ethical hacker Anand Prakash has the key to avoid the next Data Breach

Following Uber, Zomato data breach, ethical hacker Anand Prakash has the key to avoid the next

Dec 06, 2017, 12.51 PM IST https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/features/following-uber-zomato-data-breach-ethical-hacker-anand-prakash-has-the-key-to-avoid-the-next-hackerhive-appsecure/articleshow/61941715.cms

 

From having no customers during the first three months post launch to spreading a network worldwide, Prakash is keeping an eye out for investors to fund his startup. But he is in no hurry.

Company name: Hackerhive (AppSecure)
Founder name(s): Anand Prakash & Rohit Raj
City it is based out of: Bangalore
Headcount/Strength of the team: 7
Industry: Cyber Security
Investors & Amount raised: None, thus far

There may not be any evidence to suggest that Indians have a relatively lackadaisical attitude towards online privacy than their Western counterparts, but one knows enough to draw a common conclusion.

Yet, irrespective of the level of concern shown, leaks and hacks have been reported from both domestic as well as international tech companies. While Zomato's case ranked high in the list of data breaches globally this year, top US credit agency Equifax and ride-hailing company Uber has also been accorded a central place in the lineup.

Would a more robust cyber security network have prevented the year's biggest hacks?

"While most of these companies hire a full-time team to spot security flaws, slip ups happen all the time, leading to sensitive data falling into the hands of cyber criminals," says (ethical) hacker Anand Prakash, who founded Hackerhive this year. "In addition to being invasive, solving these data breaches can be time-consuming and ridiculously expensive," he adds.

While working as a security engineer for Flipkart, Prakash used to participate in bug bounty programs hosted by tech behemoths like Google, Facebook, Twitter, PayPal and Yahoo, among others. By inviting third-party hackers and external researchers to identify stealth viruses within an application, these companies are clamping down attempts of cyber attacks - before they actually happen.

This is a practise that is commonplace among global tech giants, but oddly missing back home despite the push for Digital IndiaBSE -3.60 %, which seeks to improve online connectivity - correspondingly increasing the risk of such attacks.

Digital drive

Incorporated in May 2016 as cyber security startup AppSecure, it was rebranded to Hackerhive after Prakash collaborated with (co-founder) Rohit Raj to launch a dedicated bug bounty platform for the company. This works as an aggregator that connects companies and ethical hackers to help the former discover and fix security vulnerabilities.

"Although both Rohit and I have a lot of experience running bug bounty programs for other companies on their invitation, it was still a challenge to report security loopholes in other firms without alarming them," says Prakash. "We then decided to launch a platform which legitimizes this practise without intimidating potential clients," he adds.

How does the platform work?

A group of hackers - screened, vetted and deployed by the founders - look for loopholes in a company's product and shares it with them. In return, they are incentivized for each bug reported. Although the compensation value varies depending on the type of bug discovered and the size of the company involved, it will not be a stretch to say that the exercise is as satisfying as it is lucrative.

"This collaboration between our hackers and the company's internal security team can help thwart critical vulnerabilities before the criminals get to exploit them," says Prakash. "It is prudent to take the extra help to plug security loopholes and who better than hackers to do that job for them?" he adds.


Big to small

All of 24, Prakash has crossed an enviable list of milestones for an entrepreneur his age. In addition to being featured among Forbes 30 under 30 Asia

grouping this year, he has also consistently been among the top hackers - worldwide - for Facebook, Twitter and Uber since 2014.




Anand Prakash ranked 3rd, 4th and 3rd on Facebook hackers worldwide list in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively

Prakash has also responsibly reported vulnerabilities for other top companies, including Dropbox, Adobe, eBay, Nokia, Blackberry and SoundCloud, to name a few. Selected as part of Nasscom's 10,000 startups program, the company wants to make an impact on Indian companies too by creating awareness among them about cyber security.

"US firms respond immediately to any report of security bugs, but Indian companies typically get into flight mode," feels Prakash.




Prakash is at number 3 on Twitter hackers worldwide list

"Our main aim is not to run big bounty programs, but to create awareness around cyber security in India," says Prakash. "My experience across companies has helped me build a strong network of hackers, but the real challenge has been to convince companies about the importance of protecting their data. In fact, many did not even have security engineers to handle such cases. This is beginning to change with the emergence of tech-based startups," he adds.

In fact, Prakash has collaborated with a string of new-age companies including Zoomcar, Oyo, FreshMenu and Jugnoo. AppSecure is also Swiggy's third party company for its Security Bug Bounty Program.




