Microsoft releases Computing safety index of India.

The following is the info-graphic released by Microsoft regarding the computing safety index of India.

Internet connection in India among the worst in the world

Akamai technologies Inc a company which manages Internet content delivery system, publishes a quartely report of the state of internet connection. this quarter's report revealed an awful information about the internet connection speed of India. But apart from slow internet connection speed there was one very interesting information to be sought after in India, it was about the voice traffic in the cellular Networks, in this reign India was one of the best countries in the world to have the highest voice traffic in the cellular traffic.


Summary of the report:-

The report reveals that despite 3G rollout in India in 2011, the overall state of internet connections in India continues to be poor with average speed of just 0.9mbps. This puts India at 114th position in the list prepared by Akamai on the basis of average internet speed in quarter 4, 2011.

In India all 3G connections are sold with a promise of an internet connection with a speed of at least several mbps. But it seems the reality is different. And with the growth in wired internet connections lagging behind, the average internet speed in the country remains poor.

In comparison, China is 86th on the list with the average speed of 1.5mbps. Brazil has an average speed of 1.8mbps. For Asia-Pacific, Akamai said "India remained the only surveyed country within the region that has an average connection speed below 1mbps".

The report says that South Korea has world's best internet infrastructure with average speed of over 17mbps.

For India, the Akamai report reveals the speed has gone up by 13% in the last one year. But at the same time, the country has just 8.4% internet connections with speed of over 2mbps. In comparison, over 20% internet connections in china offer actual speed of over 2mbps.

The number of internet connections that have less than 256kbps speed is even more alarming. Akamai report states that nearly 27% connections in India have less than 256kbps speed. Only four other countries in the world - Libya, Nigeria, Nepal and Iran - fare worse than India on this parameter.

Incidentally, many internet service providers (ISPs) in India continue to define a connection with a minimum speed of 256kbps as broadband connection. The number is abysmally low and web activists and users argue that at a time when services like YouTube are part of life on the web, the minimum speed should be improved.

After consulting with various ISPs, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had raised the minimum internet speed to 512kbps from January 1, 2011. But ISPs in India continue to sell connections with a minimum speed of 256kbps as broadband internet. Also most of the ISPs sell the broadband plans where only a limited amount of data can be downloaded at higher speed. Once the limit is reached, which in many cases is as low as 3GB per month, the speed is reduced to 256kbps.

In its report Akamai also listed 100 cities with fastest internet connections in the world. None of the Indian cities are on the list.

Copy of the report issued by Akamai:-http://bit.ly/R2EXGH

Domino's India website attacked, 37k accounts revealed!

The website of domino's India website link(click here) was hacked by a Turkish group called TurkishAjan.The message posted by the group can be seen here.

Screenshot of domino's India website

The website is operational and a user can place an order.The hacker's got access to over 37,000 accounts on the website has revealed the account information in plain text.

The Indian cyber security has been once again into limelight by this incident.The information includes names, contact numbers, email addresses, residential addresses and passwords in plain text.The attack was carried out by using popular SQL injection method and remote file inclusion. SQL injection attacks take advantage of the lack of filtering of user-input text, allowing attackers to trick the website’s database into revealing information through SQL commands supplied from input areas. Remote file inclusion is a type of attack that allows hackers to upload malicious scripts to be executed at the web server; again, improper input field validation makes a site vulnerable.

The logo of TurkishAjan hacker group.

Earlier this year famous hacker group Anonymous attacked Indian websites.

India ranks 14th in global PC security: study conducted by Mcafee

A study conducted by Mcafee software solution's reveal some interesting facts.

A study conducted by security software maker McAfee suggests Indians are more aware about basic PC protection than the Americans, Chinese and even Japanese! The study reveals the percentage of PCs equipped with basic security software in India is higher than in countries such as China and Singapore, despite the fact the country has a low penetration of computers.

According to the McAfee survey, Finland has the highest number of PCs with a basic security software solution, 90.3 percent, followed by Italy (86.2 percent) and Germany (85.55 percent). India ranks 14th with 82.67 percent, while neighbouring country China is at 17th position with 82 percent. Japan and super power the U.S. at the 19th spot (80.65 percent) and Singapore at 22nd position (78.25 percent). The global average is around 83 percent.

India ranked 14th on the list with 82.67%, while China ranked 17th (82%), followed by Japan and US at the 19th spot (80.65%) and Singapore at 22nd position (78.25%). The global average stood at 83%. According to estimates, India had a total installed base of over 60 million PCs at the end of 2011. "Its gratifying to see that the majority of consumers have gotten the message that at the very least they need to have basic security protection installed," McAfee Co-President Todd Gebhart said.

Basic security protection includes anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall technologies. The study covers 24 countries and is based on data from voluntary scans of an average of 27-28 million PCs. The study estimates India had a total installed base of more than 60 million PCs by the end of 2011.

"Its gratifying to see that the majority of consumers have gotten the message that at the very least they need to have basic security protection installed," says McAfee Co-President Todd Gebhart. "Protecting digital devices against cybercrime from malware not only benefits each of us personally, but also serves to discourage illicit activity and preserve the integrity of the Internet.”

Spain (16.3%) topped the list of countries where the PCs scanned did not have a security solution in place, followed by Japan (13.2%) and China (12.9%). About 10.9% of the PCs scanned in India did not have a security solution, placing India at the 8th spot. The study suggests often people do not understand that once the trial subscription expires (which came pre-installed with the PC), they are no longer protected. Some consumers may disable their security protection on purpose, for example to play online games, while some PC users believe they do not need protection if they simply adhere to safe surfing best practices.

The study also points out that cyber-attacks against technology firms, banks, government agencies were increasing and have so far led to the loss of millions of dollars.

MCAfee says 17 percent of the total PCs scanned either had no anti-virus or the software was installed but disabled. The study says several users disable security purposely for various reasons, such as for playing online games,  or in some cases, users believe protection is not required if they are browsing safe sites.

"Security software is consumers' first and, in many cases, only defence against cybercrime," the study concludes.

<digit mag.>