No Petya Ranwomware Cases Reported in India, Reports Trend Micro

Sharda Tickoo, Technical Head, Trend Micro India said, “In India, so far we have no cases of Petya that have been reported to us. The countries most affected are Europe, typically Ukraine and Russia. We would recommend the companies to maintain an important hygiene of updating systems with the latest patches, or consider using virtual patching in their absence. 

Take regular back-up of necessary data and proactively monitor the systems for any suspicious activity. And most importantly, because it is a ransomware, we have to secure the email gateway first. There are also certain URL categorizations that should be employed in work environment which can block access to malicious websites. Ensure that all the workstations have least privilege unless any workstation actually requires administrator privilege, as the ransomware spreads and tries to escalate the privileges. As it uses certain administrative tools like power shell, ensure that these utilities are restricted to administrators.”

Pointing out the similarities and differences between other ransomware, she further added, “There are a lot of similarities that are being drawn between Petya and WannaCry. 

WannaCry was a very basic form of ransomware attack and it used worm like techniques. Petya seems to be a thorough ransomware which uses different modalities. It is using EternalBlue vulnerability. It leverages multiple infection vectors not just one. 

The Petya ransomware modifies the Master Boot Record (MBR) and encrypts the system files. Once the MBR is modified by this ransomware, the system displays the ransom note instead of a black or blue screen. While the normal ransomware does not touch the MBR, but encrypts files and asks for ransom. The Petya ransomware is a combination of a wiper and a ransomware, because it wipes the MBR.”

Genpact Unveils “Genpact Cora” AI Platform Across India

Genpact, a global professional services firm focused on delivering digital transformation, has unveiled Genpact Cora – an artificial intelligence (AI)-based platform that accelerates digital transformation for enterprises. Genpact Cora is a modular, interconnected mesh of flexible digital technologies that hones in on specific operational business challenges and tackles them from beginning to end, helping large global companies reframe and solve their most pressing real world business issues.

“In an environment being disrupted by new technologies and increasing competition, clients want to buy business outcomes, not just tools and products,” said Peter Bendor-Samuel, founder and chief executive officer, Everest Group, a leading analyst firm. “Genpact Cora is timely for an industry seeking digital transformation.”

As part of its ongoing strategy to drive digital-led innovation and digitally-enabled intelligent operations for clients around the world, Genpact has created Genpact Cora to provide the fastest path to driving meaningful transformation at scale. Genpact believes it is the first in the industry to fully integrate automation, analytics, and AI engines – in a single, unified platform, embedded with and drawing insights from Genpact’s deep domain expertise that comes from running thousands of intelligent operations and processes for hundreds of Fortune 500 companies across numerous industries. Genpact Cora drives digital transformation in a planned and managed fashion, without sacrificing the governance security and investment protection that mature and established businesses need.

“Achieving enterprise impact from digital transformation is challenging with so many disparate, disconnected technologies in the market,” said NV ‘Tiger’ Tyagarajan, president and chief executive officer, Genpact. “Genpact Cora brings leading digital solutions together in one unified platform, combined with the process and deep domain expertise that comes from decades of experience running intelligent operations. The combined benefit creates connected intelligence for our clients at a previously unattainable level of agility and speed to predictive insight, that then drives outcomes.”

Genpact Cora has a mature application program interface (API) design and open architecture that includes Genpact’s own intellectual property as well as leveraging best-in-class providers, integrating advanced technologies across three key areas:

·         Digital Core: cloud, software-as-a-service, blockchain, mobility and ambient computing, robotic process automation, and dynamic workflow;

·         Data Analytics: advanced visualization, data engineering, big data, and Internet of Things (IoT);

·         Artificial Intelligence: conversational AI, computational linguistics, computer vision, machine learning and data science AI.

The Genpact Cora platform is the foundation for Genpact products and consulting services already in the market, with more than 1 million users processing over 1.1 billion transactions annually, providing unparalleled practical predictive insights and learnings on how to make transformation real and sustainable. It brings together Genpact’s original process and industry domain depth with new digital capabilities through its recent acquisitions of Rage Frameworks, PNMsoft, and others.

