Paving the Way for Digitizing Africa's Economy (2024-03-13T14:35:00+05:30)

By ABEBE WOLDEGIORGIS Africa is the continent with more than 1.2 billion people, endowed with rich natural resources among others, vast arable land, livestock, mines, rivers, oceans and lakes with their marine life. However, though it is rich with such resources, the continent is unable to exploit the resources fully due to lack of technology, finance and well trained man power. As the result, it has remained one of the pauperized in the world. Africa has only three percent share on the world trade. It mainly exports mines, crude oil and livestock in their raw form to the foreign market and obtains small amount of hard currency which doesn't cover its imports' bill which again leaves it in negative trade balance. To eradicate poverty and to change the natural resources in to wealth, Africa needs to export value added products and to that end, expanding the manufacturing sector is essential. The sector plays pivotal role in job creation, creates market linkage with the agricultural sector, boosts export, substitutes import, and attracts both foreign and local investors. Side by side with these, digitizing the economy has been a preferred option to reduce transaction cost and to advance financial inclusion. The financial sector in the continent is in its infancy level. Despite the number of banks, insurance companies, and small and medium size financial institutions including the increasing credit associations, reaching the rural population through financial services has been a critical matter. The vast number of African population is engaged in subsistence farming and up to 75% of the population is resided in the rural part. The introduction of mobile telephone in the last two decades created enabling environment for the expansion of mobile banking service in the rural part. The Information Communication Technology boosted farmers bargaining power. They can easily access the market price of their products in the urban centers and could supply their products by shortening the value chain with no broker's intervention. They can transfer and receive money. They also obtain information with regard to metrology so that enable to prepare themselves to withstand extreme climate conditions. However, as compared to the number of population, the digital service provision is very less than the demand. And to transform the continent's economy into digital, pulling more foreign investment and constructing IT infrastructure is vital. According to the recent report of the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA), since 2018, digitization has provided an important avenue for the African economy to leapfrog not only financial development but also development across other sectors of the economy. There are infinite opportunities on the digital platform, and fintechs are working round-the-clock to develop and introduce new products here. However, these changes will benefit only those economies that embrace digitization, invest in the required infrastructure, and introduce commensurate regulatory technology. Digitization is transforming African economy in four major ways: retail payments systems, financial inclusion, sustainable business models, and revenue administration. Given that Kenya has stood out in its success in pursuing and utilizing digitization, the experiences of the country, explored and its experience shed light on Africa's digitization potential since 2018. Digitization and retail payments systems: Digitization has revolutionized the retail payments system and the payment infrastructure. Economies are saving billions of dollars per year by using electronic payments and centralizing those payments. The retail payments infrastructure is one of the earliest beneficiaries of mobile-phone-based payments and transactions platforms. Electronic payment platforms save on transaction costs in terms of time, travel, and even unit costs. Indeed, this revolution cuts across rich and poor, underserved and formal and informal businesses. Given this transformation, it was time in 2018 for all African economies to join the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA)--a global partnership that encourages the shift away from cash and towards digital payments--advocate for electronic retail payments migration, and develop the requisite payments infrastructure so that government payments can be centralized into an electronic payments platform. The potential economy-wide benefits are immense. For African economy to benefit from all these developments, digitization has become an easier platform to support financial inclusion and female financial empowerment. Obstacles to financing access, such as physical distance, minimum balance requirements, little to no credit, and low-income flows can be circumvented. Savings have increased; micro-savers have opened bank accounts, and banks are now able to price short-term loans. In fact, currently there are over 20 million virtual saving accounts (one bank accounts for 18 million of these virtual saving accounts five years after the product was launched) that have been opened in the last five years compared to about 30 million deposit accounts in the banking sector. Not only has digitization in Africa brought financial services to the doorstep, it has been an important avenue for creating market access. The benefits are clearly widespread and attractive, and new virtual savings products and platforms continue to emerge. To revitalize digitization recently, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Google have signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to foster and accelerate digital transformation in Africa on the margins of the 2024 edition of the Africa Business Forum. The partnership is founded on the complementary expertise and strengths of both parties who wish to collaborate on activities to support ECA's mandate such as digital development in Africa in line with the African Union Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030) and Google's Digital Sprinters Framework. It also aims at leveraging the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the benefit of Africa's digital economy. As a general framework for collaboration, the MoU will seek to further explore specific key areas of interest pertaining to digital skills development for Africa's burgeoning young population, startup development, increasing financial inclusion, strengthening cyber security and online safety measures, and advancing policy research for policymakers on the continent. ECA's Executive Secretary Claver Gatete, acknowledged Google's pivotal role in improving Africa's connectivity infrastructure, supporting Africa's innovators and entrepreneurs, and building digital capacity in emerging technologies through skills development for researchers, students and educators. "This partnership holds the potential to produce significant and influential outcomes in tackling digital challenges and narrowing the digital divide across the African continent," he remarked. Africa, with the lowest internet penetration rate globally, sees 63 % of its population without internet access, according to ECA. The ECA is committed to closing digital divides by promoting infrastructure development and affordability, sound regulatory environment, and fostering digital skills. To tap into Africa's digital transformation potential to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063, it is crucial that the continent's youth--projected to account for nearly half of the global youth population by 2030--are prepared for a digital future and the 4th Industrial Revolution. Google's Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Emerging Markets Doron Avni said; "With advanced technologies, the most profound transformation is yet to come. Collaboration will be essential if Africa is to realize this opportunity and ensure no-one is left behind. We are excited to collaborate with the ECA to work towards this shared objective." As part of the Agreement, Google and ECA will endeavor to begin collaboration on Startup development, Computer Science Education and Cyber security. Google will endeavor to partner with ECA to reach its target to enable one million startups to generate 100 billion USD in revenue by 2033. Computer Science Education is also the other part of the agreement, ECA said. Starting in 2024, ECA, Camden Trust and Google will endeavor to up skill over 5000 young African students and 200 teachers on computer science and robotics to support their participation in the World Robot Olympiad global competition and increase Africa's representation. The organizations aim to operate in more than 10 countries, including Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Additionally, the partnership seeks to conduct collaborative research on Cyber-security and its connection to achieving the SDGs and Agenda 2063. Read the original article on Ethiopian Herald.Paving the Way for Digitizing Africa's Economy

