Cyber Criminals on the Prowl: Defence Personnel easy prey?

80 Indians fall prey to cyber fraud every minute
Published: Monday, Sep 17, 2012, 9:00 IST
By Sunchika B Pandey | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
If most of us have gone mobile, so have the cyber criminals. And like many of us, most of their time is being spent on the social networking sites. The cyber criminals are making a living out of it.
According to Norton Cybercrime Report 2012, 66% of Indian online adults have been a victim of cyber fraud in their lifetime. In the past 12 months, 56% of online adults in India have experienced cyber fraud.
As per the report, at least 1,15,000 people fall prey to cyber fraud every day, while 80 per minute and more than one per second leading to a rise in the average direct financial cost per victim to around Rs10,500.
According to the survey, the cybercriminals have now shifted their focus to the increasingly popular social platforms. One in three adults online Indians (32%) have been either social or mobile cybercrime victims.
While most internet users delete suspicious emails and are careful with their personal details online. However, 25% don’t use complex passwords or change their passwords frequently and 38% do not check for the padlock symbol in the browser before entering sensitive personal information.
Online adults are also unaware of the evolution of most common forms of cybercrime. In fact, 68% of adults do not know that malware can operate in a discreet fashion, making it hard to know if a computer has been compromised, and one third (35%) are not certain that their computer is currently clean and free of viruses.
“Malware and viruses used to wreak obvious havoc on your computer,” said Ibrahim. “You’d get a blue screen, or your computer would crash, alerting you to an infection. But cyber criminals have evolved new methods to avoid detection,” added Ibrahim.
80 Indians fall prey to cyber fraud every minute
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Will Printed Book Survive?

Dear friends,
More than five hundred years ago, Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) revolutionized the printing process. He was a goldsmith who is credited with the invention of the movable-type printing press. and over the last five centuries, we have all benefited by his invention. The technology created by him brought the price of the printed book so steeply that the works of learned men could reach out to the people at an affordable coast.
And then came the era ushered in by Bill Gates. He and his colleagues devised a computer which is within the reach of people. What I 'key in' just now will reach hundreds of my friends within a few seconds.
The question which now faces mankind is: Will the printed book survive? And if so, for how long?
I seek your views.
Regards, and love
Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)

Armoured Corps Officer becomes "King" of Wireless

Lt Col HS Bedi (Retd), VSM joined the Indian Army, following his three generation old family tradition of serving the nation in the Army and was commissioned in the 72 Armored regiment. A National Defence Academy pass out, Lt Col Bedi developed management qualities during his tenure in the army. He got an opportunity to learn computers in the Army's Faculty of Computer Technology at MCTE, Mhow. After the completion of his training, Lt Col Bedi was appointed as an instructor in the faculty. As part of the student projects, Lt Col Bedi got an opportunity to interact with the industry thought leaders and at the same time propose solutions to them. He was thereafter called upon to develop a large number of technology solutions for the then Chief of the Army Staff, General K Sundarji and various Army Headquarters Directorates. After his initial success in the field, Lt Col Bedi was posted to the Army Headquarters to coordinate the Army's Automation plan.

Lt Col HS Bedi was awarded the `Vishisht Seva Medal' (VSM) by the President of India for his role in the computerization of the Indian Army.

After serving in the Indian Army for 22 years, Lt Col Bedi recognized his entrepreneurial skills in the field of Information Technology and decided to leave the Indian Army to start his own company. He took over the business of Tulip as its Director. His leadership and vision has enabled the company not only to constantly grow into more profitable business segments but also to attain the leadership position in every segment that it has functioned in.

Under his guidance, Tulip Telecom Services has established itself as one of the strongest network connectivity players in the industry. Tulip has achieved enviable success in a short span and has experienced exponential growth with a turnover of Rs 1242.14 Crores (USD 310.73 Million) for the FY 2008 and employee strength of over 2100. The company has been successful in creating immense value for all its stake holders.