The platform already delivers speed to value in the market today in many industries, including:

·         Deciphering data from equipment: A leading large equipment manufacturer leverages industrial IoT, machine learning, and advanced analytics from Genpact Cora to efficiently and intelligently process data, resulting in safer materials, less downtime, higher revenues, and lower maintenance costs.

·         Reframing drug safety: A top pharmaceutical company is testing Genpact’s Pharmacovigilance Artificial Intelligence (PVAI) product to redefine drug safety. PVAI uses Genpact Cora’s AI, analytics, predictive modeling, and other technologies to automatically collect and analyze data from numerous sources on drugs’ adverse effects, including quickly translating unstructured data into meaningful, actionable insights. PVAI transforms drug safety operations from simply tracking issues to predicting and solving potential problems, with less human error, higher drug quality, better patient outcomes, and 100 percent regulatory compliance.

·         Making customer service seamless: Genpact Cora’s AI and analytics powers Genpact’s LiveWealth product and allows a Fortune 500 financial services institution to speed customer response time, eliminate billing and asset reporting errors for institutional and high-net-worth individuals, and help shorten client cycle time from 45 days to on-demand. Customers now have a holistic view of their portfolio, and the company also cut costs 75 percent while facilitating effective regulatory compliance.

·         Driving faster, value-added financial reporting: Inefficient manual financial reporting processes took many employees at a global consumer packaged goods company weeks to interpret both structured and unstructured data from various internal and external systems. Genpact’s AI Reporting product using Genpact Cora’s robotic process automation now generates these reports in a few days, automating 70 percent of data collection. In addition, the AI learns over time, allowing the company to have much faster, more accurate, and more frequent projections that drive better informed business decisions.

·         Increasing new product speed to market: A global insurance provider uses Genpact Cora’s dynamic workflow to streamline new product rollouts by quickly capturing data on high-value customers, increasing processing speed and flexibility, and driving analytics real time for decision making – thereby increasing speed to market and driving revenue growth.

 “Genpact Cora allows our clients to deploy leading digital technologies using a modular and scalable platform built on an open architecture that drives flexibility, agility, and long-term investment protection,” said Sanjay Srivastava, senior vice president and chief digital officer, Genpact. “And Genpact Cora reduces risks around errant robots and misapplied AI spinning out of control, through an integrated command and control hub that delivers the much-needed governance that business processes require.”

Cisco Jasper Removes Obstacles to IoT Implementation with Multi-Tier IoT Platform

While the number of businesses investing in IoT across all markets continues to grow, recent research shows that 60 percent of IoT initiatives stall at the proof-of-concept (POC) stage. This highlights that companies today are still struggling with the key challenges of IoT, including the need for more flexibility, greater security, and the ability to address new use cases. Cisco Jasper has been partnering with service providers to help its customer base, which has grown from 3,500 to 11,000 enterprises in the past year alone, to overcome these challenges and accelerate their IoT success. To continue to meet the exponential demand for IoT solutions, and in keeping with Cisco’s dedication to helping customers get from paper to successful IoT deployment more quickly, today Cisco Jasper introduced a new expanded model to bring the benefits of its IoT connectivity platform – Control Center – to a broader audience.

Control Center 7.0 addresses business’ needs for greater flexibility with a new multi-tiered IoT platform that gives companies various options to meet their specific needs, regardless of their stage of IoT implementation. This new platform is also paired with a new set of Premium Services that address previously unmet needs in the industry related to IoT monetization and security.

“We first introduced our Control Center IoT connectivity management platform to the market over 10 years ago, and since then it has become the largest IoT platform with over 43M devices being managed today, and more than 1.5M new devices being added per month,” said Jahangir Mohammed, GM of IoT at Cisco. “What we’ve learned from enabling IoT success for our 11K customers is that companies have different needs at different stages of their IoT journey. So today we’re introducing the biggest evolution of our Control Center IoT platform ever, providing a flexible model and new Premium Services that help meet the needs of customers at any phase.”  

With Control Center 7.0, Cisco Jasper is introducing a unique approach to IoT solutions unmatched in the industry, giving customers and service provider partners the flexibility to select and customize the capabilities and services that are right for their deployment, while also providing an easy path for growth as their IoT businesses scale. Control Center 7.0 provides this flexibility by being the first IoT platform to offer:

Advanced Capabilities: A new tier of the platform – Control Center Advanced – caters to customers with more sophisticated deployments that need greater capabilities, including advanced security solutions, automation and analytics.

