Senate Defence Committee announces Task Force for Cyber Security Policy

Senate’s Defence Committee has taken the initiative for the formulation of Cyber Security Policy to preserve, promote and protect Pakistan’s national security digitally.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman of Senate Defence Committee  — who was attending the Cyber Secure Pakistan Conference as Chief Guest – announced this today.

Senator Mushahid Hussain, while defining the role of the Task Force on Cyber Security Policy, said the task force working jointly with Pakistan Information Security Association (PISA) under Senate Defence Committee will be asked to define the nature of the new emerging threats to Pakistan’s national security & defence in the digital battlefield and to prepare Cyber Security Policy, in consultation and with cooperation of experts and professionals from PISA and government organisations as well.

He said legislation and legal framework for Cyber Security and guarding against Cyber Warfare will be another most important task as the Cyber Warfare is already being waged by certain elements and must be countered with courage. In this connection, Senator Mushahid Hussain also welcomed recommendations made in the International Judicial Conference yesterday organised by the Supreme Court.

He hoped the joint task force will be capable to promote the required awareness for Cyber Security and to bring all relevant stakeholders on one platform for collaborated and organized efforts.

In his address, Mr. Ammar Jaffri, President PISA and organizer of the Cyber Secure Pakistan Conference informed the participants about the different steps taken by PISA to secure the Cyber Space of Pakistan. He said the PISA has been engaged in the number of Cyber Drills during last year and has trained more than 1000 university students, information security professionals and members of law & enforcements for secure use of Cyber Space and to establish international liaison with the similar organizations functioning in other different countries.

Mr. Jaffri welcomed the formation of Joint Task Force on Cyber Security and hoped to boost the collaboration between public & private organization as relevant state holders of Cyber Security.

Cyber Security professionals from number of other countries Malaysia, USA, Australia Kingdom of Saudi Arabia etc. were also participated in the annual conference and had delivered their key note speeches on vital topics related to Cyber Security.

How Emerging Smartphone Manufacturers Keep Prices Ridiculously Low

Almost all flagship phones by top manufacturers — if not anything — have got one thing in common: “steep pricing”, which is the very thing that probably scares most people away. Whether it’s the Windows Phone running Lumia 920, or the BB10 running Z10, all flagships typically start at $500. And we aren’t even thinking about the iPhone yet. Spending $1000 on something which will be declared old just after a single year, along with upgrading annually is still not something most people think of as sensible.

Thankfully though, a change has been observed in trends lately. As more and more companies have started going the Google way, the prices of flagships have plunged too. Of course the phones by the big guns are still pretty expensive but capable phones by Chinese manufacturers have really changed the scenario by 180 degrees.

Compared to the Galaxy SIV, for example, the Huawei Ascend retails for far less and the specs really aren’t bad. The same goes for Xiaomi, Meizu and ZTE’s flagships. Even QMobile’s top-of-the-line phone, the Noir A12 goes for just around Rs. 21K. How is it possible that a great tablet, the Nexus 7 costs only $200 while an equivalent Tegra-running phone over $500?

The most common recipe for keeping costs down is to use low-prove components. The Noir A10, for instance, has a dual-core MediaTek processor which can’t really be compared with a SnapDragon unit but it isn’t meant to be competing with one! It’s just enough for daily tasks but maybe not so much for playing N.O.V.A. The end product may not get particularly affected by this “quality-cut” but prices do remain low. Also the thing to realise is that a large number of people actually don’t need an octa-core processor.

Google has an even better solution of keeping prices down. Instead of making profit through hardware on the Nexus line-up, it relies on the software, i.e. the Google services. So while it makes a razor-thin (or no) profit on hardware, the money comes from the stuff that people buy from the Play Store and other services.

Xiaomi’s approach is even more interesting. Of course, it’s not Google so they neither have a gigantic app store nor do they have billions of dollars in their pocket. The company instead makes money on the accessories that it sells plus its services. If you think that doesn’t make sense then think again because the company made $2 billion in revenue last year. And before you dismiss its phones as being worthless, the Galaxy S4 too costs $236 to build but is sold for $700. Spending $700 on a thing which costs just $236 is NOT very sensible!

So the next time you shell out your money on the best smartphone or tablet available in the market, just keep this is mind that you may be paying more than 2 to 3 times the worth of the device you’re buying. And that your money might be better spent elsewhere.

Credit to Cnet for that Xiaomi way!

Microsoft Announces the General Availability of Windows Azure Infrastructure Services with Slashed Prices

Microsoft has announced the availability of its Azure Infrastructure Service – a cloud service – for the general customers at competitive prices almost equalling Amazon Web Services prices.

