WannaCry 'ransomware' virus, a vulnerability stolen from the NSA: Microsoft

WannaCry - "ransomware" has locked up more than 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries

Officials across the globe scrambled over the weekend to catch the culprits behind a massive ransomware worm that disrupted operations at car factories, hospitals, shops and schools, while Microsoft on Sunday pinned blame on the US government for not disclosing more software vulnerabilities.

Cyber security experts said the spread of the worm dubbed WannaCry - "ransomware" that locked up more than 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries - had slowed but that the respite might only be brief amid fears new versions of the worm will strike.

In a blog post on Sunday, Microsoft President Brad Smith appeared to tacitly acknowledge what researchers had already widely concluded: The ransomware attack leveraged a hacking tool, built by the US National Security Agency, that leaked online in April.

"This is an emerging pattern in 2017," Smith wrote. "We have seen vulnerabilities stored by the CIA show up on WikiLeaks, and now this vulnerability stolen from the NSA has affected customers around the world."

He also poured fuel on a long-running debate over how government intelligence services should balance their desire to keep software flaws secret - in order to conduct espionage and cyber warfare - against sharing those flaws with technology companies to better secure the internet.

"This attack provides yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem," Smith wrote. He added that governments around the world should "treat this attack as a wake-up call" and "consider the damage to civilians that comes from hoarding these vulnerabilities and the use of these exploits." Read more

More job cuts in India? Cognizant to expand local hiring in US

Firm to prune domestic costs through initiatives such as voluntary separation

Cognizant Technology Solutions plans to sharply increase local hiring in the US this year with increased demand for co-innovation and on-site presence from clients. The Nasdaq-listed technology services major said it would look at talent across local community colleges to big management universities to man different projects in the US.

Last month, when the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services opened the window for applications, Cognizant applied for "less than half" H1B visas compared with last year.

"We are evolving our workforce and delivery in the United States. Cognizant hired 4,000 US citizens in 2016, and in 2017 and beyond, we expect to significantly ramp up our US based workforce by hiring experienced professionals in the open market and by making more use of university programmes. We are shifting our workforce largely in response to clients' increasing need for co-innovation. But we still seek visas for highly-specialised and skilled talent...We expect to further reduce our need for these visas going forward. As part of our shift, we continue to expand our US delivery centres," Rajeev Mehta, President, Cognizant told analysts on Friday.

At the same time, the company has taken up initiatives such as the voluntary separation package, which was announced last week, for senior employees to optimise costs.

"We are looking for opportunities to further optimise cost structures...We just launched earlier this week a voluntary separation package that programme will go till the end of Q2 and we will see the benefit of that in Q3," said Karen McLoughlin, chief financial officer, Cognizant. Read more

Wipro Q4 consolidated net rises marginally to Rs 2,267 cr

Board approves bonus issue in the ratio of 1:1; standalone net rises 20% on sequential basis

Wipro, India's third largest software exporter said fourth quarter profits grew 0.4% to Rs 2,267 crore on revenues of Rs 13,987.5 crore, a jump of 2.6%

The Bengaluru-based IT services firm said IT services revenue grew 2.7% over the previous quarter to $1.96 billion. For the fourth quarter, Wipro had projected growth between $1.9 billion-$1.94 billion or 1-2%.

Wipro has forecast its IT services revenue in the first quarter of the fiscal 2018 to be in the range of $1.92 billion to $1.96 billion.

Read more : TCS, Infosys got only 8.8% of total H-1B visas: Nasscom's rebuttal to US

“We delivered revenues within the guidance range in our fourth quarter,” said Abidali Z Neemuchwala, Chief Executive Officer of Wipro. “We are confident that the recovery in Energy & Utilities and our demonstrated strength in Digital will help us improve our growth trajectory during the course of the current financial year.”

Wipro's larger rivals Infosys and TCS too faced business and currency challenges in the quarter.

The company board approved bonus issue in the ratio of 1:1.

