Cyber threats predictions for 2023, highlights rise in android malwares usage with vishing attacks

SEQRITE, a leading global enterprise cybersecurity solutions provider, shared its predictions for the cybersecurity space in 2023, highlighting Vishing attacks and an increase in Android malware usage. A social engineering attack known as “vishing” (also known as “voice phishing”) involves calling the target and requesting information. In order to deceive victims into disclosing personal information or taking action on the attacker’s behalf, these callers pose as representatives of financial institutions like banks or credit card firms and utilize psychological techniques.

A screen-sharing program like AnyDesk or TeamViewer from the Google Play Store is frequently requested by the attacker in order to access the victim’s device. Recently, we have also noticed an increase in the prevalence of SMS forwarder trojans. The level of access to a user’s financial and personal information might vary depending on the banking trojans and RATs that are used. We anticipate that threat actors will launch attacks using this malware in 2023 as opposed to screen-sharing programs.

Cybercriminals have seized the opportunity as businesses struggle with the economic and geopolitical uncertainties of 2022, which has led to a sharp rise in cyberattacks. The number of cyberattacks increased by 125% between 2021 and 2022, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook study, and the trend is anticipated to continue in 2023. The predictions made by SEQRITE highlight emerging cybersecurity trends that are projected to disrupt the evolving business landscape.

SEQRITE has published details on its website

SquareFoot Outdoor Flooring

architecture, modern house, beautiful patio with pool, outdoor

Everyone enjoys having a deck outside their home where they can unwind and spend time with their loved ones. Even though natural wooden decks are aesthetically pleasing, the fear of it getting affected by weather, colour fading, splitting can become a major issue, restricting your flooring options. SquareFoot is a one stop destination to experience floors without having to worry about mishaps while also experiencing a sophisticated product. They offer a large decking range including Ipe natural wood decking, Java Teak decking, composite decking and our technologically advanced co-extrusion decking which offers elegant, resilient, low maintenance products with a stunning appearance and classic charm of natural wood.

SquareFoot co-extrusion deck is the ultimate in durability and one of the toughest co-extruded composite decking ranges available. Its resilient protective cap made of advanced polymer resists scratches, fade, mould, and mildew, and is exceptionally low-maintenance, with only the most basic of cleaning required for optimal longevity. Co-extrusion deck offers decay and weather resistance with top protection from biodegradation, insects, and harsh weather. Its streaked colour variation provides a natural look that embodies the essence of timber. Enjoy the stain and slip resistance of this environmentally friendly alternative to timber, which is holistically sustainable from its manufacturing to its use of raw materials.

The elegance and inimitable warmth of natural wood is combined with the convenience and durability guaranteed by their exclusive technology. SquareFoot outdoor flooring is made up of a combination of bamboo fibre, high-density polyethylene and chemical additives, making them recyclable and eco-friendly. The product is available in two varieties viz tile deck and long deck; in a wide range of sizes and patterns, which have been designed to meet all your needs. SquareFoot outdoor floorings are designed ergonomically to create a non-slippery surface with a good grip for wet areas like pool sides, gardens and parks and can also be installed as a composite deck flooring at a beach.

Mr. Gaurav Saraf, Jt Managing Director, SquareFoot says, “We assure you that our flooring is the most versatile and will suit every project. By combining modern technology and design, you can achieve an ethnic and realistic look. Our Co-extrusion deck floors have been specially seasoned and treated to ensure long-term use in all outdoor areas.”

SquareFoot gives you an all-in-one, easy-to-install, versatile product which is needed to maintain feasibility, convenience and style. It can also be installed over existing surfaces. The designed tiles can be removed and stored in winter. The deck floor tiles are low maintenance and can be used without damaging rental properties.

SquareFoot meets all your design requirements while keeping up with the volatility of your dynamic tastes to help you achieve the flooring that you seek.