IAEA offers training on preventing cyber-attacks (2024-02-29T14:26:00+05:30)

Instructors and participants at the first IAEA course on cyber security (Image: INL) A new training course on protecting nuclear facilities against cyber-attacks has been launched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Developed with the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Nuclear Security Administration and hosted by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the inaugural course - Protecting Computer-Based Systems in Nuclear Security Regimes - was held earlier this month. The two-week course was attended by 37 participants from 13 countries and offered training on best practices in computer security. Participants were able to test their skills on mock-ups of state-of-the-art digital systems common in nuclear facilities, which use digital technologies to provide functions that support safe operations, security, material accountancy and control, and protection of sensitive information. In developing the course, cybersecurity experts from the IAEA and the DOE National Laboratories - Idaho National laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory - designed a learning environment that replicated equipment typically found in a nuclear facility. "Everyone with responsibility for nuclear security must have a thorough understanding of the vulnerabilities of their systems - they must know how to prevent and mitigate possible cyber-attacks on those systems," said Raja Adnan, director of the IAEA's Division of Nuclear Security. "The IAEA offers a range of training courses in computer security to help ensure that governments and organistions have the necessary technical, regulatory and other tools to succeed when faced with highly skilled adversaries." The IAEA commissioned the Austrian Institute of Technology to develop a special, virtual IT training and simulation platform that simulates extremely sensitive industrial control systems. This so-called Cyber Range allows new technologies, tools and processes designed to defend against cyber threats to be simulated, tested and trained in a realistic environment, and has been developed in response to the increasing digitalisation and networking of industrial control systems for nuclear power plants. The attack on Iran's nuclear facilities with the Stuxnet malware in 2010 illustrated that nuclear facilities are the target of cyber-attacks and that these attacks can lead to physical damage.Researched and written by World Nuclear News IAEA offers training on preventing cyber-attacks : Regulation & Safety - World Nuclear News

Why Elon Musk is obsessed with casting X as the most ‘authentic’ social media platform (2023-10-30T12:37:00+05:30)