For those who aren’t familiar, Windows Azure is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure for building, deploying and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed datacentres.

Windows Azure supports many different programming languages, operating systems, tools and frameworks, including both Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems.

These infrastructure services enable customers extend data centres and workloads into the cloud while using their existing skills and investments. With these services, you can:

• Provision Microsoft SharePoint farms in minutes without up-front hardware investments.
• Integrate full-trust code to run rich apps and provide Internet-facing collaboration sites.
• Prototype your newest app or extend data marts into the cloud using Virtual Machines as a robust infrastructure for Microsoft SQL Server software.
• Scale on demand and connect to your on-premises infrastructure using Windows Azure Virtual Networks.
• Embrace rapid innovation using the cloud for development and test scenarios. You can spin up any test lab or sandbox quickly and be agile in your learning, development, and prototyping

With Windows Azure customers can build their private networks, farms, storage networks and so on.

Updated Windows Azure SLA:

When you deploy multiple instances of Windows Azure Virtual Machines, Microsoft provides a financially backed 99.95 percent monthly service level agreement (SLA).

Price reductions for Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Cloud Services:

Microsoft has said that it made following changes in price.

• Windows Azure Virtual Machines general availability prices have been reduced by 21% for standard instances. New general availability prices will be effective June 1, 2013. For a small instance, the new price will be $0.09 per hour. Windows Azure Virtual Machines will remain at discounted preview prices until May 31, for standard instances.
• Linux Virtual Machines prices have been reduced by 25 percent for standard instances. Effective April 16, 2013, prices will be reduced by 25 percent for small, medium, large, and extra-large instances. For example, the price for a Linux small instance will drop from $0.08 per hour to $0.06 per hour in all geographies.
• Windows Azure Virtual Network pricing of $0.05 per hour will become effective June 1, 2013. Until June 1, customers can use Windows Azure Virtual Network free of charge.
• Windows Azure Cloud Services web and worker role prices have been reduced by 33 percent for standard instances. Effective April 16, 2013, the price will drop by 33 percent for small, medium, large, and extra-large instances. For example, the price for a small worker role will drop from $0.12 per hour to $0.08 per hour in all geographies.
• The value of 90-day free trial for MSDN and Microsoft Partner Network offers will increase. These offers will now include additional 50 hours of usage per month of our new high-memory instances. This special offer ends June 1, 2013.

For further details click this link

How Illegal GSM Gateway Exchanges Affect Operators?

During the operation, maintenance and optimization of a cellular mobile network, variation and fluctuation in mobile traffic is often encountered. Traffic is an indicator about how much the network is being used by subscribers. When a voice call is connected and answered over radio and non-radio links, billing starts.

Traffic is measured in a unit called Erlang — named after Danish mathematician Agner Krarup Erlang. Increased traffic is always a welcoming development; hinting that more users are using the network, thus more revenue is generated. Often when an event like a political rally, anniversary of some Sufi or simply a large gathering takes place, mobile traffic at the site surges. Mobile operators take into account such incidents and take necessary measures to provide seamless access to the network for subscribers.

There are times when surge in mobile traffic corresponds to no known event in the area. More so, when detailed investigations take place, it is revealed that the revenue against that site has not increased. This means that the mobile subscribers are using mobile operator’s radio network but somehow successfully bypassing the core network — the part where billing and routing takes place.

This is done by setting up routers, switches and exchanges which are able to route voice calls when GSM SIM cards are inserted.

A typical way would be to route mobile calls via the SIM card, effectively turning the call from landline to mobile, from mobile to mobile, cutting the cost by over half.

GSM Gateways come in various different shapes, sizes and languages, by languages I mean protocols, e.g. ISDN30e/PRI, ISDN2/BRI, Analogue and VoIP Including H.323 and SIP, depending on what is needed for the company.

For example, for a typical 2 person company, the most cost effective would be the analogue device and connect this to the original analogue line (just like your home phone).

This is, of course, illegal. PTA has been fairly active in this regard to track and shut down such mobs. NR3C extends logistics during such raid on illegal GSM gateways. In fact, NR3C and PTA collectively raided and confiscated the equipment of 9 illegal GSM gateways. However – considering the amount of illegal traffic Pakistan is carrying — this was just the tip of the iceberg.

The world cellular community came together and formed a GSMA Fraud Forum to deal with this. According to a recent CFCA report, US$40.1 Billion is lost annually to fraud and operators who fail to take action both promptly and decisively will see their revenues deteriorate rapidly, it will also negatively affect the customer.