The outdoor flooring range starts from Rs.425 per sqft and is displayed at SquareFoot showrooms in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Patna, Pune and Surat.

Hexagon India Signs MOU with BEL and BEML for Emerging opportunities in the Domestic Market

Hexagon India Signs MOU with BEL for Emerging opportunities in the Domestic Market_2

Bengaluru, 16th February 2023: At Aero India 2023, the biennial air show and aviation exhibition held at Yelahanka Air Force Station, Bengaluru, Hexagon India signed MOU with BEL and BEML to collaborate in the field of Defence, Transportation, Smart Cities & Safe Cities, Critical Infrastructure Projects, Smart Agriculture, Disaster Management and Mining. Parties have agreed to jointly capitalize on the emerging opportunities in the domestic market.

On this occasion, Pramod Kaushik, President of Hexagon India said, “Hexagon India is collaborating with BEL and BEML and intends to capitalize on the emerging opportunities in the domestic market through joint business development efforts. We look forward to a successful collaboration with them in the fields of Defence, Transportation, Smart Cities & Safe Cities, Critical Infrastructure Projects, Agriculture, Disaster Management and Mining. India has always been a big focus for us and we see a massive potential to contribute to this growth story through our technology. We are the global leader in digital reality solutions, combining sensor, software and autonomous technologies to put data to work.”

Quick Heal’s CSR Initiative Felicitates Institutions, Teachers And Students, For Creating Cyber Safety Awareness

Mumbai, 16th February 2023: Quick Heal, a global cyber security solutions provider, through its CSR initiative, organized ‘Cyber Shiksha for Cyber Suraksha Awards in Mumbai. The award ceremony acknowledged the remarkable contribution made by volunteering institutions, teachers, and its students in spreading awareness on cyber safety, especially amongst the marginalized sections of society. Awards were given in presence of Ms. Anupama Katkar, Chairperson, Quick Heal Foundation and the academicians from four participating institutions.

The awards ceremony was organized at Valia College Andheri, Mumbai. Volunteering institutions include AlamuriRatnamala Institute of Engineering & Technology, Asangaon, KIHES’s Maharashtra College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Mumbai, VPM’s B. N. Bandodkar College of Science, Thane, and Valia C. L. College of Commerce & L. C. Valia College of Arts, Andheri, Mumbai. The ceremony was attended by more than 100 students from the volunteering institutions.

Colleges, teachers, and students were awarded under separate categories, the winners for which were finalized as per data received from the colleges describing the action, activities, and outreach efforts by showing active participation in its ‘Cyber Shiksha for Cyber Suraksha’ program. A dedicated Voting page was created on the Quick Heal Foundation website where the nominated performances were posted as video clips.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Anupama Katkar, Chairperson, Quick Heal Foundation and Chief of Operational Excellence, Quick Heal Technologies Limited, said, “Our purpose – ‘securing futures’ is only made possible through the collective efforts of many individuals and organizations. Today I extend a heartfelt thanks to all our partners including the DSCI, Maharashtra Cyber, and the local police for their invaluable support to the ‘Cyber Shiksha for Cyber Suraksha’ initiative. With these awards in Mumbai, we acknowledge the phenomenal work being done by our warriors – the students, torch bearers – the colleges, and the teachers in spreading awareness on cyber safety amongst all.”

The following editions of the felicitation ceremony will be organized in Nagpur, Solapur and Aurangabad in the month of March respectively.

