Cyberwars

Quad nations to continue 'Quad Cyber Challenge' for good cyber ecosystem

India, the US, Australia and Japan have announced the continuation of 'Quad Cyber Challenge' with an aim to strengthen responsible cyber ecosystems, promote public resources, and raise cybersecurity awareness. The theme of this year's challenge is promoting cybersecurity education and building a strong workforce, the Quad countries said in a joint statement. In February 2023, the United States, together with its Quad partners Australia, India, and Japan, launched the 'Quad Cyber Challenge' to promote responsible cyber habits across their nations, regions, and beyond. In October with the objective of securing India's cyberspace, the National Cyber Security Coordinator of India will deliver a message on Cyber Swachhta Abhiyaan India's Cyber Hygiene Campaign to the student community highlighting the importance of cyber security as part of outreach during Cyber Security Awareness Month, the joint statement said. Eminent cyber security experts will undertake awareness workshops for ...

Russia-linked cybercampaigns target France, focus on Olympics and elections

Photos of blood-red hands on a Holocaust memorial. Caskets at the Eiffel Tower. A fake French military recruitment drive calling for soldiers in Ukraine, and major French news sites improbably registered in an obscure Pacific territory, population 15,000. All are part of disinformation campaigns orchestrated out of Russia and targeting France, according to French officials and cybersecurity experts in Europe and the United States. France's legislative elections and the Paris Olympics sent them into overdrive. More than a dozen reports issued in the past year point to an intensifying effort from Russia to undermine France, particularly the upcoming Games, and President Emmanuel Macron, who is one of Ukraine's most vocal supporters in Europe. The Russian campaigns sowing anti-French disinformation began online early last summer but first became tangible in October 2023 when more than 1,000 bots linked to Russia relayed photos of graffitied Stars of David in Paris and its suburbs. A .

Pakistani hackers may have hit 3 major Indian defence firms. Find out which

A recent report by Canadian cybersecurity firm BlackBerry claims that India's government and defence and aerospace sectors were targeted by a suspected Pakistan-based hacking group

Internet outage hits several countries in Africa as undersea cables fail

A dozen countries across Africa suffered a major internet outage on Thursday as multiple undersea telecommunication cables reported failures, network operators and internet watch groups said. The MTN Group, one of Africa's largest network providers, said the ongoing disruptions were a result of failures in multiple major undersea cables. Our operations are actively working to reroute traffic through alternative network paths, the South African company said in a statement. Network disruptions caused by cable damage have occurred in Africa in recent years. However, today's disruption points to something larger (and) this is amongst the most severe, said Isik Mater, director of research at NetBlocks, a group that documents internet disruptions around the world. NetBlocks said data transmission and measurement shows a major disruption to international transits, likely at or near the subsea network cable landing points. The cause of the failure was not immediately clear. There were fea

Blocked over 74 mn local threat incidents in India last year: Kaspersky

Global cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kaspersky on Tuesday said 34 per cent of users in India were targeted by local threats in 2023, and that its products detected and blocked 74.3 million local incidents. These statistics represent the malicious programmes found directly on users' computers or removable media connected to them (flash drives, camera memory cards, phones, external hard drives) or that initially made their way onto the computer in non-open form (that is, programmes in complex installers or encrypted files). According to the latest report of Kaspersky, 34 per cent of users in India were targeted by local threats in the year 2023. "Kaspersky products detected and blocked 74,385,324 local incidents on the computers of Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) participants in India placing the country in 80th position worldwide," it said. India's cybersecurity market reached USD 6.06 billion in 2023. "However, according to the IDC, the alarming increase in sophistica

Over Rs 10,300 cr siphoned off by cybercriminals since April 2021: I4C

Over Rs 10,300 crore were siphoned off from the country by cybercriminals since April 1, 2021, of which agencies managed to successfully block around Rs 1,127 crore in the country, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) said Wednesday. In a media interaction, I4C CEO Rajesh Kumar said that more than 5,000 complaints of cyber crime are being reported on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) of which 40-50 per cent are based on frauds committed by gangs operating from China and "pockets of Cambodia and Myanmar". He said he did not mean "nation-State" are running the scams but "gangs" operating from these countries are behind the cyber crimes. "We have pockets of Cambodia and Myanmar. We are seeing Chinese apps. Who is denying?" Kumar said in response to a question. He said aggrieved persons can approach 1930 call centre to register their complaints and banks can block the money if call is made within and hour of the fraud. Around 263 banks and financial institutions ..

S'pore committed to foster world where dialogue a path to resolve conflicts

Singapore is deeply committed to fostering a world where the rule of law is upheld and where dialogue and negotiation are the chosen pathways to resolving conflicts and disputes, the country's President Tharman Shanmugaratnam has said. The prosperous city-state also supports stronger international cooperation to prevent crises from occurring, and to be prepared in advance for any shocks to the system when they do occur, the president on Saturday told 460 newly minted officers of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). In a speech at the officer cadet commissioning parade, the president noted that the foundations of the international order were under strain, just when the need for global cooperation and the rule of law was greatest. "On its part, Singapore continues to be deeply committed to fostering a world where the rule of law is upheld, and where dialogue and negotiation are the chosen pathways to resolving conflicts and disputes," he said. However, this ability to engage with other

Elon Musk's cybertruck is already a production nightmare for Tesla

Last month, on the same earnings call where Musk referred to Tesla digging its own grave, he warned that the Cybertruck "has a lot of bells and whistles"

Hacktivists 'targeted' over 1,000 India sites during I-day celebrations

Hacktivism, the practice of cyber-attack carried out to support a social cause, has often become a disguise for state-sponsored cyberattacks

91% of Indian organisations experienced ransomware attacks in 2023: Report

100% of Indian organisations expect to suffer an identity-related compromise in 2023. 61% anticipate AI-enabled attacks. 80% expect layoffs and workforce churn to create new cybersecurity issues

Ransomware attacks in India increased by 53% in 2022, reports CERT-In

Last year, a massive ransomware attack disrupted the systems at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), crippling its centralised records and other hospital services

China aims to form international standard organizations for cyber dominance

Beijing has considerably improved its ability to secure approval for its initiatives and to reject those that it does not support using a variety of strategies

TMS Ep125: Overseas flights, cyber-attacks, Chemical stocks, oligarchy

Will restart of overseas flights revive the aviation sector? Is India prepared for cyber wars? Why chemical stocks are facing crude shock? How's democracy different from oligarchy? All answers here

Protecting power assets

Kudankulam should serve as a wake-up call

Cyberwars

Just as physical borders are a symbol of sovereignty, so are the growing borders in cyberspace