Prakash is third on Uber hackers worldwide list for 2017

According to him, Indian companies are beginning to understand the impact data breaches can have on its businesses. Furthermore, they are opening up to external cyber security professionals to test the strength of their safety structures, instead of simply relying on automated analysis.

"Most of the analysis in bug bounty hunting is done manually by hackers and that makes a world of difference in this ecosystem," says Prakash.

"This is because the likelihood of discovering bugs is quite slim when done through automated tools," he adds.

From having no customers during the first three months post launch to spreading a network worldwide, Prakash is keeping an eye out for investors to fund his startup. But he is in no hurry.

"I want to first focus on the quality of work that we do," he says. "This includes spreading awareness about the importance of cyber security in India," he adds.

Data transfer 10 times faster than 5G at 105 gigabits per second

New technology to make data transfer 10 times faster than 5G-The terahertz transmitter.

The new transmitter can achieve communication speed of 105 gigabits per second.Researchers from Japan have developed a terahertz (THz) transmitter capable of transmitting digital data at a rate 10 times or more faster than that offered by the fifth-generation mobile networks (5G). It is expected to appear in 2020.

The terahertz transmitter could make it possible for the whole content on a DVD (digital versatile disk) to be transferred in a fraction of a second, according to the research scheduled to be presented at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2017 being held from February 5-9 in San Francisco, California.

The terahertz band is a new and vast frequency resource expected to be used for future ultra high-speed wireless communications.

"Terahertz could offer ultra high-speed links to satellites as well, which can only be wireless. That could, in turn, significantly boost in-flight network connection speeds, for example. Other possible applications include fast download from contents servers to mobile devices and ultrafast wireless links between base stations," said one of the researchers Minoru Fujishima, Professor at Hiroshima University in Japan.

The research group has developed a transmitter that achieves a communication speed of 105 gigabits per second using the frequency range from 290 GHz to 315 GHz.

This range of frequencies are currently unallocated but fall within the frequency range from 275 GHz to 450 GHz, whose usage is to be discussed at the World Radio Communication Conference (WRC) 2019 under the International Telecommunication Union Radio Communication Section (ITU-R).

Last year, the group demonstrated that the speed of a wireless link in the 300-GHz band could be greatly enhanced by using quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

This year, they showed six times higher per-channel data rate, exceeding 100 gigabits per second for the first time as an integrated-circuit-based transmitter.

"This year, we developed a transmitter with 10 times higher transmission power than the previous version. This made the per-channel data rate above 100 Gbit/s at 300 GHz possible," Fujishima said.

"We usually talk about wireless data rates in megabits per second or gigabits per second. But we are now approaching terabits per second using a plain simple single communication channel," Fujishima added.

The research group from Hiroshima University, Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, and Panasonic Corporation plans to further develop 300-GHz ultrahigh-speed wireless circuits.

13 Easy Steps to Root MI Max Without PC & Install TWRP !

13 Easy Steps to Root MI Max Without PC & Install TWRP !

Arnab Mohapatra 14/08/2016 http://www.rootdroid.net/root-mi-max-install-twrp-recovery/#comment-170

Hi, friends today I am going to share how to root mi max without PC & Install TWRP Recovery in MI MAX. Xiaomi launched the Mi max last month along with the Miui 8, brand new android os from MI. The phablet runs on Android Marshmallow out of the box. Though it’s a new device, Recently Xiaomi Mi Max MIUI 8 phablet gets official TWRP 3.0.2.0 Recovery. You can download TWRP recovery and quickly flash using ADB & Fastboot drivers. With TWRP recovery, users can install/ flash Custom ROMs like Cyanogen mod on Mi Max quickly in your Brand New MI MAX. Without wasting time, let me write the tutorial on how to Root Xiaomi Mi Max MIUI 8 and install TWRP recovery.




If you are a Mi Max user, then you can Root your Xiaomi Mi Max without PC & Install TWRP Recovery On Xiaomi Mi Max. The Recovery we provide is the official version of TWRP for Xiaomi Mi Max. We have the step by step guide to Root mi max and Install TWRP Recovery on Mi Max without PC. Before you proceed, please read the Prerequisites carefully before you Root and Install TWRP Recovery on Xiaomi Mi Max.

Prerequisites Before Root Xiaomi Mi MAX
Rooting Your MI max is not against your Xiaomi’s warranty policy which implies that warranty of your phone will not Void.
 
We will recommend you to keep patience while root Xiamoi MI Max & not to do anything without having proper knowledge
We recommend you to backup all your Data before proceeding to root Xiaomi MI max.
Make sure the device is connected to the Internet.
Make sure to charge your handset at least 80% so it won’t get died while we are going to root Xiaomi Redmi 3.
Files wanted to Root and Install TWRP Recovery on Mi Max-

Download & install ADB and fast boot driver.
You need to Unlock your Phone’s Bootloader. Read the to unlock the bootloader of Xiaomi Mi Max.
At first download TWRP Recovery for Mi Max.

