut down accounts apparently belonging to Anonymous. But with little to stop the attackers opening new ones, few believed it would be enough to stop the campaign.

"The genie is out of the bottle and it could be very difficult to put it back in," said Jonathan Wood, global issues analyst at Control Risks.

"In more authoritarian countries such as China and Iran , they have got around this by shutting down sites such as Twitter for a certain period of time. No one thinks that is politically possible in the West."

It looks to have surprised even Barlow, whose "declaration of independence for cyberspace" has been increasingly shared over Twitter by Anonymous supporters. He says he himself opposes distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks aimed at knocking down sites, viewing them as anti-free-speech.

"I support freedom of expression, no matter whose, so I oppose DDoS attacks regardless of their target," he told Reuters in an email. "They're the poison gas of cyberspace.... All that said, I suspect the attacks may continue until Assange is free and WikiLeaks is not under continuous assault."

The exchange suggests cyber warfare could also become the preserve of small groups attacking each other as state actors.

"POISON GAS OF CYBERSPACE"

Alongside possible financial losses from sites being taken down, the potential reputational damage to firms is massive.

MasterCard has been mocked widely across the net as users lampooned its distinctive advertising slogans: "Freedom of speech: priceless. For everything else, there's MasterCard ".

"This proves without question the power at people's fingertips --that there is high risk and vulnerability on the Internet," said John Walker, chief technology officer at cyber security company Secure Bastion.

"If an organisation like MasterCard with big computing power can have its site taken down then what about smaller organisations and ordinary people?"

While most denial of service attacks use "botnets" to hijack other computers to overload websites, cyber security experts said Wednesday's attacks were different. Attackers were using their own computers, downloading software from Anonymous.

By midway through Wednesday afternoon, that software had already been downloaded some 6,000 times.

"This whole... episode is causing a snowball effect," said Noa Bar Yosef, senior security strategist from Imperva. "The more attention it is receiving, the more people who are joining the voluntary botnet to cause the DDoS."

FREELANCE HACKERS

WikiLeaks itself has also complained it has been under similar cyber attacks since shortly before it released the documents last week. While it has largely pointed to the United States and other governments, some say those attacks too may have been carried out by third parties.

Russian officials have long said that high profile cyber attacks against Estonia in 2007 and Georgia during its conflict with Russia in 2008 were in fact carried out by independent "patriotic hackers" rather than the government itself.

"I think an interesting development is what we might term the 'Thomas a Becket' syndrome -- hackers deciding to act in ways they think benefit the country without being instructed to by a higher authority," said Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national security at the US Naval War College.

Becket was the 12th century Archbishop of Canterbury murdered by four knights who reportedly overheard Henry II's complaints over him and took them as a royal wish he be killed -- an alarming historical example of unintended consequences

The lighter side: Top 8 WikiLeaks jokes

Washington, Dec 11 (ANI): The WikiLeaks scandal has created nothing short of a storm worldwide, but there's a lighter side to everything. So here are the top eight WikiLeaks jokes to see the funnier side of it all.

8. WookieeLeaks: The leaked secrets are being seen in the realm of 'Star Wars.' For instance, Twitter users are posting messages under the tag 'WookieeLeaks'.

"Sources close to the Emperor claim that he was aware of the tragic design flaw that allowed Rebels to destroy the Death Star," goes one post.

7. David Letterman, antiterror mastermind: A State Department cable, according to news reports, was headlined 'David Letterman: Agent of influence.'

The point? American comedy or popular TV shows in Saudi Arabia might prevent youngsters from becoming terrorists, reports the Christian Science Monitor.

6. It's a generational thing: Jon Stewart of 'The Daily Show' brought in Aasif Mandvi, who said, "It's the 21st century, what I've coined the 'information age,' a glorious Utopian datascape in which everyone has a right to know everything about everyone. It's why I get to see your [private parts] at the airport."

5. The Onion website: The Onion website reveals, "Threats and aid offers equally ineffective in forcing Vladimir Putin to put a shirt on during diplomatic negotiations."

After a few more items, the Onion discloses a final secret, "U.S. diplomatic privacy measures are terrible."

4. Hitler: WikiLeaks is the latest story line to be overlaid onto a 'Downfall' scene in which Hitler rants in front of his inner circle.

In one, Hitler calls Assange and tries to get him interested in new details about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

And another 'Downfall' parody shows Hitler getting angry because hackers have shut down access to WikiLeaks websites.

