Update: Axis Bank ATM Hackers Operated from Hyderabad

UPDATE: Even as you're reading this, cops from the Oshiwara police station, located in suburban Mumbai claim to have traced the hackers to Hyderabad. Further reports suggest that not only did the hackers manage their entire hack operation from Hyderabad, but were also Nigerian nationals. Their exact location in Hyderabad hasn't been traced yet. Adding to these details, a report in the Mumbai Mirror also states that the usual modus operandi of such a scam would be either placing accomplices at banks and other call centres, or acquire a duplicate security strip, placed at the back of a debit card to get all personal debit card details. In what comes as a shocker to several Mumbaikars who quite routinely withdraw cash from the Axis Bank ATMs dotted across the city, it is being learnt that the security of the ATM systems of the bank have been compromised. According to a report in the Mumbai Mirror, the first set of complaints has been coming from Oshiwara, located in suburban Mumbai. The ATM in question located in Oshiwara incidentally happens to be at a stone’s throw distance from the Oshiwara Police Station. Exercising caution.. Over the month, the report stated that several irate customers began filing complaints after they realized that the money withdrawn by them from the ATM and the money, a much larger amount that got actually debited did not match. Apparently, the repeated complaints did not draw much action from the cops, initially but when one of the cops in the station itself (Asst. Inspector, Sanjay More) got duped, the cyber crime cell was called in.  According to a statement that a spokesperson from the bank provided to Mumbai Mirror, it was revealed that the ATM at Oshiwara wasn’t the lone one affected. Several other Axis Bank ATMs across the city are now being speculated to be among those affected. Although the mode, and any other specific details of the hack haven't come through, what is being spoken about, albeit in hushed tones is the use of an external device that records all details of a customers card on swiping. The bank has, as on August 1, 2011 filed an FIR with the Cyber Crime Cell.  With statistics being as worrying as the loss of over Rs. 8 lakh in less than a month, this news of the security being compromised has again raised the issue of lack of security present. Have you been affected by the hack? Do let us know in the comments section below.

File Your IT Returns Online, Before 31st July, 2011

Those following the news regularly, especially around this time would know that the last date for filing their Income Tax Returns is fast approaching - 31st July, 2011. Being constantly re-iterated by the government as a fundamental duty of every salaried citizen to file his or her income tax returns, this date and the days preceding this one hold much significance. Usually, income tax return filing in India is associated with long queues, excessive documentations – a hassle, in short.

Rush now!

Taking a cue from institutions like banks and travel agencies that carry out their transactions and other activities online, the Government of India began the concept of e-filing some time back. Over the years, the concept has picked up fairly well with the urban masses, owing to the considerable load that it has taken off the shoulders of anxious citizens looking to file their returns. Before proceeding to file one's taxes, all tax dues need to be cleared. Then post successful payment of one’s taxes, an acknowledgment, a lot like a challan issued by a bank can be obtained. This detail of the acknowledgment has to be mentioned during the process of e-filing of returns.

Users can log on to www.incometaxindia.gov.in, and if they’re a new user, they’ll have to register their PAN (Permanent Account Number) number on the site to create their account. Once registered, a link is sent via email to the id provided at the time of the registration. It is only on the clicking of this link that the said account can be activated. With the help of an XML file then generated, from the ITR form, the XML file needs to be uploaded to the website by logging onto it. Once done, an acknowledgement in Form ITR V is generated, which is also automatically sent to the e-mail address provided by the user while filling his form. This form then needs to be printed and signed manually by the user and sent to the Income Tax office in Bangalore for attestation.

Indian Govt Now Wants Skype, Google to Provide Access to Services

Yesterday, even as the average Mumbaikar was on his way home, three explosions ripped through the financial hub. Although its famed resilience came to its rescue, the importance of government security agencies getting access to the services of Google.com and Skype, was reinforced. The request for the same was forwarded a while back; the sequence of events yesterday only strengthening the reason.