Often addressed as the ‘King of Wireless', it is Lt Col.Bedi's foresight that envisaged the beginning of a new era in connectivity. Today, Lt Col HS Bedi, is a well-recognized business leader in the IT and telecom industry and has vast experience in this field.

Mission Statement of Tulip Telecom Limited
Vision

To become the largest data connectivity provider in India.
Mission

Provide end to end managed data services to include Data Connectivity, equipment and managed network services to meet all data connectivity requirements of customers.

Be the trusted advisor of the customers for all their data connectivity/ networking needs.

Grow the business rapidly while maintaining the highest quality of service.

Lead the market with innovation and adaptability.

Impact the rural economy by providing connectivity right upto to the last village.
Corporate Citizenship
Tulip strives to be an intellectual and social asset of the community and environment.
Corporate Governance
Tulip takes pride in its Corporate Governance and strives to continuously improve its processes in order to ensure a seamless and transparently functioning organization that creates immense value for all its stakeholders.
Tulip

The man who landscaped Indian IT field

Photo by R Ragu
His life reads like a ‘Brief history of IT in India.’ He has been involved in creating every institution that forms the foundation of the Indian IT landscape, be it CMC, NIC or Computer Society of India (CSI). And, this engineer with a degree in telecommunication, spent most of his life associated with an institution which may not be the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of IT technology – the Army. A Balasubrahmanian, who retired as a Major General, speaks to Sruthi Krishnan on the sidelines of the 43rd Convention of CSI held along with Connect 2008, the ICT event that concluded in Chennai on Saturday.

“The Army had the best of electronic equipment,” he says explaining his career choice. And that is how this graduate from the third batch of Guindy Engineering College joined the Army Corps of Signals in 1950. “My mother was reluctant to let me go,” he recalls, but the fact that her brother also joined the Army made her relent. “Her fears almost came true,” he recounts. “When she was critically ill, I was undergoing a special training. I could not go because there were lots of formalities. When Sam Manekshaw saw me, he asked, why were you so grumpy? When I told him, he asked me to go, saying that my mother was more important than anything.”

An engineer with advanced training in electronics and guided missiles made him the natural choice for the first Computer Centre of the Ministry of Defence at Hyderabad in 1962. “Around 1960, the first few computers made their appearance,” he says. “Prior to that in 1954, the development of the TIFRAC computer was taken up on the initiative of Homi Bhabha. It was quite contemporary at that point of time.”

Fortuitous founding
The sixties also saw the founding of an institution which he would have a lifetime association with. “It was fortuitous. A group of users of computers met under the aegis of Professor Harold Huskey. At this meet, it was envisaged that a group of users should be formed. That was how CSI was conceived,” says the Society’s first Secretary. “In 1970, there was a labour protest in Calcutta because we wanted to import two computers,” Mr.Balasubrahmanian says, describing the start of a decade that would see him being instrumental in establishing Regional Computer Centres in cities, including Pune and Chandigarh. “There were few computers, and we wanted them to be used by as many users as possible,” he says.

In 1975, IBM left India because the law stated that to establish a presence, an Indian company should be given 40 per cent equity. “Anticipating this, we setup Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC), to maintain computers. Before that we made trips to Europe and the USSR and imported computers from the USSR. We paid for them by writing software for those computers,” he says, recounting a project which was perhaps the first outsourcing assignment for India.

In the 1980s, restrictions on importing computers were removed. “But, people started using these computers like electronic typewriters. It is like wasting food, something imported at that cost should not be misused,” he says. After retirement in 1984, he joined Indira Gandhi National Open University where he achieved another first – Distance education programme on computers. This veteran’s tryst with the world of information continues in innovations that are of use to disabled persons. “It is my belief that everyone should have access to technology,” Maj Gen Balasubrahmanian says.
The man who landscaped Indian IT field

Comments: The Veterans especially the Corps of Signals officers remember Maj Gen A Balasubrahmanian very fondly as the most soft spoken gentleman of the Corps. Everyone is proud of his significant noiseless achievements in the civilian world. Kudos and Cheers to his Signal Spirit.