The Black Friday Heist: Financial phishing increases during holiday season

The number of financial phishing attacks is expected to rise during the Holiday season which starts unofficially on so-called Black Friday and continues through Cyber Monday and Christmas.

Retrospective research by Kaspersky Lab specialists shows that, over the last few years, the holiday period was marked by an increase in phishing and other types of attacks, which suggests that the pattern will be repeated this year.

A peak season for sales is obviously also a peak hunting season for criminals: retailers offer lots of hard-to-resist deals and people plan on spending money on gifts for themselves, their friends and relatives. So, while e-commerce customers are making wishes for the upcoming sales, the retailers themselves are preparing their stores for a massive rise in the number of visitors, and financial infrastructure owners - banks and payment systems - are getting ready for a huge increase in the number and value of transactions; cybercriminals are preparing too.

At least, that was the case in previous years.

As Kaspersky Lab threat statistics shows, in 2014 and 2015 the proportion of phishing pages that hunt financial data (credit cards details) detected by the company during Q4 (which covers the holiday period) was around 9 percentage points higher than the average for the year. In particular, the result for financial phishing in all of 2014 was 28.73%, while the result for Q4 was 38.49%. In 2015, 34.33% of all phishing attacks was financial phishing, while in Q4, that type of phishing was responsible for 43.38% of all attacks.

Holidays influence the type of financial targets that criminals are after. Both in 2014 and 2015 Kaspersky Lab researchers witnessed a significant (several percentage points) increase in phishing attacks against payment systems and online stores. Attacks against banks also grew, but at a lower rate.Read more

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Kashmir violence: India tears into Pakistan's ulterior motive at UN

Tearing into Pakistan's ulterior motive to cash in on the protest-related deaths in the Kashmir Valley by racking up the issue at the UN platform, India has dubbed it as "an attempt to misuse the UN platform by a country that covets the territory of others and uses terrorism as state policy towards that misguided end".

Gym instructor arrested for stabbing live-in partner

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All you need to know about NATGRID and its new CEO Ashok Patnaik

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PMO stamp in Cabinet rejig

PMO stamp in Cabinet rejig

Among many political, administrative and ideological messages in the changes in the council of ministers that Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out, the most important was the unambiguous stamp of his office.

The sweep of influence of the Prime Minister’s Office in Tuesday’s rejig was rarely witnessed in the past three decades.

In expanding this influence of the central government, the PM was assisted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah.

The changes in the Cabinet worked at several levels.

They were definitely done with an eye on electoral compulsions — Dalits and Other Backward Classes found increased representation. New ministers were inducted from states that are either electorally crucial for the BJP (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat) or are going to polls in the near future (Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh).

Also, alliance building was kept in mind. Allies like Republican Party of India (A)’s Ramdas Athawale and Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel were made ministers.

There was an effort for more efficient political management, not only to reach out to Opposition parties but other stakeholders, like the media, as well as assuage different camps within the BJP.

A straight-talking M Venkaiah Naidu was made in charge of the information and broadcasting ministry, while Arun Jaitley, seen as a liberal voice in the Sangh Parivar and the party, was divested of that portfolio. Read more.

LG G5: Banking on lights, camera and innovation

LG G5: Banking on lights, camera and innovation

Let's get this straight. LG's latest flagship, the G5 isn't exactly Project Ara. But it is possibly the world's first modular flagship phone. I hadn't received any modules (a release from LG says they would have a camera module, an audio module and a 360° camera module) till the time of going to print, but I was curious about how it performed as a phone.

The metallic G5 is a marked change from its plastic and leather predecessor, the G4. While it feels nice in the hand, I felt its peers have a more premium feel. The G5 sports a unibody design and the phone's "chin" detaches to reveal a removable battery and take in modules; this part doesn't feel flush with the rest of the body. Every time you swap a module, the battery would need to be removed and in turn lead to several reboots. Also, the groove running round the edge felt a bit uncomfortable in sweaty hands.