Premium Services: The introduction of our first two Premium Services, compatible with Control Center, enables customers to solve for previously unmet IoT business needs. The Threat Protection & Smart Security (TPSS) service provides an IoT-specific solution to protect against malware and other cybersecurity threats, and is built on Cisco Umbrella. The second service, Traffic Segmentation, provides a new solution to support different types of revenue generation models. Cisco Jasper service providers can customize Premium Services to meet their customers’ specific needs.  

LPWAN Support: Control Center 7.0 extends the platform’s capabilities – including the platform’s global reach and scale via support for cellular networks – to low power devices via support for multiple LPWAN technologies, including NB-IoT and LTE-M. 

AT&T, a Cisco Jasper service provider, is integrating these additional capabilities to meet IoT needs for a broad range of industries. The platform will be called AT&T Control Center – Advanced, and will be paired with additional premium services.

“We work with companies of every size, across every industry, around the world,” said Chris Penrose, President,  IoT Solutions,  AT&T. “AT&T Control Center - Advanced with additional premium services are the next step in continuing to provide differentiated platform capabilities and solutions for our IOT customers.  These enhancements around security, analytics and automation allow our customers to manage their IoT solutions even more effectively and to further increase their ROI.”

Control Center 7.0 is the first version of the IoT platform to integrate multiple Cisco technologies, delivering on the promise made at the time of Jasper’s acquisition to combine the power of Cisco’s portfolio with the world’s leading IoT connectivity management platform. As a result, Control Center 7.0 solves the biggest challenges companies currently face in IoT with:

Multi-layer Security: Expanding upon Control Center’s existing security capabilities, users now get multi-layered security controls including closed user groups, two-factor authentication, whitelisting capabilities and more to identify and solve known issues.

Collaboration: Integration with Cisco Spark gives users the ability to easily collaborate on issues with connected devices, enabling them to lower resolution time and manage costs.

Enhanced Analytics: New reports on historical trends of device behavior and usage enable users to take action on issues that impact performance, costs and security.

Support for Low Power Devices: Control Center 7.0 is the first commercially available IoT platform that supports the management of IoT devices across cellular, NB-IoT and LTE-M networks to accommodate a wide range of use cases.

“When we acquired Jasper, we made a promise to the industry that Cisco and Jasper would be more than the sum of our separate parts – that we would create something better together,” said Rowan Trollope, SVP and GM of IoT and Applications at Cisco. “This is the realization of that promise. And what we’ve built in the past year has surpassed even our lofty expectations.”

With Control Center 7.0, Cisco Jasper has created a single, integrated solution to address the needs of both Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) professionals. Previously, Control Center – which automates and manages connectivity of devices on cellular networks globally – was a standalone offering. Today, Control Center 7.0 is yet another proof point of Cisco’s leading innovation in IoT solutions, and is now compatible with Cisco’s broader IoT Operations Platform, which integrates Connection Management, Data Delivery and Fog Computing for a complete end-to-end solution. And this complements the Cisco DNA offerings, which are delivering the next generation of networks to provide new levels of security, analytics and automation to enable exciting new IoT, cloud and mobile experiences. As a result, customers in any industry can now manage IoT from the edge to the cloud.

Availability

Cisco Jasper Control Center 7.0 is available now.

Mindtree Foundation to Foster Holistic Education Through ‘Samruddhi Abhiyan’ Program

Mindtree Foundation in partnership with the Karnataka State Education Department and Sikshana Foundation has initiated the ‘Samruddhi Abhiyan 2017-18’ program. This initiative is set to be implemented in the Kanakapura Taluk with an objective to provide access to a clean environment, quality education, physical well-being, and mediums to express creativity. To strengthen this initiative further, the Karnataka State Education Department has extended its support to foster a holistic growth environment for around 16000 students in the Taluk.

This joint initiative was launched through a live stream from Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) to more than 161 schools, from the primary to higher secondary level. The inaugural event focused on discussing the various engagements under the program, and the schools were encouraged to partner for creating a larger impact.

