Pak hackers plan attack on Indian cyber networks
New Delhi, Jan 06: After the Mumbai terror strikes, anti-India elements in Pakistan are now planning an attack on Indian computer networks, intelligence agencies have warned.
Already Pakistani hackers are trying out a dry run against Indian networks through popular websites registered there after the Mumbai terror strikes, Home Ministry sources said here on Tuesday.
"Every time the relations between the two countries dampen, Pakistanis start attacking Indian computer networks and this has increased after the Mumbai terror attacks," a Home Ministry source said.
Pakistani hackers have created websites such as the www.songs.pk, which are infested with software to hack data from the targeted computers, it said.
"The website www.songs.pk has over 12 lakh Indian users who are downloading stuff from these websites daily," said a cyber expert in the Ministry.
With these websites being highly popular, it will take only a few minutes for the hackers to take command of over 12 lakh computers in few minutes and the number of such computers can multiply in every minute, sources said.
"Instead of the existing less harmful virus, new ones such as Botnet and Zoombie can be easily released into the Indian computers, which later on replicate and make the entire server vulnerable," the expert said.
"Now a days new virus and worms are detected while downloading songs from these websites, which could be just a dry run to manage a bigger attack," he said.
Government websites have been highly vulnerable to hacking and they have been intruded many times by the Pakistani hackers.
"Most of the time, these cases are not reported as the server is based in Pakistan and we cannot do anything in this regard," the expert said.
The anti-virus software, too, cannot work in such situation as the virus used in such cyber wars are usually new and the anti-virus software cannot identity and detect it, he said.
"If anti-virus software cannot identify the signature of the virus coming through Internet, it will not detect it and as a result the virus will be downloaded in the computer in spite of such software available in the network," the expert added.
Bureau Report Pak hackers plan attack on Indian cyber networks
New Delhi, Jan 06: After the Mumbai terror strikes, anti-India elements in Pakistan are now planning an attack on Indian computer networks, intelligence agencies have warned.
Already Pakistani hackers are trying out a dry run against Indian networks through popular websites registered there after the Mumbai terror strikes, Home Ministry sources said here on Tuesday.
"Every time the relations between the two countries dampen, Pakistanis start attacking Indian computer networks and this has increased after the Mumbai terror attacks," a Home Ministry source said.
Pakistani hackers have created websites such as the www.songs.pk, which are infested with software to hack data from the targeted computers, it said.
"The website www.songs.pk has over 12 lakh Indian users who are downloading stuff from these websites daily," said a cyber expert in the Ministry.
With these websites being highly popular, it will take only a few minutes for the hackers to take command of over 12 lakh computers in few minutes and the number of such computers can multiply in every minute, sources said.
"Instead of the existing less harmful virus, new ones such as Botnet and Zoombie can be easily released into the Indian computers, which later on replicate and make the entire server vulnerable," the expert said.
"Now a days new virus and worms are detected while downloading songs from these websites, which could be just a dry run to manage a bigger attack," he said.
Government websites have been highly vulnerable to hacking and they have been intruded many times by the Pakistani hackers.
"Most of the time, these cases are not reported as the server is based in Pakistan and we cannot do anything in this regard," the expert said.
The anti-virus software, too, cannot work in such situation as the virus used in such cyber wars are usually new and the anti-virus software cannot identity and detect it, he said.
"If anti-virus software cannot identify the signature of the virus coming through Internet, it will not detect it and as a result the virus will be downloaded in the computer in spite of such software available in the network," the expert added.
Bureau Report
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
lesson from SATYAM fiasco..........
The recent debate around the proposal by Satyam Computer Services Ltd to acquire a stake in a company related to its promoters has called into question the role of independent directors on the board.
Shareholders, who rely on the presence of such directors to provide the balance against transgressions of governance must now be wondering whether there are other Satyam-like instances, which pass unnoticed.
Satyams’ independent directors included former Cabinet secretary T.R. Prasad, entrepreneur Vinod Dham, and Harvard professor Krishna Palepu and Indian School of Business dean M. Rammohan Rao, the last two, I have had the opportunity to be taught by (although not about governance).
By any yardstick, these are men of eminence and learning who should be independent. Yet this fiasco took place on their watch. One can well imagine the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the US Securities Exchange Commission wondering, if a board so exalted could not protect the interests of minority shareholders, whether there is hope for governance at all.
Also Read Embattled Satyam faces director exodus
There is hope though for better governance with relatively small changes in regulation.
For a start, the measure of independence, should be altered from how it is defined now.
Clause 49, of the Indian listing agreement deals with the role of independent directors and assumes, that not being related to a promoter or having a direct economic benefit from a company, makes a director independent. This definition ignores the reality, namely that even eminent persons, find their prestige enhanced by association with board membership and some having been CEOs earlier, are empathetic to management. The current regulatory dispensation focuses strongly, on what goes into making an independent director, but makes little effort to assess whether that person continues to remain independent, once he is on the board.
Making such an assessment, in the real world is a challenge given that the mere presence of a related party dealing is not in itself evidence of value eroding behaviour. There can be many situations in which a transaction may not appear to pass the “smell test” of governance, but may still benefit the shareholder.
If, Satyam had to pay only a tenth of the price recommended by the promoters, to buy the two Maytas companies, one could make a cogent case, that, despite there being no obvious synergy between the two businesses, the shareholders would have benefited from a good opportunistic investment, at an attractive price.
When faced with such grey situations, the appearance of opacity or inadequate due diligence can be avoided if shareholders had some way, to infer that directors have fulfilled their fiduciary duties.
Shareholders, who rely on the presence of such directors to provide the balance against transgressions of governance must now be wondering whether there are other Satyam-like instances, which pass unnoticed.
Satyams’ independent directors included former Cabinet secretary T.R. Prasad, entrepreneur Vinod Dham, and Harvard professor Krishna Palepu and Indian School of Business dean M. Rammohan Rao, the last two, I have had the opportunity to be taught by (although not about governance).
By any yardstick, these are men of eminence and learning who should be independent. Yet this fiasco took place on their watch. One can well imagine the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the US Securities Exchange Commission wondering, if a board so exalted could not protect the interests of minority shareholders, whether there is hope for governance at all.
Also Read Embattled Satyam faces director exodus
There is hope though for better governance with relatively small changes in regulation.
For a start, the measure of independence, should be altered from how it is defined now.
Clause 49, of the Indian listing agreement deals with the role of independent directors and assumes, that not being related to a promoter or having a direct economic benefit from a company, makes a director independent. This definition ignores the reality, namely that even eminent persons, find their prestige enhanced by association with board membership and some having been CEOs earlier, are empathetic to management. The current regulatory dispensation focuses strongly, on what goes into making an independent director, but makes little effort to assess whether that person continues to remain independent, once he is on the board.
Making such an assessment, in the real world is a challenge given that the mere presence of a related party dealing is not in itself evidence of value eroding behaviour. There can be many situations in which a transaction may not appear to pass the “smell test” of governance, but may still benefit the shareholder.
If, Satyam had to pay only a tenth of the price recommended by the promoters, to buy the two Maytas companies, one could make a cogent case, that, despite there being no obvious synergy between the two businesses, the shareholders would have benefited from a good opportunistic investment, at an attractive price.
When faced with such grey situations, the appearance of opacity or inadequate due diligence can be avoided if shareholders had some way, to infer that directors have fulfilled their fiduciary duties.
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