Standalone net profit jumped 20% to Rs 2,303 crore sequentially as compared to Rs 1,918 crore in December quarter. (more)

TCS announces share buyback; Infosys and Wipro may follow

Investors eye a piece of the large cash kitty as growth slows

Barely a week after the US-based software services player Cognizant Technology Solutions, which has several delivery centres in India, announced plans to return $3.4 billion to its shareholders through buyback of shares and dividends, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), too, said its board would be meeting on Monday to consider a buyback plan.

In a statement to stock exchanges on Thursday, TCS said, “We would like to inform you that the board of directors will consider a proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company at its meeting to be held on February 20, 2017.” If approved, this will be TCS’ first buyback since its listing in 2004.

The Street took the news positively, as stocks of domestic information technology (IT) majors - TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies - were up 1.4-3 per cent on Thursday.

When asked about the company’s capital allocation plans, Rishad Premji, whole-time director and chief strategy officer, Wipro, said, “We did a buyback last year worth Rs 2,500 crore. We have a stated dividend payout ratio policy, which is 40-45 per cent, which we have maintained. We have said that on an annual basis, we actively discuss this within the company and evaluate what makes sense with the cash that the company generates. We are open to evaluating options like buyback, special dividends. It makes sense for the organisation, as we move forward.”

Buybacks are seen as the preferred route over dividends, as they are more tax-efficient. Besides dividend distribution tax at an effective rate of over 20 per cent, dividend income in the hands of all residents, except domestic companies, trusts or funds, also attracts an additional dividend tax of 10 per cent on dividend income over Rs 10 lakh a year. Read more

Has the US Presidential election cast a shadow on Black Friday 2016?

As US President-elect Donald Trump gears up to take office from the 44th and current President of the United States, pundits are having a field day trying to estimate the impact that will likely have on the US citizens. Among the immediate concerns is the impact the election result will have on the holiday spending, especially Black Friday on November 25, 2016.

While some are ambivalent about it, most media reports have indicated that Black Friday might not see as spectacular spending as expected. According to a news article, this year, Veterans Day - the first peak of several peak spending days during the holiday season – failed to kick off holiday spending. It was reported that the sales were $380 million lower than expected, at $1.16 billion. Quoting Adobe Digital Insights, the report indicated that the sales registered a measly 1% growth over a year earlier, against the predicted growth of 16%.

Another report quoting data from Adobe says that between November 1 and November 14, retailers have lost over $800 million in revenue from online sales. The sharpest drop occurred after the election, with total sales growth slowing to only 1.3%, against Adobe's prediction for growth of 7.8%.

What’s Black Friday?

The day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, Black Friday marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Since 1932, on the fourth Thursday of November, most major retailers in the US open very early – as early as overnight hours - and offer promotional sales.

Touted as the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005, the term Black Friday was coined in 1961. It represented the point in the year when retailers begin to turn a profit, thus going from being "in the red" to being "in the black".

But Black Friday as the kickoff to the holiday spending season has not been a real trend in retail for many years now. Many retailers have now spread out their promotions over full months of November and December, rather than concentrate them on a single shopping day or weekend.

Trumping over Black Friday. Read more.

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

Donald Trump vows to immediately deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants

Donald Trump vows to immediately deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants

In line with his hardline immigration stance, President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to immediately deport up to three million undocumented immigrants, saying "we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate".

"What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate," Trump told CBS News.

"But we're getting them out of our country, they're here illegally," the 70-year-old business tycoon-turned politician said in an excerpt released ahead of broadcast of the interview.

During the election campaign, Trump had warned that those countries which do not accept these illegal immigrants, he would enforce the legal provision of stopping of issuing of visas to people of those countries.

There are an estimated 11 million documented immigrants in the country. Several hundred thousand are believed to be Indian-Americans.

The President-elect said he would take a call on the fate of the rest of the illegal immigrants, after the border is secured.