[thrive_link color=’dark’ link=’https://dl.twrp.me/hydrogen/’ target=’_blank’ size=’medium’ align=’aligncenter’]Download TWRP[/thrive_link]
 
Now download SuperSu to root Xiaomi Mi Max.

[thrive_link color=’dark’ link=’https://download.chainfire.eu/897/SuperSU/BETA-SuperSU-v2.67-20160121175247.zip’ target=’_blank’ size=’medium’ align=’aligncenter’]Download SuperSU[/thrive_link]
Related-

Download Latest Freedom Apk

Root Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
Procedure to root MI Max without PC

1) First things first enable Developer Options, go to About phone and tap the Build Number 7 times. Then turn on ‘USB debugging’ and ‘OEM Unlocking ’option in setting>developer option.

2) Then Download TWRP for Mi Max from the link given above and place it in the folder where you have installed ADB and rename it to ‘recovery.img’.

3) Now in the ADB folder and by pressing and hold the ‘shift’ key and right-clicked anywhere in that folder open the command window.



4)In the next step, you need to boot the device into fast boot mode. To do so turn off the device and press Power + Volume Down together. You are in Fastboot mode now. Now connect your phone to PC.
5) to check the connection between you PC & phone enter the command below. If it shows your device, the serial number means your device properly connected. If it the command didn’t respond anything then check your driver status.
[code]fastboot devices[/code]



6)Now you need to type another new command & make sure you typed the command correctly in command prompt and then press enter. It will start flashing twrp recovery on your MI Max


[code]fastboot flash recovery recovery.img[/code]



7) Once the above process is done, Now you successfully install the custom recovery on Xiaomi Mi Max.

8) Now you need to go to recovery mode to root your MI MAX. You can do this simply by typing command in command prompt or by pressing “volume up + power button.”

[code]fastboot boot recovery.img[/code]



7) With above command, your phone should boot into TWRP recovery mode.

8) It will ask you to choose preferred language. So, select your preferred Language and set it according to your preference. Make sure to tap “Never show this screen on boot again”. So that it will not ask you same again, and Swipe allows modification.

9) Now you will be in TWRP recovery mode. In TWRP recovery navigate to Install Zip and choose ‘SuperSu.zip’ to root Mi Max.



10)Swipe twice to confirm the flash. Once it is completed, reboot into mi MAX into normal mode. Usually, the first reboot takes some time(Up to 10-15 min) to start the phone. So, Don’t be panic & wait till the device boots normally.

11)Congratulations! Your Xiaomi Mi Max has been successfully rooted on MIUI 8 Marshmallow.

12) Now you can check root access by the app called “Root Checker” from Play Store.

That’s It, So this was our guide on how to Root and Install TWRP Recovery on Xiaomi Mi Max. If you have any questions, then drop a comment below.We will be happy to help you!
Summary

Reviewer
Arnab Ranjan Mohapatra
Review Date
2016-08-14
Reviewed Item
Root MI Max Without PC & Install TWRP Recovery
Author Rating

Brian May pays tribute to Freddie Mercury's mother Jer Bulsara after she dies aged 94

The mother of the late iconic rock star has sadly died aged 94 on 13th Nov 2016

ByLaura Withers, http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/freddie-mercury-mother-dead-tributes--9289452

Brian May and Jer Bulsara (Photo: Facebook)

Jer Bulsara, the mother of former Queen frontman Freddie Mercury , died last Sunday "peacefully in her sleep", according to Brian May. 

 

Since the tragic news broke, Freddie's former bandmate and close family friend, Brian May has taken to social media to share his condolences.
Describing Jer as a "warm and devoted Mum" Brain, 69, compared Jen's likeness to Freddie - who died in 1991 after contracting bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS - saying both always had a "twinkle" in their eye.

Freddie Mercury's mother Jer Bulsara passed away aged 94 (Photo: John Furlong)

"Freddie’s Mum, Jer Bulsara, passed away a few days ago [13/11/16], very quietly and peacefully in her sleep. She was 94. It’s the wish of the family that the funeral and subsequent arrangements remain private," Brian wrote on his Facebook page.

"Jer was a warm and devoted Mum to Freddie, and, like Freddie, always had a strong twinkle in the eye. Although she was also devoted to her husband Bomi, and lived in the Zoroastrian faith as a good Parsee, she had an independent spirit and a strong sense of humour.