Michael Serazio, Boston College With X, formerly known as Twitter, hitting the one-year anniversary of Elon Musk’s US$44 billion takeover of the social media platform, it can feel disorienting to try to make sense of all that’s gone down. Blue check-mark verifications got hawked. Internal company documents about content moderation policies got laundered. A puzzling rebrand to “X” got hatched. And a literal cage match with Meta head Mark Zuckerberg was on again and, ultimately, off again. It appears unclear what, precisely, Musk’s ambitions are for the platform. But when a threatening competitor, Threads, emerged in summer 2023, he may have offered a brief window of insight. A clone of X, Threads rolled up 100 million users in less than a week after its June launch, becoming the fastest-growing app of all time. Musk promptly erupted with two attacks on Zuckerberg’s creation. The first was catty and, as such, invited notice within digital spaces programmed to promote outrage. Musk declared, “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram.” The second – “You are free to be your true self here” – was more overlooked, yet revealed an essential premise that social media companies must sell to all their users. As I argue in my new book, “The Authenticity Industries,” authenticity represents the central battle for social media companies. They design their platforms to demonstrate and facilitate genuine self-performance from users. That’s what makes for dependable data, and dependable data – sold to advertisers – is what makes the internet economy hum. Silicon Valley’s commitment to the ideal of authenticity remains ironclad, even as more and more people are starting to recognize that the internet isn’t real life. A life performed: Over the past decade, Instagram – with its glossy, obsessively manicured tableaux – became the aesthetic antithesis against which all other social media platforms measure that authenticity. Instagram tinted life by allowing users to apply sun-kissed, nostalgic filters to their photographs. To scrub clean any blemishes on selfies posted there, add-ons like Facetune enabled magazine-quality Photoshopping and topped paid-app charts. Instagram became your highlight reel: galleries of far-flung travels and mouth-watering food porn exquisitely curated – a life performed as much as lived. “[Instagram’s] basically almost designed to make your friends jealous,” one executive at TikTok confided to me. “It kind of makes me depressed a little bit sometimes when I go on Instagram and I feel, like, ‘Oh, I’m not fit enough. I’m not successful enough.’” Over time, #NoFilter caveats, blurry photo dumps and shameless “finsta” accounts – a portmanteau of “fake” and “Instagram” – arose as forms of authenticity backlash to the “false happiness” of the posed lifestyles appearing on users’ feeds. Heck, even Instagram knew it had a problem, copy-and-pasting Snapchat’s signature ephemerality and launching its disappearing Stories feature to lower the pressure on users to post perfection. If ever a platform, then, has been deserving of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s 2019 quip that “social media, to date, has largely been the domain of real humans being fake,” it’s probably Instagram. Different flavors of the same thing: Recall Musk’s second, more revelatory rejoinder on behalf of X: “You are free to be your true self here.” For two decades, this has been the first commandment of social media promotion – both by platforms and on them. More broadly, all online communication bears the burden of proof in this vein: It must compensate for the absence of face-to-face verifiability, which a 1993 Peter Steiner cartoon for The New Yorker satirized with the caption, “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Research confirms this. One clever study by media scholars Meredith Salisbury and Jefferson Pooley scoured the publicity pablum, CEO platitudes and app store copy from Friendster onward, finding that nearly every site leans on the same rhetorical clichés – like “real life” and “genuine” – as a means of defining itself against the purported phoniness of other sites. But this might well be the narcissism of tiny differences at work, with Threads only the latest instance of social media copycatting. In 2020, Wired incisively tallied how X’s Fleets, a 24-hour posting-expiration feature, was a copy of Instagram’s Stories, which was itself originally ripped off from Snapchat. Snapchat developed Spotlight for short-form video content, comparable to Instagram’s Reels and YouTube’s Shorts, all of which were an attempt to fend off TikTok, itself a reincarnation of Vine. And all of these, including last year’s 56 million-times-downloaded viral sensation, BeReal – where users snap unfiltered, unposed selfies for friends at random times daily – have promised users the opportunity to be their true selves. In as much as Musk has pursued anything in his first year as Chief Twit, that seems to be his ambition: engineering a space with no social guardrails, where any inhibitions of decorum are ignored in favor of speaking, authentically, from the heart. Ambitions don’t match reality: To a certain kind of personality, that’s probably an alluring offer. Indeed, Zuckerberg’s original – and still most enduring – platform triumph, Facebook, depended on designing a website that induced an online performance of a “true” offline self. Those norms were embedded in design choices, as Zuckerberg made plain his disregard for our multistage, two-faced selves in an oft-quoted line, “You have one identity. The days of you having a different image for your work friends or co-workers and for the other people you know are probably coming to an end pretty quickly.” “Single-identity authenticity” was Facebook’s early market strategy, and the nascent website initially required users to register with a college email address. The design choice may well have been critical to Facebook vanquishing its closest early competitors, Friendster and Myspace. “The .edu email system served as this authenticating clearinghouse,” one early Facebook executive explained to me, a phrasing that could as easily be applied to the utility of Instagram accounts today for Threads. “Really, users 0 through 10 million were all verified and authenticated by the .edu email system, [while] Myspace had 57 Jennifer Anistons.” That authenticating clearinghouse would soon vanish as Facebook opened itself up to users not enrolled in college – like, say, the disinformation agents who have meddled in U.S. elections from Russia. A regression to the meanest: All this competition makes for authenticity jockeying: Musk attempted to parry Zuckerberg’s Threads threat with his invitation to convene strangers who will stop being polite and start getting real. But in an ominous echo of Rupert Murdoch’s $500 million write-off of Myspace, Musk’s $44 billion purchase has struggled with those bot-and-blue check mark difficulties of user verification. None of this is to say Threads will eventually triumph over X, even as the crisis in the Middle East – and the misinformation circulating because of it – seems to have initiated another exodus of defectors from X. After all, a month after its launch, Threads had already lost an estimated 80% of its daily active users. Threads’ vibes may have been cheerful and friendly at the outset – disingenuously so, according to Musk – but it may well prove that, eventually, all social media sites regress toward the meanest. Musk would probably call that “authenticity.” On X, you might not be able to trust the veracity of the user or the information they’re spreading. But you can be sure that they don’t feel like they have to bite their tongue and act nice. Social media company names may change. But when identity is the most lucrative commodity they trade in, their fetishization of authenticity won’t. Michael Serazio, Associate Professor of Communication, Boston College This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

India approves game-changing framework against cyber threats (2020-12-17T14:46:00+05:30)

India has introduced its first and biggest framework to protect itself from cyber attacks, data theft and other virtual vulnerabilities threatening its national security. The Union Cabinet has approved the National Security Directive on Telecom Sector in view of the alarming magnitude of cyber threats to India, official sources said. India is amongst the top three countries in the world with highest number of cyber-attacks. In 2019, India faced around 400,000 cyber attacks as monitored by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently told Parliament that till August 2020, Indian citizens, government and business entities faced around seven lakh cyber attacks. As per their estimates, Rs.1.24 lakh crore was lost due to cyber crimes in India during the last year. Recent ransomware attacks as well as data and identity thefts have been a serious cause for concern for India's national security. The cyber attacks are generally perpetrated through interconnected networks and devices. They are also committed through compromised hardware and software components of telecom networks, officials pointed out. The office of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, sources said, noted that with the increasing use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, the risk will continue to increase manifold and the advent of 5G technology will further increase the security concerns resulting from telecom networks. Maintaining the integrity of the supply chain, including electronic components, is also necessary for ensuring security against malware infections. Telecom is also the critical underlying infrastructure for all other sectoral information infrastructure of the country such as power, banking and finance, transport, governance and the strategic sector. Security breaches resulting in compromise of confidentiality and integrity of information or in disruption of the infrastructure can have disastrous consequences. Source: https://southasiamonitor.org/