"After the border is secure and after everything gets normalised, we're going to make a determination on the people that they're talking about who are terrific people, they're terrific people but we are gonna make a determination at that," Trump said. Read more

Final US Presidential Debate: As it happened

Final US Presidential Debate: As it happened

08:11 AM

Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump do not shake hands after final debate

08:07 AM

I'm reaching out to all Americans...because we need everybody to make our country what it should be: Hillary Clinton

08:06 AM

We are going to make America strong again, we are going to make America great again. We can't wait for four more years: Trump

08:03 AM

Hillary Clinton accuses Trump of being 'most dangerous' White House candidate in modern history

  

08:03 AM

Will repeal ObamaCare. It is a bad healthcare and it has to go: Trump

08:01 AM

I am going to create tremendous jobs. The GDP will grow from 1% to 4% . I am going to create a country that we were: Trump

08:01 AM

He has been criticising our government for decades. In 1997 he brought out an advertisement that said we were laughing stock of the world: Hillary Clinton. Read 

07:52 AM

Hillary Clinton should have never been allowed to run for presidency: Donald Trump referring to email row

07:51 AM

We will go after Baghdadi like we went after Bin Laden when you (Trump) were doing celebrity apprentice: Hillary Clinton

07:50 AM

Hillary: Once again Donald is denying he supported invasion of Iraq. Trump says : Wrong. Hillary says Google it. Trump: Wrong

07:50 AM

We had Mosul. But when she left, she took everybody out, we lost Mosul: Trump

07:49 AM

Onslaught on Mosul is only happening because Clinton is running for president: Trump

Want to debate 'very badly' with Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump

Want to debate 'very badly' with Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he wants to "debate very badly" with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton but will first see terms and conditions of the three presidential debates scheduled for September and October.

"I will absolutely do three debates. I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions," Trump told TheTime magazine.

Debate is considered the most significant part of the US presidential elections, which very often decides the fate of a candidate.

The three presidential debates scheduled this time are September 26 (Hempstead, New York), October 9 (St Louis) and October 19 in Las Vegas.

The one vice-presidential debate is scheduled for October 4 in Farmville, Virginia.

The non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which conducts the debate, had last September announced the dates, venue and terms and conditions for the debate. The format of each 90-minute debate has already been set.

Trump said that he had haggled with television networks over the terms of debates held during the GOP primary and might do so again.(more)

Bill's pitch: Hillary is the "best darn change-maker"

Bill's pitch: Hillary is the "best darn change-maker"

Making a strong case for his wife Hillary's presidency bid, charismatic former US presidentBill Clinton on Wednesday narrated his personal story with "a girl" he met in 1971 to emphasise that she is "uniquely qualified" for the top job and the "best change-maker" he has ever known.

"Hillary will make us stronger together. You know it because she spent a lifetime doing it," Bill said in his address to the Democratic National Convention here, hours after the party nominated his wife Hillary as its presidential candidate for the November elections.

"She is still the best darn change-maker I have ever known," the 69-year-old former president said in a mesmerising speech, asking his countrymen to vote and elect Hillary as the next US president.

Scripting history, the 68-year-old former secretary of state on Wednesday became the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major US party as she secured the backing of the Democrats to set up an epic clash with Republican rival Donald Trump in the November polls.

Bill, who was the 42nd president of the US from 1993 to 2000, said, "Hillary is uniquely qualified to seize the opportunities and reduce the risks we face. And she is still the best darn change-maker I have ever known. You could drop her into any trouble spot, pick one, come back in a month and somehow, some way she will have made it better. That is just who she is".Read more.

China accuses US of ignoring facts over India's NSG bid

China accuses US of ignoring facts over India's NSG bid

China accused the US of ignoring facts over India not getting entry into the NSG and claimed that the plenary meeting of the elite grouping in Seoul did not discuss the accession of any specific country.

China's assertion came in response to the remarks by US Under Secretary for Political AffairsTom Shannon that India failed to get entry into Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) due to China-led opposition.

Shannon had said one country can break consensus in the 48-nation atomic trading bloc and insisted that such member should be held accountable.

"With regard to the US officials comments on the NSG we want to point out that this official shows no regard to facts," Chinese Foreign Ministry official Hong Lei told a media briefing.

"In the plenary meeting in Seoul India' accession was not on the agenda of the meeting. It did not discuss the accession of any specific country into the group," Hong said.

"The news release of the plenary meeting said meeting discussed the technical, legal and political questions concerning the accession of relevant countries," he said.

On Shannon's comment that China's motives in the South China Sea (SCS) was intended towards Indian Ocean, Hong said "we are strongly dissatisfied with that" remark. Read more.