by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Opinions, Technology
By Faisal Kawoosa,
The recent screaming headlines about data security and privacy in the wake of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal have started making even the “illiterates” of the digital world aware about their personal data and the ramifications of the data being leaked or improperly shared.
People have slowly begun realising how their data is being used for purposes that are surreptitious in nature and how, most of the time, they are not even aware of it being collected in a “digital underworld”.
From India’s perspective, data security and privacy are increasingly becoming paramount — with more and more people going digital amid the rapid adoption of data services in the lower strata of society, where overall data sensitivity could be very low.
By the end of 2017, India had 83 million 4G subscribers in its rural geographies. The trends indicate that the data penetration is going wide and deep, meaning people from all strata of society are going online and there is a higher probability of data risks and frauds.
So-called digital literates and experts are surprised by the facts that reveal how and what kind of data is or could be collected by the apps that people use on a daily basis. To prove the case, let’s evaluate the top five grossing apps in India (as of March 31) as per App Annie, an app market data and insights company headquartered in the US.
On March 31, Vigo Video (formerly Hypstar), WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, UC Browser and Ludo King game were the top 5 apps on the Android platform in India. Android runs on 96 per cent of smartphones in the country. (Athough, the Top 5 trending keeps changing and may not reflect the actual Top 5 most-used apps; but such apps are widely used by a huge number of smartphone users.)
While conducting an audit of the kinds of permissions these apps should be seeking to perform the functions that they are here for, and the actual permissions they seek, some alarming facts have emerged.
For instance, under the “Device and App” history permission group of Google Play, Vigo Video and UC Browser, they can read sensitive data log. This means popular apps like these can effectively scan everything in your smartphone.
Similarly, under the “Identity Permission” group, Vigo Video, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger can read, add or remove accounts on your device.
Likewise, Facebook Messenger and Vigo Video can download files without notification as it seeks permission under other permissions groups of Google Play. UC Browser seeks full licence to interact across users in this category of permissions.
Even for advanced app developers, it is difficult to decipher why these permissions are required — and even if they are able to establish a reason, they cannot guarantee that the permission is not abused.
For instance, permission to download files without notification by Facebook Messenger and Vigo Video could be used to install stickers and other such things seamlessly on one’s device for better user experience and friendliness. But the only things stopping them from dropping a hidden software development kit (SDK) on a smartphone are ethics and trust — both at an all-time low these days.
Google must act like a “Digitally Socially Responsible” platform that forces developers who publish apps in its Play Store to provide a full description of the permissions they seek — and what exactly the apps require the permissions for.
This ambiguity of “may” or “may not” definitely gives them legal comfort, but users cannot be experts to decipher to what extent the app may infringe on their data.
There is also a need for third-party independent app audits that could evaluate them and certify whether these are only doing what they are supposed to do.
In this digital age and time, data is bound to rest with the app makers and other value-chain players. As long as they are transparent in seeking only the requisite permissions and, at the same time, clarifying to what extent a permission group is used, they are real friends and enhance productivity of the users.
As of now, it appears that only Ludo King among the Top 5 apps is a fair one that seeks a few network and accessing storage permissions, besides preventing the device from sleeping.
There is no solution unless the entire ecosystem becomes more transparent. One may think of removing all the suspicious apps from the system but, how to decide what is suspicious and what is not is a real herculean task.
(Faisal Kawoosa is Head-New Initiatives at CyberMedia Research. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at releases@cmrindia.com )
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Large Enterprise, Markets, Networking, Online Marketing, Technology
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
New Delhi : Faster adoption of Microsoft Office 365 and made for India ‘Kaizala’ app are helping several Indian enterprises — from banking to healthcare — unlock their true potential and transform digitally, India-born Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said here on Tuesday.
Addressing the India Today Conclave in the capital, Nadella said that in the world full of immense possibilities with disrupting technologies changing the business models, Microsoft has helped the State Bank of India (SBI) take a giant leap to Cloud and modernise its workplace.
“We are thrilled to partner with SBI on their digital transformation as they harness the Intelligent Cloud and build new digital capability to empower their employees; engage customers in new ways and transform their products and services, while maintaining security, trust and compliance with industry regulations,” Nadella said.
The SBI has chosen Office 365, the cloud-powered productivity solution, from Microsoft to improve communication and collaboration among its workforce.
This is one of the largest deployments of Office 365 in India, spanning SBI’s countrywide network of 23,423 branches, enabling 263,000 employees and servicing more than 500 million customer accounts.
“In the mobile-first and mobile-only country like India, the ‘Kaizala’ app is transforming Indian firms, from retail to healthcare, how they connect with customers and partners efficiently,” the Microsoft executive noted.
Microsoft ‘Kaizala’ has seen significant adoption among firms such as YES Bank, Apollo Telemedicine, United Phosphorous Limited and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, who are currently piloting the solution for their internal teams.
The Andhra Pradesh government is also using ‘Kaizala’ for real time governance.
Using ‘Kaizala’, firms can connect with their employees and the extended value chain.
The product offers a simple and familiar chat interface and goes beyond to make everyone more productive using Surveys, Polls, Jobs, Meetings and other actions, right in your chats.
“In this era of Intelligent Edge and Intelligent Cloud – and not to forget Artificial Intelligence (AI) that will drive this era — we need to make a great sense of humongous data that is around us to build right digital capabilities,” Nadella told the audience.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Investing, Large Enterprise, Markets, Technology
By Krishna SinhaChaudhury,
Mumbai : A year after the historic merger of Dell Technologies and EMC, the company has empowered several Indian enterprises transform their information technology (IT) infrastructure, a top executive said here on Friday.
Dell EMC has emerged as a holistic solutions provider and holds the second spot in the India mainstream server market (by revenue), with a share of 26.5 per cent.
“According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), in Q1 2017, Dell EMC was No 1 in the India storage market with 43.4 per cent market share (by revenue) and holds second position in the India mainstream server market (by revenue),” Rajesh Janey, President and Managing Director, Enterprise Dell EMC, told reporters here.
With a share of 22.5 per cent, the company has now climbed to the second spot in the personal computer (PC) market in the country.
“As new digital business models emerge, there is an increased focus on reinventing business to thrive in the digital age. Organisations are now investing in innovation with emerging technologies and the first step towards this innovation is modernisation,” Janey said on the sidelines of the ‘Dell EMC Forum 2017’ event here.
“We are strongly positioned to guide customers on their digital transformation journey from edge to core to cloud. We are celebrating Dell EMC’s first-year anniversary and we would continue with our strategy to deliver results for our customers, partners, companies and team members,” Janey added.
On R&D, the company said that the India team is contributing 60 per cent to overall server systems management software, with the grounds up engineering of 14th generation servers touching three key tenets of scalability, intelligent automation and integrated security.
Earlier in July, the company had launched the 14th Generation PowerEdge Servers globally.
“We are well placed to enable businesses in their digital transformation journey across three key pillars of IT, security and workforce transformation,” said Alok Ohrie, President and Managing Director, India Commercial, Dell EMC.
“We are uniquely positioned to address numerous technology touch points to modernise their IT infrastructure, from end point devices to data centre and Cloud with a strong focus on security,” he added.
The company currently has nine offices in the country in Mumbai, Pune, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
The company annually invests around $4.5 billion for research and development. Dell-EMC employs nearly 140,000 people in 180 countries. It has a combined revenue of $74 billion.
(Krishna SinhaChaudhury can be contacted at krishna.s@ians.in)
—IANS