3. Sarah Palin hunts Assange: Video news reports by Next Media Animation (NMA), a Taiwan-based company, show Assange trying to obtain documents by personally sneaking into government buildings while Sarah Palin grabs her gun, apparently ready to help hunt him like a caribou.

2. "Well, that WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, turned himself in to police in England today," Jay Leno said this week on late night TV.

"When the judge asked him where he lived, he said he didn't want to give out that information. Well, you can understand that. Everybody has the right to privacy, don't they?"

1. Rep. Jack Kimble, a faux congressman from California, told his Twitter followers on Wednesday, "I have been attacked by Wikileaks. They have changed all the prices in my campaign shop to ridiculously low levels."

Comedian Jimmy Fallon said, "WikiLeaks supporters ... have hacked Sarah Palin's credit card information after she criticized founder Julian Assange. Sarah [is] very upset and hopes suspicious charges to her account can be 'refundiated.' "(ANI)

FACTBOX - How cyber activists bring down a website

REUTERS - Cyber attacks in retaliation for attempts to block the WikiLeaks website have already hit the websites of credit-card giants MasterCard and Visa.

Using distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, hundreds of cyber activists have joined forces and temporarily disabled computer servers by bombarding them with requests.

On Thursday, supporters of WikiLeaks were plotting attacks on other perceived enemies of the publisher, which has angered U.S. authorities by starting to release details of 250,000 confidential diplomatic cables.

Here are details of how they go about bringing down a website:

-- The weapon of choice is a piece of software named a "Low Orbit Ion Cannon" (LOIC) which was developed to help Internet security experts test the vulnerability of a website to a DDoS attack. The LOIC is available for download on the Internet.

-- The LOIC can be controlled centrally by an administrator in an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel, a type of computer chat room, which can seize control of a network of computers whose combined power is used in a DDoS attack.

-- The attack is aimed at the target website and when the LOICs are activated they flood the website with a deluge of data requests at the same time.

-- The DDoS attack prevents the overloaded server from responding to legitimate requests and slows down the website to a crawl or shuts it down totally.

-- The attacks are coordinated in the IRC channel and on Thursday, around 3,000 people were active on the channel at one stage.

-- The current situation has some historical parallels to a decade ago, when, in February, 2000, several of the biggest U.S. ecommerce and media sites came under attack in denial-of-service attacks. Targets included Amazon.com, eBay, E-Trade, Buy.com and CNN, the news site. The ecommerce sites endured substantial losses during the outages, at a time when the Internet shopping phenomenon remained in its infancy.

3G tech vulnerable to cyber crime, says experts

As 3G mobile services are set to be rolled out soon in the country, cyber experts sound a word of caution about the high tech enabled mobile phones, which they say are more vulnerable in the world of technology related crimes.
While the next generation technology aims to make life simpler enabling downloading of movies and music within minutes, it can also be used for various unscrupulous activities.
"With 3G, cellphones will have faster broadband Internet and with such speed you can watch television live, make video calls and download music and movies in no time. But through spying software and virus, the hacker can easily break into your system," says Ankit Fadia, an ethical hacker and cyber security expert.
"The hacker can record all the audio conversation and video files. Not many people in India install anti-virus in the phones. I would recommend them to install anti-virus and fireballs while using 3G, says Fadia who recommends switching off the bluetooth function of the phone when not required to protect the user's password.
Not limited to an individual's privacy issues, the 3G technology will also lead to increase in piracy of films and music, thereby giving a staggering amount of losses to the entertainment industry that is battling the piracy threat.
"It will become extremely easy for anybody to download an entire Bollywood film in few minutes using 3G. This is going to lead to further tremendous growth of websites like torrents," says advocate Pavan Duggal, a cyberlaws expert.
The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) points out that Bollywood would be hit most by the 3G and wants service providers to adopt a stricter approach to check cybercrimes.
"Today it takes several hours to download a new release Bollywood film but with 3G it will be in minutes that will encourage people to use illegal means to view a film," says Rakshit Tandon, consultant, IAMAI.
According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report titled, "Indian 3G broadband subscribers," the mobile subscriber base is projected to cross one billion in 2014. The 3G broadband subscriber base is expected to cross 107 million by 2015.
Indian law enforcement lacks the necessary training to deal with cyber-crimes and there is a distinct need for amending the law and making security agencies aware about the Internet, say experts.
"Laws are there to protect but our police agencies are yet not ready to take-up the cyber crime challenges, especially 3G. They need to be trained to tackle the growing usage of Internet by criminals," says Fadia.
Duggal, who is a Supreme Court lawyer, says there is a distinct need for amending the law so as to provide for far more broad generic provisions which can withstand the onslaught of any other new technology.
"Further adequate statutory protections needs to be given to users so that whatever limited right to privacy they have in the context of the electronic ecosystem are not appropriately compromised with the advent of new technology," he says.
As mobile handsets is becoming an integral part of the consumer experience, the availability of a large number of feature-rich handsets at affordable prices or in attractive bundled offers is likely to further drive the adoption of 3G value-added services, according to a report by RNCOS.
The industry analysis provider also predicts that the number of 3G mobile subscribers is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 80 per cent during 2011-2013.