That said, the power button-cum-fingerprint scanner on the back is extremely intuitive. Gently place your finger on it and the phone unlocks. A caveat: Wet fingers won't work.

Read more.

Two years of Narendra Modi's foreign policy: more misses than hits

Two years of Narendra Modi's foreign policy: more misses than hits

In year one of his tenure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised all who had doubted his ability to negotiate the esoteric world of international diplomacy. Modi came across as a conjurer with a bag of tricks, the likes of which were seldom seen from his predecessors, making even his worst critics reassess their opinion of the former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak. But, foreign policy reverses in year two have given his political rivals an opportunity to point not at the conjurer’s magic trick but his sleight of hand.

In the past two years, Modi’s visits across the world, including the surprise one to Pakistan, have garnered much social and mainstream media coverage. He has also successfully reached out to the substantial Indian diaspora, particularly the wealthier sections living in Europe and North America. There is, however, little to show in terms of brass-tacks — whether geopolitically or investment-wise. But, the PM has continued undeterred to beguile with his foreign policy initiatives, the element of surprise being the leitmotif of his foreign policy.

His inviting South Asian leaders to his swearing-in ceremony, his subsequent visits to the neighbouring countries, the rapturous reception he received from the Indian diaspora in the US and other countries, the surprise invite to US President Barack Obama to be the chief guest at the Republic Day and the audacious visit to Pakistan in end-December — all were delivered with the finesse of a master at work. Modi, as he completed two years, has continued to surprise — this time with his West Asia outreach. His visits to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in August, Saudi Arabia in April and to Iran in May, and his forthcoming visit to Qatar have again left foreign policy wonks intrigued. Year three of Modi’s tenure is likely to see some more surprises — a historic first visit by an Indian PM to Israel is in the works as is a multi-nation visit to the African continent, including to such countries with significant presence of the Indian diaspora such as South Africa and Kenya.Read more.

Assam: How BJP learnt from past mistakes and Rahul Gandhi let it slip

Assam: How BJP learnt from past mistakes and Rahul Gandhi let it slip

In Assam, the Congress might blame its defeat on a 15-year anti-incumbency. However, it was worsted as much by the effective strategy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the nonchalance of its Vice President Rahul Gandhi in retaining talent.

A more audacious leader could have tried harder to keep Himanta Biswa Sarma and his group of rebel legislators in the party. After he quit the Congress last year, Sarma bitterly spoke about how Rahul Gandhi would show more interest in petting his dog than focus on the discussion at hand when Sarma met him over several meetings in 2014-15.

In contrast, the BJP leadership had an eye on the Assam Assembly polls ever since it won seven of the 14 seats and 37 per cent vote share in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. BJP chief Amit Shah underlined the importance of the victory on Thursday. He said it was a huge achievement for the party as Assam is a border state, hinting at the over 30 per cent minority population in the state. “A BJP government in Assam is as surprising for some people as our government in Jammu and Kashmir,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.Read more.

With eye on UP polls, PM Modi to launch 2nd anniversary celebrations

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The PM will also visit his Lok Sabha constituency in Varanasi as part of the fortnight-long two-year anniversary celebrations. The BJP considers western UP its stronghold and the focus of the PM’s speech will be to highlight his government’s schemes for farmers, especially sugarcane growers, of the region.

There is also the possibility of increasing UP’s representation in the council of ministers. The party, in an effort to consolidate its Jat support base in western UP, has asked Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh to merge his party with the BJP. Singh, at least until now, is insistent that the two parties have a seat-sharing arrangement for the UP Assembly polls. Read more.

Chhattisgarh HC bats for IPL matches

The Chhattisgarh High Court (HC) has rejected pleas challenging the hosting of Indian Premier League (IPL)cricket matches in the state on the ground that it was reeling under serious drought.

The court has, however, put the condition that the event organisers, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Chhattisgarh State Cricket Association (CSCA), should arrange water for the matches including free drinking water to spectators. Neither the state government nor its agency would provide water for the event.

A five-member committee has been constituted to ensure that the court's order is implemented.Read more.