The ‘Samruddhi Abhiyan’ program, designed to align with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, aims to create a deep positive impact for the thousands of school going children in the Taluk while primarily focusing on four key objectives which include:

·         Empowering children with the right knowledge and avenues to create a cleaner, more sustainable environment for themselves

·         Promoting physical well-being and a spirit of collaboration through popularizing sports and athletics

·         Sikshana’s Prerana initiative to aid and improve the quality of education being currently imparted

·         Bolstering creativity by promoting arts and culture amongst students

The program will exclusively be driven by the individual school committees comprising of HM, teachers, student clubs and the SDMC. The participating schools will later be awarded based on points scored through their execution. The winners will be recognized in annual award ceremony and the winners of each category will be presented with infrastructure or educational aids based on the school’s requirement. The first phase of this initiative is expected to be fully implemented by the  October 2.

Mindtree Foundation in collaboration with NGO partners have carried out various initiatives from the first standard to MBBS education in the Kanakapura Taluk. Some of these include career guidance counselling for students, events around Sports and Culture, providing technology access to schools amongst many others.

 “The nation’s growth lies in its children’s holistic education, and a majority of them study in our country’s villages. We want to ensure that these children have access to an environment which caters to their overall well-being”, said Abraham Moses, General Manager, Mindtree Foundation.

“Our teams have learnt a lot through continual engagements with schools operating at various levels. And together with our longtime partner Mindtree we want to create a taluk level developmental model which can be replicated across various regions”, said Prasanna Vadayar, CEO,Sikshana Foundation.

"We have provided good infrastructure to the schools in the taluk and now with this initiative all the schools will compete to keep their environment clean thereby ensuring clean facilities for all the children." said Yethi Kumar. H.S, Block Education Officer, Kanakapura Taluk.

Ogilvy & Mather Bags Somany Ceramics as Its Advertising Agency

     Somany Ceramics Limited, the leading player in the Indian ceramics industry, recently awarded its advertising mandate to the global advertising and marketing giant Ogilvy & Mather. The pitch was initiated a month ago where six other major advertising agencies also participated. The estimated advertising budget for Somany Ceramics for FY17-18 is 3 to 3.5% of the revenue. Ogilvy & Mather will manage Somany Ceramic Limited’s operations from their Gurgaon office and the mandate consists of the brand’s diverse product portfolio.

     Commenting on the association, Abhishek Somany, MD, Somany Ceramics Limited, commented,” We are interested in exploring newer ways of targeting specific groups therefore, it became essential for us to  collaborate with an agency who understand the dynamic media environment. Ogilvy & Mather comes with a fresh and progressive approach which will help us to focus on developing advertising and marketing campaigns to engage consumers with our products and brands.”

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·    He further added,” To stay a youthful and trendy brand and expand our business and product portfolio, we need a partner and support team that understands how the brand communicates to the consumers in new and existing geographies.”

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·    Speaking on the win, Chandana Agarwal, Managing Partner, Ogilvy & Mather “Somany is responsible for launching many firsts in the Indian Tile Industry. Innovation has clearly been at the heart of what they do and we see a great match of values between the two organisations. We are extremely excited about this partnership and look forward to creating some memorable work”.

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·    Somany Ceramics has been a prominent name as a homegrown enterprise in the Indian corporate landscape since its inception almost five decades ago. They ventured into sanitaryware segment in FY 2011-12 and have recently trebled their sanitaryware production capacity from 3.03 lakh pieces per annum to up to 11.50 lakh pieces. The company has a robust distribution network with over 1,800 dealers and 12,000 touch points across India and plans to open 200 additional franchisee showrooms and experience centers by the end of FY 2017-18.       

Vodafone Partners HMD Global; Rolls Out Data Offers to Empower MPower Customers

Vodafone India, one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, partners with HMD Global for their newly launched Nokia Android smartphones. Vodafone invites all customers buying the recently launched range of smartphones – Nokia 6, Nokia 5, and Nokia 3 to experience its Data strong network with its exciting offers.

All Nokia smartphone users can avail the offer of additional 4G or 3G Data. Customers buying Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 smartphones will enjoy 5GB data (4GB additional data) on a purchase of 1GB Data for 3 months (or 3 recharges, whichever comes first) for just Rs. 142*. In addition, all customers buying Nokia 6 smartphones (available exclusively on Amazon) will enjoy 10 GB data (9GB additional data) on purchase of 1GB Data for 3 months, at just Rs. 251**.