Time to share the information to prevent it reaching the wrong people

The information and other details on sites such as Google and Skype are encrypted in nature and hence their interception becomes impossible. Terrorist outfits and other miscreants have been taking advantage of this very situation, and have been smoothly carrying out operations. Readers would remember that the services of popular handset manufacturer, Canada-based Research in Motion’s (RIM) services were under the scanner for the same reasons, a while back. The government on strong insistence managed to get the intercepted communication records from the messenger service of BlackBerry. However, due to the unavailability of any technology to intercept corporate emails, the access to the same has been non-existent. According to a statement lent by Sachin Pilot, MoS for Communications and IT stated that in addition to Google, Skype, BlackBerry, popular services like Facebook, too have been sent notices for the same. According to PCworld.com though, Google is saying that they haven't yet received any offcial request to share data with the government and Skype is yet to comment on the same.

However, these steps for security will come at the cost of the loss of private space for the consumers, who will have all their data open to the government's security officials. It now remains to be seen if Google and Microsoft-owned Skype consent to having their networks intercepted. The success and the efficient use of the same should aid the nation in its war against terrorism.

Smartphone Slider Device Can Detect Early Cataract, Inexpensively

One of the major causes of blindness, which have been worrying the medical experts, worldover, is the clouding of the lens of the eye, better known as Cataract. In response to the growing number of cataract affected, there hasn’t been much of a relief as far as costs go. And not everyone can afford getting a cataract removed. A few enterprising researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have brought forth what they believe to be an inexpensive way of detecting cataract, especially when it is in its early stages. Cataract diagnosis in progress.. The device, essentially a slider eyepiece that can be easily attached onto a smartphone, has been developed by Media Lab Camera Culture group director, Ramesh Raskar. Called the CATRA System, the device enables users to peer through the eyepiece. Users can press a button, almost as soon as they start finding their vision getting cloudy. On the press of a button, the device begins scanning the lens of the eye, basically to generate a map of the same. A prototype of the CATRA System   The CATRA system, as opposed to the slit lamp theory uses the forward scattering technique, using which the patients respond to what they see. The device, in a very systematic manner scans the lens, each section at a time. And, it is during this process, that the user presses the buttons as per the light movements that he can see. It is these feeds from the patient that the device uses to draw up its diagnosis. In the promo video below, it is visible that the CATRA treatment can, in a matter of minutes; reveal details such as the position, size, shape and density of the clouds, thereby helping the preparation of an accurate diagnosis.

Kerala temple a treasure trove

   

Kerala's Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple is guarded in heavy security as a team appointed by the Supreme Court opened chambers which have been locked for centuries. Photo by Lekshmikanth PS

According to unofficial sources, so far, gold and precious stones worth thousands of crores have been unearthed. Photo by Lekshmikanth PS

on Thursday an 18 feet long necklace weighing 10.5 kg was found. On Friday a 536 kg of 18th century gold coins and about 20 kg of the British East India Company’s gold coins were found. Photo by Lekshmikanth PS

With these findings, Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple is now one of the richest temples in the country

Overwhelming Response Causes Google to Close Invites for Google+

Yesterday, Google went public with its ambitious move to launch a social tool of its own, Google+. Just as tidbits of Google’s latest venture started trickling out, every social networking enthusiast out there waited to sample it out. Some were just plain curious to see if this ‘Facebook competitor’ really had it in it to beat the ‘700 million users’ giant.

Got an invite, yet?

Putting it out for ‘limited trial’, entry to Google+, at least till a few hours ago, was in the hands of the first wave of adopters who were given the leeway by Google, themselves to send out invites to others. Google realized it quite later that letting the invites out, and that too, in that manner was a glaring mistake. What followed next can be anyone’s guess. Unable to contain the ‘mad rush’ that followed, Google found it best to snap the invite services. In a blog post, Vic Gundotra, Google Engineer stated, “We've shut down (the) invite mechanism for the night. Insane demand. We need to do this carefully, and in a controlled way. Thank you all for your interest!"