"Of course I knew her for over 50 years, and when I first used to go around to Freddie’s parents’ house in Feltham, only a few yards from where I lived, in our student days, Jer was a busy Mum, full of life and optimism.

Freddie Mercury and his Mother, Jer Bulsara

"And even then, fiercely proud of her children, Freddie and Kashmira," the former Queen lead guitarist recollected.

Reminiscing about one particular Queen gig years ago, where Jer was in the audience, Brian revealed Freddie acted up on purpose. He wrote: “I remember one night before a show in London (Wembley Arena, I think) when Freddie announced .. 'Mother’s in the audience tonight. Better throw in a few extra ‘f—ks !'
"There was never any sign that she was shocked."

Brian also insisted that after Freddie passed away, Jer remained "close" to him and her son's fellow bandmates, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon.

Freddie Mercury's Mother, Jer Bulsara sadly passed away last Sunday

Signing off his touching note, Brian said: "In private moments with us, away from the glare of the spotlights, in latter years Jer was always ready with a cup of tea when we visited, and we were always able to speak about ‘My Freddie’ without shyness, feeling that he was not far away."

Oppo, OnePlus and Vivo from same parent BBK Electronics

Oppo, OnePlus and Vivo: With one parent, each has finally found their niche
 
Ever since Xiaomi stepped onto Indian soil, customers have found a sweet spot for the Chinese brands that followed. Their price tags were spot on, the same can be said about the internal hardware and while there were a few snags about quality construction and service, for now, things seem to be ironed out.

While Xiaomi and Gionee sit alone, Oppo, OnePlus and Vivo have a lot more in common that most consumers would expect. They all belong to one parent company called BBK Electronics. And it is interesting to note how each brand has tested the waters and settled into different smartphone segments competing with one another, or at least it is what it seems to the general public and the consumer.

Together, they are taking over the worldwide market. A recent report by market research firm Counterpoint Research hints that the Chinese have made a dent when it comes to growth. Just have a look at the chart below, and you will get the picture.
While Apple and Samsung have dropped, Vivo and Oppo have moved up and by huge margins.

So it does paint a worrying picture for both local manufacturers in India and the international brands like Samsung as well.
The Oppo F1 Plus

Oppo was BBK’s first smartphone brand. The subsidiary to BBK entered India back in 2014 and has so far been witnessing plenty of growth and has also grown into a popular brand. While it did not see success with its Find 7 flagship, Oppo soon discovered its niche in the mid-range. The Oppo F1 Plus is pretty much of star in its segment, when it launched, it packed in some really interesting bits that nobody had on offer, SuperVOOC charging, the quickest fingerprint reader around and that 16MP front-facing camera, the star of the show. In short, after multiple attempts at launching overpriced quality products, Oppo settled for the mid-range as its sweet spot.
The Vivo V5

Vivo entered the Indian market exactly a year later. But with Oppo already holding the fort for the mid-range, BBK needed Vivo to go in for the budget to mid range. Vivo entered the market with massive marketing campaigns and did a similar sort of experimentation like Oppo. Vivo brought with it the X5 Max and it was priced a bit too high for a Chinese smartphone, the same conundrum faced by Oppo, a Chinese smartphone that was priced too high. Soon enough Vivo found its sweet spot and now has settled for the budget range with the recently launched Vivo V5, edging closer to the Oppo F1 Plus but maintaining its distance knowing its place in the ecosystem.
The OnePlus 3

Ever wondered why Oppo and Vivo never went ahead with more flagship smartphones in India? Hint, There’s OnePlus for that. OnePlus entered the market and launched its brand with a clear objective in mind, to take down every flagship smartphone in the market. While its initial offerings were more to do with cult following, OnePlus has grown out of its rebellious “flagship killer” days and so has its flagship smartphone. OnePlus 3 has been getting raving reviews and with today’s offering, the OnePlus 3T, it even beats Google’s latest, the Pixel. It is Daydream capable and it’s priced a lot lower, forcing manufacturers like Samsung to deliver more with its flagships with every new release.

The brand was founded in 2013 and coming from Oppo the dream team knew what they wanted. It was obvious that BBK’s other brands had to follow suit for the Indian market and find other segments (which they eventually did).

But when the climb to the top is fast, there are problems. As with most Chinese smartphones, there are always set accusations about data sharing to Chinese servers. Then there are patent lawsuits, and recent one by Dolby picks on both Oppo and Vivo, (see the connection)?