Facebook doubles down on India's digital growth, helps SMBs (2020-12-17T11:12:00+05:30)

Facebook on Tuesday said that it is committed to helping India quickly recover economically and socially in 2021 from the pandemic-hit year, by deepening support for small businesses and test and roll its new features from the country to the rest of the world. The social networking platform said the 'Nayi Shuruaat' (new beginning) campaign launched during its 'Fuel for India' event is an ode to the resilience of small businesses amid crisis. Facebook said it will continue to work closely with key partners to build a stronger ecosystem for small business growth in the country by investing in skilling programmes such as Boost with Facebook, entering in key partnerships such as with venture capital funds for the VC Brand Incubator program, and by giving people new ways to support small businesses such as the Instagram Food Stickers. "India's building local capabilities and tech capacity to power innovative new business models and provide the citizens access to digital financial inclusion," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg via a virtual address during the event. "So, decisions that are made here shape the global discussion about how technology can drive more economic opportunity and better outcomes for people," he added. In order to support small businesses move online seamlessly, Facebook recently reached out to 9 million small businesses across India with a local SMB Guide available in both Hindi and English. The largest communities for Facebook and WhatsApp are in India and Instagram is getting there. "This makes India a key market to test and roll our new features from here. From the launch of Reels on Instagram, to Watch on Facebook and Payments on WhatsApp, India is playing a crucial role in the way products are being designed for the future," the company stressed. There are 15 million WhatsApp Business app users in India. The social network said it is partnering and investing in India's digital ecosystem as an opportunity to create long-term impact in areas that are relevant for the country. "These include equity investments in Meesho -- focused on social commerce and women entrepreneurship and Unacademy -- focused on education," the company said. "In collaboration with Jio Platforms, we want to further accelerate India's digital transformation and work to open up new opportunities for people and businesses around the country," it added. Source: https://southasiamonitor.org

HDFC organizes awareness webinar on cyber frauds (2020-12-15T20:18:00+05:30)

NOV 23, 2020 JAMMU: The HDFC Bank in association with PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry organized virtual awareness webinar under the aegis of its "Mooh Band Rakho" campaign in J&K. The online conference titled "Fight Against Banking Frauds & Secure Banking" was attended by scores of 350 eminent persons from academia, industry and civil society of J&K. The aim of holding this webinar was to provide better understanding of the latest trends of economic and cyber frauds that have evolved in resent past. Pradeep Multani, Sr Vice President PHDCCI, in his welcome speech, said that we all trust our money with banks, but it is really painful when some fraudsters cheat the banks and our money is lost. Rahul Sahai, Chairman PHDCCI-Jammu, in his inaugural address, said that in order to counter threats and safeguard the public money, especially the elderly people, the banks and the law enforcement agencies need to work together to thwart such elements and for that purpose the extensive awareness programme among the common people is need of an hour. Toshar Dhar - Regional Head, Risk Intelligence & Control - HDFC Bank Ltd gave a detailed presentations and comprehensive details of the frauds and measures that the bank has put in place to avoid the same. He said that HDFC Bank has the reputation of the least loses on such instances. Tahir Ashraf, SSP Incharge Cyber Crime, J&K Police Department, in his address, said that in coming days, the J&K Cyber Police is planning to hold these awareness workshops across the UT. Riyaz Ahmad SHO of Cyber Police Station Kashmir, also spoke and shared his views and experience about the cases being handled by them from last 3years. Amitabh Sharma - Area Manager, Risk Intelligence & Control -HDFC Bank Ltd, gave details of new evolving trends of cyber and technological frauds including Phishing, Vishing, Smishing, Skimming, Over lay Keyboard, Card cloning, SIM Swipe, fake websites, and Online Shopping Scams. Vikrant Kuthiala, former Chairman PHDCCI Jammu, said that a new breed of scamsters is coming up with ingenious ways to circumvent security measures. Rakesh Wazir, Mentor -Jammu and Kuldeep Gupta, Co-Chairman Jammu, also spoke on the occasion. The virtual event concluded with formal vote of thanks by Sanjay Aggarwal, Co-Chairman PHDCCI-Jammu. Whole session was moderated by Mallika Verma, Director PHDCCI. Copyright © Jammu Links News Source - Jammu Links News

The power of social media: It can win or lose a war today (2020-12-01T13:17:00+05:30)