Would You Lie About Your Salary?

Okay this is new. In all my years of work ex, I don’t think I have ever lied about my salary; and even if one would want to, how can they do so? At some point the HR will ask for three months pay slip, right? But this interesting article I found on CNNMoney.com reveals that there is nothing called ‘real honesty’.

Take a look. Does this apply to you? Let me know what you think.

In fact, 23% of job seekers say they have lied or would lie during the job interview process, according to a recent poll by Vault.com.

So, where do you draw the line between fact and fiction when it comes to your salary and what will give you the negotiating power you need?

Tell the Truth

Honesty is usually the best policy, but in the case of a job interview, there is such a thing as being too honest.

“Too much information applies in this case,” warns Rod Kurtz, executive editor for AOL Small Business. “An employer might press you for an exact number, but play it safe. Hint at the range. Remember, in most cases they are going to be calling your references, so they are going to have an idea of what you make.”

Whatever you do, don’t report a false number, especially in writing.

Many applications state outright that reporting false information is grounds for termination from the company.

Inflate your salary and you will likely suffer the consequences. “For some jobs, it is downright illegal to lie about your salary, especially government jobs,” warns Matt Wallaert, a behavioral psychologist for GetRaised.com. “A job is a relationship and you don’t want to start any relationship based on a lie.”

Increase Your Compensation

Instead of giving yourself a salary bump, report your “total compensation.”

Your total compensation figure should include your salary as well as any bonuses you have received or plan to receive in the near future, as well the value of any stock options or other perks from your current company.

This will make the number you are putting out there for potential employers grow without twisting any of the facts.

“This is completely fair,” says Matt Wallaert. “What is important is wording. You want make sure to say total compensation, not total salary.” Additionally, this approach should allow you to negotiate all aspects of your compensation package with your new employer, not just salary.

Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate

Once everything is on the table and your prospective employer is aware of your current salary, or at least the range, the first step to getting more pay at your new job is to do your research.

Research salaries for similar positions at comparison websites like GetRaised.com, PayScale.com or Salary.com.

“Be transparent about your logic,” suggests Wallaert. “Come in with a number. Once you have set the bar, you can talk about previous experience, about education or why you are a good fit at that particular company.”

And don’t be afraid to negotiate your salary upward if you feel you deserve more that you are being offered. “If you are unemployed you have a little bit less leverage,” warns Kurtz. “But if an employer won’t budge on salary, then you can start discussing bonuses or extra vacation days.”

It never hurts to ask for more, and it shows you think you are worth it.

India Journal: What Is WikiLeaks Really Telling Us?

There has been some surprising news recently. No, not the WikiLeaks story of what U.S. diplomats said in their private communiqués but rather the story that diplomats of other countries are shocked by the contents. If that’s true, they must be the only ones. Most of what’s in these cables has already been thoroughly discussed at numerous dinner parties by the general public.

Ranjani Iyer Mohanty

Take some of the revelations. India sought closer ties with the U.S. because of China’s increasing aggressiveness…and so probably did most other neighbours of the growing superpower. Hillary Clinton called India a “self-appointed frontrunner” for permanent United Nations Security Council membership…along with Brazil, Germany, and Japan. Lashkar-e-Taiba had plans to use South India as a base and to assassinate Narendra Modi: we may not have known of this but thankfully the Indian intelligence agencies did.