A Muthoottu Mini CSR Initiative: Hon’ble Member of Parliament Hibi Eden inaugurates the milestone of 600th dialysis

Kochi, 16 February 2023: Muthoottu Mini Financiers a.k.a Yellow Muthoottu, one of the leading NBFCs in India in association with Rotary Cochin Midtown Club completed a milestone of sponsoring 600 dialysis tokens to financially backward patients through Lisie Hospital Ernakulam. As a part of the Muthoottu Mini CSR initiative 600th token was handed over to the beneficiary by Sri. Hibi Eden, Hon’ble Member of Parliament along with Fr. Pual Karedan, Director – Lisie Hospital, in the presence of Sri. Mathew Muthoottu, Managing Director – Muthoottu Mini, Smt Nizzy Mathew, Chairperson -Muthoottu Mini, Sri.PE Mathai, CEO – Muthoottu Mini, Sri. Radhesh Bhat, President – Rotary Midtown, KK George – Project chairman, Rotary Cochin Midtown Club, and KV Augustine – Project coordinator, Rotary Cochin Midtown Club. Speaking on this event, Sri. Hibi Eden, Hon’ble Member of Parliament appreciated the efforts of Muthoottu Mini in improving the lives of the common man with their CSR initiatives.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Mathew Muthoottu, Managing Director, Muthoottu Mini Financiers said, “The project is consistent with our commitment to improving the lives of people, and we will continue to support initiatives of this nature. We are pleased that our CSR funds are being used to benefit people because it is our way of giving back to the public that has supported us over the years. We are committed to extending this collaboration so that more people in need can receive this life-saving treatment. We would like to thank everyone who helped with this project, especially Lissie Hospital and Rotary Cochin Midtown.”

CoinSwitch supports customers in five regional languages

16 February 2023: CoinSwitch, India’s largest crypto-investing platform, has expanded its language capabilities to support and address customer queries in five regional languages. Features like voice assistance, app explainers and live chat will now be supported in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, and Marathi.

The initiative derives its insights from CoinSwitch’s annual investor report, “India’s Portfolio 2022”, released in December 2022, which found growing adoption of crypto in tier-2 cities like Jaipur, Pune, and Patna. These findings highlight the importance of offering regional language support, to enhance user experience and satisfaction.

“To empower our users to make wise investment decisions … to make money equal for all, we have to speak in the language of our users. We will continue to invest in capacity-building to provide our users with a seamless experience and guide them through their investment journey—in crypto and beyond,” said Vimal Sagar Tiwari, Co-Founder, and COO of CoinSwitch.

Adding regional languages in the support system has resulted in a 20% decrease in overall customer queries. The company’s goal is to continuously improve the customer experience and reduce queries by another 40%.

CoinSwitch is committed to doing right by its users. Recently, the platform undertook an extensive and independent review of the company’s crypto and cash holdings and published its custodial wallet addresses to provide complete transparency on customer funds and assets held by CoinSwitch.The report detailing the Proof of Reserves and Wallet Addresses is available here.

​​​​​​​Vayana Network subsidiary Hylobiz launches operations in Indonesia, partners with Accurate and Brankas

Mumbai, 16th February 2023: Vayana Network, one of India’s largest trade finance platforms, announced the expansion of their international business operations via their subsidiary arm, Hylobiz. A B2B supply chain network, Hylobiz launched its business in Indonesia in partnership with Accurate and Brankas. This partnership will empower businesses in Indonesia with connected business software, especially accounting & POS (point of sales), and connected banking services for faster cash collections and strong cash flow, enabling steady business growth. With this, SMEs in the Southeast Asia market will have the opportunity to witness positive business transitions and financial stability.

Through this partnership with Hylobiz, Accurate will act as the SME Accounting-POS Software partner and Brankas will be the Open banking partner to empower MSMEs with improved cash flow and steady growth. Digitization of receivables, collections with payment links, automated payment reminders, automated reconciliations in real-time, and smart tracking of payments are some of the top and most needed features available with connected ERP and connected Banking capability established through the synergy of the trio.

Hylobiz will help businesses to digitise invoices and collections overcoming the crippling issues related to cashflow and business growth. Speaking on the launch of operations in Indonesia, Vishal Gupta, CEO Hylobiz, said, “Hylobiz has been addressing the cash collections, payouts, and real-time reconciliation for the businesses across India, UAE and the USA helping 250K businesses for growth on their cashflows. With Accurate and Brankas we aim to serve b2b SMEs in Indonesia better through ZERO process change, for faster invoice collections and embedded finance for their business growth.”