In the summer of 2014, a motley but a brutally violent group of approximately 1500 hardened terrorists/fighters fully armed (even swords) accomplished the impossible in military parlance. They drove away four army divisions and armed police (fully trained and equipped by the US) from Mosul and most parts of Northern Iraq (and later Eastern Syria) and established the caliphate of IS ((ISIL/ISIS or Daesh in Arabic). This act is a classic case of the power of social media winning a war. In fact, a propaganda handbook of the IS states that "Media weapons (can) actually be more potent than atomic bomb". How did this happen? They were not quiet about it but announced it to the world months in advance. This was no secret mission but well-orchestrated choreographed information and psychological campaign with social media being the pivotal tool. Internet and social media novices, boosted by diehard fans and amplified by an army of Twitter bots, WhatsApp and Facebook posts covered their march. They even created a smartphone app, so that jihadi fans following along at home could link their social media accounts in solidarity, boosting the invaders’ messages even further. By using appropriate hashtag #AllEyesOnISIS they ensured that the message went viral and became the top-trending hashtag on Arabic Twitter. They delighted in showcasing their brutality, gruesome torture, and execution of those who dared resist. Their ‘shock and awe’ strategy achieved global coverage: ISIS took on the power of a non-kinetic artillery barrage, its thousands of messages spiraling out in front of the advancing force. It sowed terror, disunion, and defection. Sunni youth copied the brutal acts of IS even before their arrival. Turks, Kurds, Sunni, and Shia neighbours eyed each other with suspicion and the Iraqi army stood guard with fear even before IS arrival and wondered if they should fight or flee.  Slowly the trickle became a flood as both the Iraqi army and police slipped away along with more than half a million civilians. Slowly the ISIS ranks filled with eager volunteers from all over the world as if drawn to a magnet. The IS succeeded in subverting the minds of all commanders and the local population psychologically and used the internet as a weapon to carry out a blitzkrieg. Images and videos moved faster than the truth and mix of religiosity and ultra-violence were horrifying to many; to some, however, it was intoxicating. Military and defence professionals talk of cybersecurity and cyberwar, but, ironically, the IS had no real cyber capabilities but won an improbable victory. IS hadn’t hacked the network; but hacked the information on it. Influencing US presidential elections  The impact of President Donald Trump's impromptu tweets, sending his staff, diplomats and even other national leaders into a tizzy to the bemusement of the world, are further examples. Closer home and recent, outcome of Balakot airstrike, Wuhan Summit (meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping), the fate of refugees from war-torn countries were significantly shaped by social media. After all human minds (especially leaders, military commanders, and local populace) are principal cognitive elements of decision making; social media deals with information and the mind while shaping public opinion. According to Internet World Stats, beginning 2020, out of an estimated world population of 7.796615710 billion, there are 4.5741billion (58.7% of world population) internet users providing an extraordinary growth rate of 1,158 percent from 2000 to 2019. India alone has over 670 million net users (almost 50 percent of population) and 25.1 mn Facebook users. About 65 percent of all mobile phone users will access the Internet from their mobile phones. There are over four billion global mobile internet users currently. E-commerce is valued at $3.6 billion globally and social media impacts it directly. Internet has become a battlefield Contrary to the original vision of pioneers, the internet has become a battlefield and is not purely a harbinger of peace and understanding. It is also addictive, and ironically, in the IOT (internet of things), facts matter the least in the outcome/hits/influence but manipulation of facts using psychological, algorithmic analysis of people’s echo chambers, political and social leanings does.  Facebook, Google, and a few other search engines and social media sites are the arbiters of information and become extremely powerful. While they may state that they simply provide a platform it is not so simplistic. Fake news is the order of the day, and with the advent of artificial intelligence virtually impossible to verify. We live in a 24X7 multipolar (US, China, Russia, EU), multi-domain world, where nations are dynamically cooperating, competing, in confrontation and, if necessary, conflicting with one other in multiple domains, and adopting balancing to retain their strategic space (dynamically forming allied groupings and bilateral relations). The domains cover a vast spectrum ranging from geography, socio-politico-economic, resources, diplomatic, and security/military. Military domain too has enhanced from the traditional land, sea, air to include non-kinetic (cyber, electromagnetic spectrum, psychological, computer networks, information) and technology (nano, AI, robotics, big data, hyper-velocity weapon systems).  It is a world of ‘persistent engagement’ between nations, groups, and even individuals. Security too is seen through the same prism. But the most impactful, potent domain, with the widest spectrum of application is information and psychological where the medium of social media with its ubiquitous, powerful, effective presence forms the pivot of operations.  That is not to say that warfare is less important, but now it becomes the final arbiter, and with the advent of accurate weapons of mass destruction (even non-nuclear), it is preferred to achieve national aims and objectives without waging kinetic and destructive war. As Chinese general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher Sun Tzu says, ‘to subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill”. There has been a seismic change in the character of conflict. Today the warriors are not just soldiers but also bankers, scientists, journalists, hackers, and cyber warriors. As British journalist David Patrikarakos notes, platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook allow individuals to “resonate globally, with power and reach once reserved for large media institutions or governments.”  Social media, according to media experts P W Singer and Emerson T. Brooking, have “become a battlefield where information itself is weaponized.” This makes the psychological dimension of conflict exceptionally complex and fast-changing.  Most armed forces around the globe including the US (which was the first of the block) and India are grappling with how to dominate this domain and reap dividends. It is an essential component of counter-insurgency/terrorist operations and, ironically, the terrorists seem to be winning the round. Social media can also produce destructive and kinetic effects -terrorist recruitment and incidents, lynching, mass protests, coordinated stone-throwing et al. Weaponisation of social media Social media cannot be segmented into a military and civilian sphere in ways that we do traditionally. One cannot declare an exclusive information zone or even a 'war zone' in the information domain. It’s the best space for conducting grey zone operations, like attribution, intentions, and even final impact are very difficult to discern. That makes calculating proportional responses problematic.  Through the weaponization of social media, the internet is changing war and politics, just as war and politics are changing the internet, say Singer and Brooking in their book "Like War: The Weaponisation of Social Media".  India's immediate neighbours, especially China, and its client state Pakistan, are conducting social media war against it. Countering them is a challenge, especially against opaque, digitally isolated China. In the spectrum of ‘no war, no peace’ military capabilities may not be an effective tool to deter a particular adversary’s action, making other instruments of power the primary deterrent, of which social media may well become the deciding constituent. One needs to add here, that there is a striking similarity on the impact of social media in the corporate and civil world. Social media coupled with cyber warfare/interference can be game changers in security and economic domains. Their influence and potency can be gauged by the fact that Gen Keith B. Alexander, who was the Director of National Security Agency (NSA) and US Cyber Command, when questioned during confirmation hearings by senators in the Congressional Committee about information and cyberwar/operations, responded: "If America responded with force in cyberspace, it would be in keeping with the rules of war and the principles of military necessity, discrimination, and proportionality”. The alarming part is that these can be operated and mastered by anybody (nation or even individual), signals ambiguous attributability thus making specific proportionate response difficult. India, like all big powers, needs to counter this threat both institutionally, constantly, and pro-actively. In most nations, decision-making powers for regulating media are fairly centralized, with governments making the final call when it comes to policies and regulations. Politicians naturally show a keen interest in news media regulation owing to the high degree of political ownership in the sector, ensuring that political and electoral logic shapes media regulation. Controlling, policing (even moral), censoring, managing social media is a very touchy issue since maintenance of freedom, thought and speech gets coupled.  A multi-layered, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and diverse India with its geographical span can very easily spin into instability with adversarial information and psychological operations by its enemies, mainly through social media, and needs to be effectively countered. (The writer, a former Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO), Indian Army, is a commentator on strategic security issues. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at perumo9@gmail.com) Source: https://southasiamonitor.org