There is no doubt that WikiLeaks serves a genuine need and a valuable purpose, such as when they revealed questionable procedures at Guantanamo Bay and foreshadowed Iceland’s financial crisis. However, unlike its claim of “bringing important news and information to the public” and publishing “material of ethical, political and historical significance” and “providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and uncensored injustices,” this time I feel they have brought us mostly obvious-toids of minor significance that reveal just annoying embarrassments. If we were privy to the day-to-day uncensored thoughts of any organization, or even any family, the results would make a great soap opera – but like most soaps, not the best use of our time.

I agree that private conversations and back-room dealings can be interesting. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Gandhi, Nehru, and Jinnah were having a heart-felt talk about Churchill and Britain – when Khrushchev and his comrades were strategizing over Kennedy and Cuba – when Tony Blair and his advisors were discussing George Bush and Iraq. But some things are better said and done behind closed doors. If diplomacy is all about the art of conducting delicate negotiations and handling complicated affairs without arousing hostility, maybe WikiLeaks should just leave them to it. We should be finding ways to bring nations together, not push them further apart.

While the U.S. may have said some embarrassing (but not necessarily untrue) things about other countries, I’m sure other countries have said equally impolite, if not worse, things about the U.S. within the confines of their own borders and embassies. I would not be surprised if an Italian diplomat had made an unkind comment about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, if an Indian diplomat had made an impatient remark about the U.S. selling arms to Pakistan, or a Chinese diplomat had suggested that he enjoyed playing banker to the Americans.

While the majority of these leaks may have been diplomatic chit-chat, WikiLeaks promises to expose more information and of a more secretive nature, such as its recent release of a list of vital U.S. facilities. In the midst of the uproar, WikiLeaks’s purpose – beyond causing havoc and possibly supplying valuable information to unfriendly parties, all in the name of fighting injustice – is not always clear. Not all classified or private information is an injustice in the making.

I wonder if we could re-direct Wikileaks’s energies. For example, what may be really helpful to the world as a whole is if WikiLeaks could hack into and make public the communications of the LeT, the Taliban, or other groups planning terrorist activities. Maybe WikiLeaks could also reveal the ambitions of some of the less transparent and more unstable countries, which would indeed be a revelation. And here in India, wouldn’t it be nice to know who are the most corrupt politicians and the value of their Swiss bank account holdings?

Even if we haven’t learnt a lot from the latest set of WikiLeaks releases, one lesson is becoming increasing clear. Be careful what you email your office mate about your boss’s last party, what you email the head of the investment department about a fancy new financial instrument you’ve dreamed up that’s sure to make a killing, what you email your friend about your mother-in-law, and what you email anyone about climate change. Someone may be hacking you.

Wikileaks: Kerala, TN are training hubs for Lashkar

Islamic terror groups could have big bases in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Wikileaks cables now reveal.

A 2009 cable, signed by secretary of state Hillary Clinton, says the Laskhar-e-Taiba had surveyed Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, and was in the process of setting up training camps. It also says itplanned to kill Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. In another revelation, Hillary says Saudi donors are supporting Sunni terror groups across the world.

Gunman Kasab, arrested in connection with the 2008 Mumbai blasts, had confessed on video that the Lashkar recruited him to carry out a suicide attack by paying off his father. Kasab later told the court he had made that confession under duress.

The police were not completely oblivious to the problem, though. In 2007, police were talking about 50 Lashkar militants being active in the south, especially Karnataka.

In 2008, nine low-intensity blasts rocked Bangalore. A woman was killed. In 2010, two bombs went off at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, just before an IPL match, injuring six. The Karnataka police arrested Abdul Naseer Madani, a radical Islamist from Kerala, on charges of plotting the blasts. Andhra Pradesh was not spared either. In 2007, two blasts went off at Hyderabad. Two years on, the Andhra Pradesh police arrested 13 men, and sent out an alert to neighbouring states.

The Intelligence Bureau had said it had picked up some intercepts suggesting that cities in the south could be targeted. In September 2009, Rediff reported:

"It is now confirmed that many southern modules carried out the serial blasts in the country. Following the blasts there was a major crackdown on the cadres and sleeper cells. Even the interrogation of various terrorists revealed that the southern module carried out the blasts.

The most important factor that came out during the interrogation was that the entire southern module was directly linked to the Gulf module. However,  the recent crackdown has had a disastrous effect on the Lashkar's plans. Sources say that the south modules were being majorly financed by the Gulf module."