The reception by Indian fans with these brands is great as well. OnePlus for example has more Facebook fans on its India page than it does on its worldwide page. Oppo here is BBK’s biggest brand with strong presence in audio and video electronics, Vivo stands second in line with OnePlus having the least sales, which comes with its flagship appeal. So the next time you sit down to choose between the three, remember that all three are different and are priced that way for a particular reason.

Windows 10 Free Upgrade Is Still Available With This Little Trick

Windows 10 Free Upgrade Is Still Available With This Little Trick Shekhar Thakran , 1 August 2016

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news/windows-10-free-upgrade-is-still-available-with-this-little-trick-867837?pfrom=home-trending



HIGHLIGHTS
Anyone can get the upgrade file from Microsoft's website
The company has not specified any time limit for this extension
The company will start rolling out Anniversary update from Tuesday


Microsoft had given a fair share of chances to anyone who wants to upgrade for free to its latest operating system, Windows 10, before the July 29 deadline. However, the company now has further extended the free upgrade deadline for those users who use assistive technologies. Although this offer is meant for specific set of users, it can be availed by anyone as of now.

The free upgrade to Windows 10 offer for general public ended last week, on July 29. But if you are a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 user, you can now download a simple setup file from Microsoft's website(approximately 6MB in size) and on its installation the upgrade will initiate by itself. As there is no definite way to access whether a user utilises 'assistive capabilities' on Microsoft's earlier versions of Windows, anyone can use the upgrade offer as of now.

Speaking to The Verge, Microsoft acknowledged the Windows 10 upgrade extension, and said that there is no end date for now - the company will make an announcement ahead of the end of the extension.


The Redmond-based company started rolling out Windows 10 on July 29 last year, and made it available as a free upgrade for devices running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. The operating system currently runs on laptops, PCs, tablets, and Xbox One consoles.

With Windows 10, the company has been aggressive in pushing out the upgrade and up to such an extent that it even had to reportedly pay a woman $10,000 (roughly Rs. 6,70,000) as compensation for force installing the Windows 10 update on her PC without her permission, which made her lose some important files.

Microsoft will start rolling out its Anniversary update from Tuesday. The update, announced back in March, will improve the use of stylus with Windows Ink and includes other notable enhancements for its browser Edge. It will also bring certain improvements to Hello and Cortana.

Drone-making is now a child's play

Children as young as 10 are part of drone making workshops, even in smaller townsDevina Sengupta&Megha Mandavia  |  ET Bureau  |  Jul 06, 2016, 08.45 AM IST

 

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Darsh Parekh spent last Sunday learning how to assemble a drone at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He painted it grey, downloaded an app and was all set for his maiden flight as a drone pilot.

Parekh was one of about 25 people at the campus that day for a session by Drona Aviation, a startup that was hatched in the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), an incubator at IIT Bombay.
The company has been running classes for the last five months and thus far more than 600 people have taken part.

Like Parekh, who's 14, a lot of them are in school and have a bent toward things mechanical. Parekh, for instance, likes to build traffic circuits and remote-controlled cars. But the fascination for flying objects cuts across all ages and disciplines.

"There is excitement in flying and we have many a layman who knows nothing about mechanical engineering or robotics wanting to build a drone," said Apurva Godbole, CEO of Drona Aviation. "The idea is to build with one's own hands and in the process, if it crashes, you know how to fix it as well."

Amateur drone pilots must necessarily curb their enthusiasm and restrict themselves to flying the machines indoors or far away from public spaces or even for aerial photography , the last having become derigueur at weddings in India. The sale of drones for commercial purposes is not allowed in India, unless approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, owing to concerns about safety and security.

A day-long session run by Drona costs Rs 1,500 and includes a kit that can be assembled. To make it fly , you'll need to plug in Drona's motherboard and get training on how to use the controller app. For another Rs 5,000, you get to keep your new drone, otherwise you take home just the kit.

Several schools have got Drona to run classes, including the American School of Bombay and Euro Airoli in Mumbai and Navrachana International School in Vadodara. Drona has sold about 200 functional drones, Godbole said.

Avi Agarwal, 14, was another of the budding drone pilots at the Powai campus on Sunday. He'd actually got an aerial vehicle as a gift two years ago but the device disappeared during one of its flights.

He's into remote-controlled cars and has been a regular at robotics classes in school. For the last two years he'd been searching for just something like this -someone who could teach him to build a drone and also fix it after a crash.

Such classes aren't restricted to the metros. Zepto Learning Centre in Vadodara conducts classes in app development and robotics for students from classes six to 10.

It held a drone-making workshop this summer and saw a full house with 35-40 children. At the premier engineering colleges such as the IITs, students from the aerospace and electrical engineering are increasingly keen on drones.

http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/technology/drone-making-is-now-a-childs-play/53072568