22 girl changemakers to take over social media handles of corporate, diplomats (2020-10-15T15:43:00+05:30)

22 girl changemakers from across nine Indian states are set to take over the social media handles of leading corporates, diplomatic missions and media houses by leveraging their online presence to highlight the important message of girls having space and opportunity to share their ambitions and solutions to mark the International Day of the Girl (IDG). These girls will be drawing attention to the significance of girls having the right to decide on the matters which concern them, showcase their potential as agents of change and engage in meaningful and contributory dialogues on key social media platforms to further the cause of girls' rights and equality. Since 2016, the year that heralded the first-ever Girls' Takeovers, thousands of girls in India and world-over have taken over positions of power. The girls' takeovers to mark the IDG has included girls taking over important positions like those of Presidents, Ambassadors, CEOs and Chief Editors as part of a larger efforts to strengthen gender equality at all level in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) commitments. Given the new normal created by the social distancing as a key prevention to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the event goes virtual, while ensuring that their voices and solutions continue to be heard. A number of girls have been recognised by the government and media for their immense contributions. Starting at an early age in Plan India's programmes, the girls have progressed through Child Clubs, Adolescent Girls' Groups, thematic working groups, and technical and governance committees, to be part of State and National Youth Advisory Panels and Children's Assemblies among others. The Girl Changemakers were selected from across nine plan intervention states - New Delhi, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Jharkhand. Prominent sports personalities and artists Kamakshi Khanna, Mallik sisters: Tashi & Nungshi, Ria Patiala and Tania Sachdev also joined forces' with Plan India and held interactive sessions with the Girl Changemakers sharing their inspiring and unique stories. Girl Changemaker Prajitha from Andhra Pradesh, is taking over the social media handle of the High Commissioner of Canada, Nadir Patel, in India said: "I am grateful to Plan India for giving us a platform to showcase our capabilities. I am very excited to lead the social media handle of the High Commissioner of Canada to raise awareness on issues that are extremely close to my heart. Just like I have been able to uplift myself, I want all the girls in the world to dream of a better future and work towards achieving it." Globally, Girls Takeovers will take place across 65 countries with hundreds of girls taking charge and sharing the physical and digital platforms of power holders. Mohammed Asif, Executive Director, Plan India, said: "At Plan India, it is our endeavour to further strengthen the rights and well-being for all girls by creating opportunities and interventions that enable girls in India to achieve their full potential. On the occasion of the International Day of the Girls, we appreciate the incredible efforts for girls' rights and gender equality that are being done by the government, civil society actors and in which girls themselves are the leading actors. The Social Media Takeovers and partnerships with the diplomatic missions, corporates and media houses showcases the immense potential of these Girl Changemakers and shares their stories of determination and passion to improve their own lives and that of all girls in India." (IANS), Spource: https://southasiamonitor.org/

OLX, Facebook frauds on rise: Cyber Police (2020-08-06T11:58:00+05:30)