With Accurate, Hylobiz shares a joint vision to enable Accurate’s SME customers to achieve Cashflow and Compliance automation and thereby offer Credit (Embedded Trade Finance) through partner FIs, with Accurate ERP continuing as the customers’ primary application interface.

“We (Accurate) are very happy to be partnering with Hylobiz. As we enter the modern era, we believe that everything must be efficient, everything needs to be fast. Hopefully accurate as business software especially Accounting Software & POS can be a solution for SMEs customers with a take line #Bisnisjadimudah on developing their own business.” said Yosep Stephen as CEO of Accurate.

With Brankas, Hylobiz shares a joint vision to enable business growth for Indonesia’s SMEs with cashflow automation by leveraging Open Banking technology. “Embedded finance is set to have a massive impact on business innovation in the coming years, and we believe the use cases today are only just the beginning. We are excited to see the increasing usage of Brankas APIs by organizations across a variety of industries in Indonesia, and share Hylobiz’ vision to drive faster collections for its customers”, said Husni Fuad, Country Manager Indonesia, Brankas

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Launches Certification Course on the ‘Essence of Hinduism’

New Delhi/Mumbai, 16th Feb 2023: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, has organized its Sixth batch of the online course ‘Essence of Hinduism’. The four-week, self-paced online certification course will cover the foundations of Sanatana Dharma. The students can access all course materials, including video, reading materials, and recording of live sessions.

The course, delivered by the university’s Amrita School of Spiritual and Cultural Studies (ASSCS), will spread across 15 hours over 4 weeks.

Lectures by prominent scholars will offer students deep insights into the texts, traditions, philosophical schools, and worldviews of Hinduism.

Br. Achyutamrita Chaitanya, Principal, of Amrita school of spiritual and cultural studies said: “The aim of his course is to educate students about Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma which enables us and guides us individually, irrespective of place, gender or culture. These eternal principles empower us with wisdom to become the best version of ourselves, to face the worst of situations, to maintain our success, and to make the world a better place.”

The course fee is Rs950 and anyone with a passion to learn Hinduism and a working knowledge of English can enroll in the program through https://aoap.amrita.edu/gateway/index/index?ekey=EoH

The last date to make payment is 20-02-2023.

The Rise of Brand Meghalaya

India15Ith February 2023: The MDA government is heading into the upcoming poll with a great deal of criticism. Yes, in a democratic system, it is fair to be critical; however, the NPP seem to be taking the brunt of the critique even though the coalition involved several other political parties.

Amidst its stormy adventure, the MDA has withstood several trials. Prior to 2018, Meghalaya was predominantly known for its scenic and aesthetic nature. While issues regarding law and order (that have routinely plagued Meghalaya) occasionally featured on national news coverage, governance was an outlying condition for the masses. Shirk international recognition, even national recognition, was rare.

Ampareen Lyngdoh, in her political career, has never witnessed such an unprecedented transition in the State, acknowledging, “Conrad Sangma’s government has been able to bring in significant development and shift in Meghalaya. Recognition, accolades and rankings improved drastically. In this generation, cultivating a niche is vital to stimulate engagement. The brand Meghalaya needed to be curated to draw investments and tourists, thereby promoting the State’s talents.”

The United Nations award for the Meghalaya Government’s digital initiative contributed to Meghalaya’s story-building. She continued, saying that “this was a critical effort where Meghalaya showcased to the world that while it made a late entry into digital governance, it has gained significant momentum and has caught up to the stalwarts.”