That’s how it remains for now. Have you got the Google+ invite?

Couple from Vancouver riot photo revealed

Video footage has emerged showing what really happened to the infamous 'kissing couple' during last week's Vancouver riots.

The couple, identified as Australian Scott Jones, 29, and Canadian-born Alexandra Thomas, became an instant Web hit after Getty photographer Rich Lam snapped a photo of them caught up in a moment of passion as tensions flared between hockey fans.

However, the affectionate pair, who have been dating for six months, dismissed claims that the kissing in the photograph was staged as they broke their silence on the night’s dramatic events.

The couple had been drinking at a bar downtown when the atmosphere in the streets of Vancouver turned nasty. 

Moments before the iconic snap was taken, Mr Jones was simply trying to calm down his injured girlfriend after they were hit by police as they tried to escape the violent clashes.

In the video clip, riot police can be seen hitting the couple with their shields. After the incident, Miss Thomas appears distressed and lies on the ground as she is comforted by her concerned boyfriend.

Speaking with NBC’s ‘Today’ show, bartender Mr Jones said: “I was just trying to calm her down. It was pretty scary for her, and it seemed like the best thing to do.”

“I would call myself a tourist. It was Game 7, Stanley Cup finals, so something was going to happen whether we won or lost — something big. I just wanted to bear witness to what was going on. I never felt in danger while we were down there until the riot police came along.”

Environmental engineering graduate Alex added: “It happened so fast. I never expected it to turn into that situation so quickly.”

Google leverages its cloud expertise to expand its SMB footprint

With so many active cloud players in the market, Google Cloud has much to offer in the enterprise space. The search engine giant, which garners maximum revenue from web advertising, now tends to push its cloud services to the SMBs.
Unlike on-premises, hosted and "software plus services" technologies, Google's multi-tenant, Internet-scale infrastructure offers faster access to innovation, superior reliability and security, and maximum economies of scale.
Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office brings collaborative multi-person editing to the familiar Microsoft® Office experience. You can share, backup and simultaneously edit Microsoft Word, PowerPoint®, and Excel® documents with coworkers.
With around 100,000 users across India, around 500,000 in the Asia-Pacific region and over two million globally, Google claims to achieve much success in this segment. Prominent clients include the Indian Youth Congress (around 28,000 users), India Infoline (around 17,000 users) and Punj Lloyd (around 24,000 users).
Globally, Google charges its clients around $50 per month, per head (also referred to as a licence). While the price is similar in India, sources say there are many resellers who offer discounts and hence, make the proposition more attractive for enterprises.
SMBs have limited resources and they focus on offerings that help them save costs and boost revenue. Cloud computing is seen as the next big trend in the IT industry, setting to redefine ways, and Asia Pacific has a high potential for growth in the cloud computing market.
According to research firm IDC, the cloud computing industry in the Asian-Pacific region (excluding Japan) is expected to expand by about 40 per cent per year until 2014. However, Japan has become the second-largest IT market in the world, poised to grow to $29.2 billion by 2015.
Though Asian businesses look to cloud as a cost-effective solution, limitations of budget, bandwidth, and local legislation still persists.

Google Street View told to halt filming in India

Police in southern India have halted Google from taking pictures of streets for its popular Street View services until it gets approval from the federal government.
T.Sunil Kumar, a senior police official in the technology hub of Bangalore, told The Associated Press late Tuesday that the Mountain View, California-based company would be allowed to resume filming only after it produced security clearances from the Home Ministry and Ministry of Defense.
India is especially sensitive to detailed photographs and locations of key buildings being made public since the 2008 Mumbai attacks where 10 armed gunmen rampaged through iconic city landmarks including two five-star hotels and a Jewish center killing 166 people.
Google India officials did not immediately comment.
Street View has raised privacy concerns in many countries.