SRINAGAR: The OLX and Facebook frauds are on the rise with the cyber fraudsters are posting fake advertisements about sale of motorcycles, cars and other valuable articles. SP Cyber Police Tahir Ashraf said, "whenever any customer shows interest to buy the item posted by fraudsters, he or she is made to believe that they are working in army or other security agency and due to their transfer to some other place they are selling articles in lower prices". "Hence the fraudsters make innocent and unaware people to transfer the amount into their e-wallets/bank accounts and finally cheat them of their hard earned money", he further said, adding "to prevent cyber frauds and to save general public from these fraudsters, Cyber Police Srinagar is advising general public to follow precautionary measures/ instructions issued from time to time to avoid losing their money, while intending to purchase any article shown in OLX portal or Facebook". He has advised the people to verify the product posted in OLX portal physically before transferring any amount to the seller; do not believe the ID cards sent by these fraudsters on the name of Army personnel as they are always fake and do not believe these fraudster that the amount will be returned once product is delivered. He has further advised the people to ask for the original documents/bills for the products of the article they intend to purchase, prior to paying any amount and don't scan the QR codes sent by the OLX fraudsters for transfer money as those transactions are fraudulent one. Stating that Cyber Police Srinagar is continuously receiving complaints regarding Vishing (OTP Frauds) and OLX/Facebook scams, he said that during last two days Cyber Police Kashmir Zone saved Rs 130000 of the gullible people from the fraudsters and also blocked different fake bank account numbers which were involved in the commission of crime. Copyright © Jammu Links News,  Source: Jammu Links News

NATO includes space as new ‘operational domain’ (2020-08-03T14:14:00+05:30)

Foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) agreed to include space as its new operational domain alongside air, land, sea and cyber, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday. -reports UNB. Following the meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of foreign ministers, Stoltenberg defended the decision by saying that space "can be used aggressively." “Making space an operational domain will help us ensure all aspects are taken into account to ensure the success of our missions,” NATO’s Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, said after the meeting in Brussels. “For instance, this can allow NATO planners to make a request for allies to provide capabilities and services, such as satellite communications and data imagery.” According to current estimates, there are about 2,000 satellites in the Earth’s orbit, half of them owned and operated by NATO members. For a long time, NATO, led by the United States, has been paving its way for Wednesday's decision. In February this year, U.S. President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-4, directing the Pentagon to draft legislation on creating a U.S. Space Force. In August, he unveiled the new Space Command and called space "the next warfighting domain". Russia has repeatedly warned the risks of the space arms race. In September this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that a new arms race might be developing between Russia and the United States -- one that could spread into outer space. In another development, the ministerial meeting was also shadowed by divergences on NATO's future development among its key members. In a recent interview with the Economist, French President Emmanuel Macron called on European allies to "wake up" to the realities of the transatlantic alliance before it's too late. "What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO." Europe stands on "the edge of a precipice" and needs to start thinking of itself strategically as a geopolitical power; otherwise will "no longer be in control of our destiny." Alliance members "should reassess the reality of what NATO is in light of the commitment of the United States," said Macron. Prior to Wednesday's ministerial meeting, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called on NATO members "to strengthen NATO politically -- in a structured process," according to the website of POLITICO's Europe edition. Maas' proposal would establish a group of experts headed by NATO's secretary-general to engage in a political discussion on the alliance's strategic thinking, said POLITICO, calling the move as partly a reaction to Macron' "brain death" comments. Wednesday's ministerial meeting also served as preparation for the NATO summit in London slated for December 3 and 4. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com/

Social media helps hire the right talent (2016-10-06T19:22:00+05:30)

By Ritwik Mukherjee: Interview | Anne Birgitte Kverum, chief HR officer, Uninor: Large companies have started leveraging social media like LinkedIn for knowledge and best practice sharing. In an interview with Ritwik Mukherjee,Kverum explains why and how HR functions of companies are getting increasingly dependent on technology and social networking sites. Excerpts: How do you see the role of social/professional networking platforms like Google Hangouts and LinkedIn in HR functions, particularly in hiring? Social media and related technologies are changing the nature of recruitment in a big way. It plays a significant role in the recruitment process, helps identify potential candidate and saves HR team’s time. There is a wide range of benefits associated with using social media in the recruitment process like saving costs, increasing the pool of applicants reached and in targeting recruitment at specific groups of potential candidates. Organisations can also screen candidates, check their backgrounds and professional connections. It also helps in understanding the candidate’s attitude and how he or she can fit in the organisation’s culture and work environment. We, at Uninor, also leverage social media like LinkedIn for sharing of knowledge and best practices. Many forums on these networks are very informative and allow us to connect with like-minded people n What are the initiatives taken by such professional networking platforms for making employees globally competitive? These professional networking platforms not only highlight an individual’s educational background and professional expertise, but also reflect his intellectual and emotional quotient. The added features like professional groups and pages make it easier for the HR mangers to hire the right talent. Though the traditional methods are still in practice, social platforms are becoming the primary source for employees to become competitive as they give them better understanding of the nuances of an industry and job profile. What are the benefits of using such platforms in human resource management? As the statutory regulations and environments are ever changing, there’s so much to learn and see how other companies react. These forums are helping increase transparency and also young HR managers to learn faster from others’ experiences. What are the complexities in this whole game? As profiles are maintained by individuals, there are chances of misrepresentation of facts, which may cause mis-hiring for a particular role. But methods like reference check and verification can solve such issues to an extent. Source: Article, Image: pixabay.com under Creative Commons CC0.