Last year, Meghalaya was awarded the best State in Startup India Awards and ranked in the top along with Karnataka and Gujarat. This is a definitive instance that, despite being a small state, Meghalaya has advanced steadily and is a contender amongst more influential States. In one of the Government run social media channels (PRIME), Coretta Sangma, a successful entrepreneur and founder of Nostalgia brand, credited PRIME Meghalaya for supporting her in building a brand for her products. Allowing her to provide employment opportunities for other women in her vicinity. Accolades in health and tourism, amongst others, support Conrad’s assertion of taking Meghalaya to its best standing in over ten years. Regardless, the Government contends that the standing is better today, and with continued momentum, it can be best tomorrow.

Concerning central schemes, the NPP-led Government’s achievements have been astonishing. A recollection made by Ampareen Lyngdoh in the past five years laments that “In the period of 2018-22, the Government constructed more roads than all previous governments did in 20 years. SHG revolution under the MDA government is never seen before achievement; from 5,000 SHGs in 2018, Meghalaya now has 43,000 SHGs. Other schemes, such as Jal Jeevan Mission (Meghalaya again awarded by Ministry of Jal Shakti), MGNREGS Meghalaya’s performance has been exemplary.”

The story of the rise is just the beginning; several initiatives have taken shape, such as the initiation of construction of infrastructures, people-led initiatives such as FOCUS and PRIME, branding of Meghalaya through tourism festivals and events and several others. These need nurturing, sharpening and continuation for a sustained period.

Practically in these five years minus two covid years, it will be hard to turn a blind eye towards the progress and strive made by Conrad’s Government.

Leads Connect Launches Agrani Platform to Revolutionise the Agriculture Industry

Uttar Pradesh, February 16, 2023: Leads Connect Services, the premier Agritech data, risk management, and financial services company, proudly introduces the game-changing Agrani platform at the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023 (UPGIS).

Agrani is an end-to-end SaaS-based platform developed for all stakeholders of Agriculture and Disaster Management. It aims to connect all dots spanning from Farm to Table in the agricultural spectrum for providing farmer-centric solutions using Space Tech Analytics and Artificial Intelligence.

UPGIS was a singular opportunity to launch the app. It created the perfect storm by bringing together global corporate leaders, policymakers, think tanks, and political and government leadership to raise awareness and generate more reach for the technology.

“Agrani is not just a simple market linkage app; it’s a game changer for the agriculture industry,” stresses Navneet Ravikar, Chairman & Managing Director of Leads Connect Services. “We’re proud to be launching it at UPGIS. Land, water, and soil health are witnessing stressed scenarios due to phenomenal urbanization and other allied activities.
This may create a scenario of uncertainties in the context of productivity and economic stability. Therefore, appropriate interventions are required. Through AGRANI, we’re aiming to provide stage wise agronomy advisories such as impact of weather, biophysical, and crop management practises on yield productivity. We have also assessed the need for financing and crop insurance to help strengthen the ecosystem. This requires robust and transparent
underwriting algorithms and medium. We’ve created agricultural credit and value chain scores for seamless, and efficient farm lending with electronic applications, disbursal of loans, insurance pay-outs linked to weather, field data all this aimed to benefit transfers in agriculture and help farmers struggling to get timely access to finance.

We have also enabled an omni-channel insurance platform, to provide seamless access to all relevant insurance products – health, crop, cattle, life, and motor. The platform will also deliver continuous post-sale service assistance, including claims management.

The adoption of diverse technologies can aid in the advancement of food processing and logistics. We are also establishing the right market linkages between farmers and buyers to create better transparency in pricing and better value, especially for perishable products. By bridging the gap between farmers and customers, the platform helps to expand the food product distribution network for farmers and other stakeholders in domestic markets.

Similarly, Mandis and FPOs need digitization to bring more transparency into transactions and farmers need more sales channels. Through our AGRANI Value Chain Platform, we aim to provide timely access to finance for FPOs/Agribusinesses for community infrastructure in terms of storage and transportation. We also have walk in Agrani Centres that would act as the physical outlets for all platform services to the stakeholders.”