But why operators fail to take action? GSMA Fraud Forum highlights the following reason as the main cause for these illegal mobs to exist:

“Perhaps the most decisive factor is lack of awareness by many mobile operators of the significance of bypass fraud and the vulnerabilities associated with it.

Companies are simply not willing to believe that they have an issue on their network. This assumption is a consequential oversight, revealing the need for a better understanding and appreciation of the mobile fraud situation.”

Illegal termination is usually found where there is a variance between local and international call rates. However, in a number of countries the difference between the local and international calling rates is not significant enough for fraudsters to benefit. An example of this would be Singapore and the United States.

Pakistan Falls in Global ICT Ranking

Despite efforts in the past decade to improve information and communications technologies (ICT) infrastructure in developing economies, there remains a new digital divide in how countries harness ICT to deliver competitiveness and well-being, according to the 12th edition of The Global Information Technology Report, released today by the World Economic Forum.

Published under the theme, Growth and Jobs in a Hyperconnected World, the Report suggests that national policies in some developing economies are failing to translate ICT investment into tangible benefits in terms of competitiveness, development and employment. This is in addition to the profound digital divide that already exists between advanced and developing economies in access to digital infrastructure and content.

Pakistan continues to lag behind in the rankings. Pakistan’s global ranking in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) got downgraded from 102nd in 2012 to 105th in 2013, according to the report.

Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan, a partner institute of Global Competitiveness & Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum said, “As the other countries are improving rapidly, Pakistan has shown a little change, this a matter of concern. Pakistan is 37 ranks behind India. The big challenge for the next government in Pakistan would be to put more emphasize on ICT environment and regulatory framework. The role of ICT for a sustained economic growth and job creation is crucial to improve Pakistan’s competitiveness. ICT has revolutionized the way businesses are done and the country has not being able to capitalize on this”.

Some of the areas where Pakistan lost its ICT competitiveness are; govt’s procurement of advance technologies, which ranked 109 this year as compared to 91 in 2012. Although Pakistan has improved the fixed broadband Internet tariff substantially by making Pakistan the 68^th most competitive broadband provider in the world, individuals using Internet, which depicts affordability of Internet for citizens is shrinking. Pakistan lost 22 points in 2013 and ranks at 120 on individuals using Internet. The report highlights that the gains in broadband affordability are being achieved by cannibalizing the individual Internet users.

Pakistan achieved significant gains in the last decades, when it embraced the mobile technologies and led the region by providing human resources capital and technical knowhow to the global pool of mobile communication providers. However this gain has been greatly diminished due to lack of advancements and inconsistency in decision making to adopt new technologies at the right time. The Importance of ICTs to govt’s vision has deteriorated from 92 to 117 in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Making ICT as one of the least priority areas for the govt. in Pakistan.

On the economic impact pillar, Pakistan failed to show progress on creating impact of ICTs on new organizational models by losing 10 points. Keeping businesses in mostly traditional areas and connecting Pakistan with the global knowledge economies.

Similarly, government’s failure to create social impact through ICT also showcases it’s poor understanding of innovation ecosystem and value creation for the citizens in the digital age. The government failed to create value through ICT use and improving efficiency, where Pakistan lost an alarming 16 points (121 among 144 countries). Not being able to improve any regulations on venture capital availability has also created a bottleneck for an innovation economy in the country. This signifies Pakistan’s lack of correlation between innovation and competiveness with finance, thus further isolating Pakistan from moving towards a knowledge-based economy.

Pakistan also lost 15 points on the E-participation index, where government engages citizens through online services and grievance mechanism, thus resulting in stronger red-tapism slower economic progress. 
On the overall political and regulatory environment, the efficiency of legal system in challenging regulations has also deteriorated, where Pakistan is ranked 97 as compared to 79 in 2013 and 2012 respectively. Intellectual property protection has also been neglected and Pakistan lost 13 points by securing 103 on the network readiness index.

Some of the areas where Pakistan has shown improvements are on the business and innovation environment pillar, where the business sector has ensured the availability of latest technologies for ICT competitiveness by improving 10 points and securing 83 rank among 144 countries.

The Report’s Networked Readiness Index (NRI), which measures the capacity of 144 economies to leverage ICT for growth and well-being, finds Finland (1st), Singapore (2nd) and Sweden (3rd) take the top three places. The Netherlands (4th), Norway (5th), Switzerland (6th), the United Kingdom (7th), Denmark (8th), the United States (9th), and Taiwan, China (10th) complete the top 10.

The NRI uses a combination of data from publicly available sources and the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the Forum in collaboration with partner institutes. This Survey of more than 15,000 executives provides insight into areas critical for networked readiness.

World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report can be downloaded by clicking this link.