Vodafone post-paid customers can also avail a total of 5GB/10GB of 4G or 3G data per month for 3 consecutive billing cycles if they have a minimum of 1GB pack activated on their monthly rental plan.

Announcing this initiative, Sandeep Kataria, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone India said, “We are delighted to partner with HMD Global to roll out this exciting offer that enables our customers to get the most out of their new Nokia smartphones. Customers can use the higher quantum of data on Vodafone SuperNet, our Data Strong Network to access the internet, make video calls, upload albums and even download heavy files wherever they are. Additionally, they can enjoy a large library of videos, movies, and music on Vodafone Play, single window to the world of entertainment, with 150+ Live TV channels, over 14,000 movies, TV show titles and a wide range of all genres of music. These offers will further enable our customers to remain confidently connected and enjoy a worry free Vodafone SuperNet 4G experience on our best network ever.”

Commenting on the partnership, Ajey Mehta, Vice President India, HMD Global, said, “We are delighted to be partnering with one of India’s leading telecom operators. This partnership showcases our commitment to provide the best possible experience to our Nokia smartphone consumers who are Vodafone subscribers. Our commitment to providing our customers a rich, engaging and immersive experience extends across our smartphone range and will come to life when combined with Vodafone’s seamless data connectivity across the country.”

The offer is valid across all circles, wherein customers in Vodafone’s ICR circles (AP& Telangana, MP&CG, Bihar & Jharkhand, HP, and J&K) will get the data at 2G speeds.

Marigold Solar Composters Launched for Households in Bangalore

Prudent Eco Systems, a Bangalore based startup; today announced its latest product, Marigold Solar Composter.

“Marigold Solar Composters are designed for waste management in the urban environment where space and other logistics for collection and eco-friendly disposal are a real challenge. By using modern technology and the forces of nature, our product ensures safe and hygienic composting of household waste. Use of our composter ensures waste is composted into rich and organise fertilizer which again goes back into nature for home gardening,” shared an ever motivated and excited Ravindra Karnad, Founder – Prudent Eco Systems

“The Marigold Mini that we are launching today is most suitable for a family that generates upto 1 litre of waste per day. The bin can take 4-6 weeks of waste. Made out of stainless steel on the inside, the design ensures optimized rapid and clean aerobic composting of the waste without a need of any proprietary additives to speed up the process. The process is simple, mess proof and takes place under natural conditions. This bin also ensures that no rodents enter it while the leachates (if any, usually none) collect in a separate tray that can easily be removed for cleaning. The product is built on what I call “Passive Technology” with minimal moving parts. This leads to solutions which last for years, with minimal or zero maintenance. The user sees the outcome and technology remains in the background.

When asked about his inspiration for “Passive Technology”, Ravi shared “The best example of such technology is the Five-hundred-year old acoustic system of Golconda fort. In Europe, Roman Aqueducts are great example of using passive technology to solve the problem of drinking water for a large urban population. In these solutions we all understand there is some technology at play but its invisible to the layman but has served the purpose for centuries”

“The products have done very well across residential complexes in Bangalore where gated communities such as Ferns Paradise (Doddenakundi), Brigade Paramount, Admirality Manor to name a few, are using Marigold composters to convert their wet waste (of up to 200 kg per day) to organic fertilizer”, added Ravi.

Unlike many other composting systems, the Marigold System does not involve the use of special additives or accelerators with microbes. Prudent Eco Systems believes that composting is a natural process which should be bereft of ‘enhancers’. The composter uses easily available dry leaves (in powdered form) or other equivalent agricultural waste.

Marigold System bins are available in the following sizes:

1.    Mini (19 Lit)

2.    Small (38 Litres)

3.    Large (180 Litres)

4.    Extra Large (360 Litres)

5.    Ultra Large (540 Litres)

 “We did extensive research amongst people who were interested in composting - including early adopters. We found consumers wanted an odor free, easy to use device that would help them compost their kitchen waste rapidly without flies or rodents. As the composter would be placed in the house - they also wanted one that looked attractive and was easy to clean. Prudent was able to address all these requirements by designing a household composter for urban living in India', shared Rini Dutta, founder, Centric Brand Advisors which is a branding and marketing consulting firm based out of Bangalore.