Ello: what you need to know about the 'anti-Facebook' social network (2015-08-07T00:14:00+05:30)

. Interest in Ello, a social network that tech experts are calling the "anti-Facebook" exploded this week as hundreds of thousands of people requested membership to the new service.  Ello, the invention of toy designer Paul Budnitz, aims to be an "ethical" alternative to social networking services with no advertising, no exploitation of user data and no manipulation of members' news feeds. If its early growth continues, Ello could come to rival existing services. But does a world with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ really need another social network? What is Ello? The clearest statement of what Ello hopes to achieve comes from its own manifesto: "Your social network is owned by advertisers," it says. "Every post you share, every friend you make and every link you follow is tracked, recorded and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads. You are the product that’s bought and sold." It continues: "We believe there is a better way. We believe in audacity. We believe in beauty, simplicity and transparency. We believe that the people who make things and the people who use them should be in partnership. We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce and manipulate — but a place to connect, create and celebrate life. You are not a product." How do you join? The network is invitation only, but prospective users can request an invitation on the Ello website or ask a friend who has already joined to invite them. How many people have signed up? According to BetaBeat, requests to join the site have accelerated swiftly from 4,000 to 27,000 per hour. That's over 600,000 requests per day. How does it work? Once you are a member, you get access to a site that the Daily Mirror describes as a hybrid of Tumblr and Facebook. The main news feed is separated into two separate areas: Friends and Noise. Friends offers a Facebook-like feed of full-sized updates from your favourite people. Noise acts more like Twitter, with updates from organisations and people you know less well in a compressed grid-based layout. If you decide that you are no longer keen on what a friend is posting you can move them across to your Noise feed. Practically this means that you have access to everything that is being posted, rather than being fed a curated selection of information by an algorithm, like on Facebook. Will Ello remain ad-free? If it is true to its word, Ello will protect its users' data and never accept any advertising. Some commentators have suggested that this will be difficult, particularly after the team behind Ello accepted $435,000 in venture capital. As The Guardian's Ruby Murray notes, such investors "tend to want their money back, big and fast". For further concise, balanced comment and analysis on the week's news, try The Week magazine. Subscribe today and get 6 issues completely free. Source: The Week UK, Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org

Enter the data (2014-12-17T14:26:00+05:30)

Jun 23 2014, The speed and the ease with which day to day life is being analysed and used for professional gains is pointing towards big data revolution that companies are in store for By Badal Bordia: Is ‘big data’ really that big? Do I need to consider it for my business? If these questions are popping up in your mind, consider these. We are living in the age of digital trace (or data), which we (and others) can collect, explore and analyse. We can decode the information and find patterns such as human DNA in a few minutes, find cures for many threatening diseases such as cancer. It can also stop terrorist attacks and crime that much more effectively. It is true that businesses have been capturing and analysing data for sometime now. But there are two things that are shifting at the moment and are creating the occurrence of ‘big data’. First is data rate: the speed at which we are generating new data is alarming. And second is our ability to analyse large and complex forms of data has been transformed in recent years. We are generating digital record at every step — emails, social media, phone conversations, browser logs, banking transactions, CCTV, smart devices and sensors. The volume of the data is growing at a frightening rate. The other thing that has changed is that we are now able to analyse more complex types of data such as digital phone records, social sentiments, our web log files, our shopping patterns and banking transactions. We can now analyse this enormous amount of data by breaking the task of processing large data sets down into smaller tasks that are run in parallel using a large cluster of computers. Here are some more examples of big data analytics: n Intelligence agencies of any country can combine data/information from social media, CCTV cameras, phone calls and messages to track down criminals and predict the next criminal activity or terrorist attack. n Political parties can use social media sentiments and analytics to determine where they need to focus more to win the election. n Companies can use sentiment analysis feature of Facebook and Twitter posts to determine and predict marketing campaigns and sales pitches. Music artist can use the web log files to determine the listening preferences and sequences and predict the most popular song/track in that particular area for next live shows and events. n Google driverless car is another project where they are analysing a colossal volume of data from sensors and cameras in real time to stay on the road safely. n The GPS information from our phone can be used to analyse how fast we are moving and can provide real time and live traffic up-dates. n Facebook is using targeted advertising based on your post, status, likes, dislikes and comments. They are analysing each and every information of your profile and activity — what your hobbies are, how old you are, where you live, your relationship status, what you like and dislike, what your interests are, which are your favourite movies. Today, Facebook is extensively using big data analytics in their advertising business. Undoubtedly, big data is a big revolution. But there are still many questions that need to be answered. One such important aspect is data privacy and security. As personal and business data are universally collected and shared across boundaries, inconsistent data protection laws pose increasing threats to individuals and societies. We either have read or come across many incidents of data leakage or theft has resulted from the apathy of retailers, credit card companies, search engine providers and mail or social media companies who collect our private information. The technology or law should somehow strike a balance between privacy risks and big data opportunities. (The writer is a technology consultant at Advaiya). Source: Article, Image: flickr.com