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Twitter has launched new initiatives to tackle misinformation related to the Indian Assembly Elections.

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With the Assembly Elections of India knocking at our doors, Twitter has launched very thoughtful initiatives to tackle misinformation related to the election. These new initiatives will protect public conversation and will also encourage healthy and informed conversations between candidates, political parties, media, citizens, and society (Gadgets 360). There are a total of three new initiatives taken by Twitter ahead of the Assembly Election in India and all these will be available in six different languages, namely, English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Assamese, and Malayalam.

The Assembly Election 2021 in India will be taking place in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry. Twitter through these new initiatives will be primarily devoted to facilitating healthy political debates and enhancing civic participation in the election. Every citizen of India has a right to true facts and information. This will also enhance participation and enlighten citizens about every political party and the candidates who are representing them.

The New Initiatives by Twitter

The first initiative taken by Twitter ahead of the Assembly Election 2021 is an information search prompt. This search prompt is connected with the Election Commission of India and state election commissions which will make the path easier for users to receive appropriate information regarding the election. The users can find correct information about the candidates, polling booths, voting dates, EVM voter registration, and every other election-related query.

twitter

The next initiative is a custom emoji to encourage more civic participation. This initiative is mainly launched to initiate and simulate election-related discussions and will be available on the platform until 10th May 2021. Young Indians are expected to actively participate in these discussions and share their ideas and opinions about everything regarding the election. For making the election-related discussions more pronounced and active, Twitter is also launching a youth discussion series called #DemocracyAdda aimed at voter literacy and civic participation among young Indians for the upcoming elections (Deccan Herald).

The third initiative is the series of pre-bunks and de-bunks to eradicate the misinformation as much as possible on Twitter. This will appear on the Home page of every user and also in Search. There will also be information and guidance on how to register to vote and details on EVMs and VVPATs. Misinformation is a very damaging factor during the time of election and Twitter will make sure to tackle this misinformation with great caution. If every citizen receives the correct fact about any election-related topic, it will be easier for them to make a decision.

Spotlight on Women

Apart from these initiatives to enhance the overall political culture in India, Twitter is also bringing back a video series called #HerPoliticalJourney. This video series mainly focuses on women in politics, their political journeys along the leading women news journalists. Sharing personal stories and their struggles in the political journey will inspire several young Indian women to get actively involved in politics and journalism. This will also improve the voting ratio in terms of gender in our country.

Other Important Information

The voting for the Assembly Election will start on 27th March 2021. The counting of the votes in these five assembly elections will take place on 2nd May 2021. In response to these new initiatives taken by Twitter, Payal Kamat, Manager Public Policy and Government, Twitter India, said that public conversation is critical during elections, and “Twitter is where this unfolds” (Deccan Herald).

She also further added that India is gradually accelerating in the digital era, and thus with correct measures more people in India will now have access to credible information in the right time span. The main motive of Twitter through this bunch of new initiatives is to make more Indian people engage in election-related talks. Twitter has more than 1 crore Indian users and together by using these new Twitter features can initiate and maintain a healthy dialogue and active participation in the Assembly Elections 2021. And, to attract each and every Indian user, Twitter has decided to put the content in regional language as well so that no users can feel left out and keep themselves from participating.

Google

Microsoft and Google are openly feuding amidst hacks, competition inquiries

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The rivalry between Microsoft and Google is getting exposed in front of the public as both of them are trying to throw each other off the grid. Microsoft and Google are two of the biggest tech giants across the globe and competition between them are getting intense with time. The daily lives of common people in this digital era depend greatly on both of these company’s services.

When you are leading on the market, there are high chances of getting on the wrong side of companies you are trying to outrun. The same goes for American multinational companies, Microsoft and Alphabet Inc’s Google. Tension has been simmering between these two parties has grown due to the existing rivalry and has been unusually exposed to the public eye. The main reason for this sudden increase in tension is that the executives from both companies have been put on the defensive over competing crises (Reuters).

Problems faced by Google and Microsoft

Since both Google and Microsoft are multinational tech giants, both of their infrastructures are expected to top standards, especially on security terms. But, in the last few months, we have seen how Microsoft’s security system was compromised and recently the exchange email system was also hacked by alleged Chinese hackers. There has been more than one cyber attack on Microsoft in less than six months. Microsoft, for these cyber attacks, is facing regular scrutiny, and if continues people using Microsoft’s products will start feeling exposed. Big companies like Microsoft have data of millions of customers and thus if networks of such companies are hacked, the sensitive information of many people is jeopardized.

Google
Image Source: financialexpress.com

The first attack on Microsoft’s cloud server was allegedly the same Russian hackers who comprised the SolarWinds Corp and broke into more than one client’s server. The investigation also showed that these hackers might have accessed data from government agencies as well. Moreover, this hacking incident was one of the biggest cyberattacks ever witnessed by these tech firms. And, the second attack on Microsoft’s email server took place at the beginning of March 2021 and was committed allegedly by Chinese hackers to which Beijing declined.

On the other hand, Google is thrashed by bipartisan complaints and journalism ire for its role in gutting the media industry’s advertising revenue. Between October 2020 and December 2020, Google has faced three government antitrust lawsuits which claimed that Google was illegally maintaining a monopoly in general search and search advertising through anticompetitive conduct and contracts (CNBC). Apart from this, Google was also one of the company’s that was forced to make paid deals with local Australian media for content publishing. The Australian government enforced this law on huge tech giants who have massive power in the media industry.

The Blame game

On the hearing of last Friday at a House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, shot fire at Google. Brad Smith said to the representatives that the media organizations are being forced to “use Google’s tools, operate on Google’s ad exchanges, contribute data to Google’s operations, and pay Google money,” according to excerpts of his testimony published by Axios (Reuters). Google didn’t take it lightly and fired back saying that Microsoft has found a newfound interest in attacking Google which is coming from the SolarWinds attack when the latter allowed many big customers to be hacked due to major vulnerabilities of Microsoft. Some of these customers also include government agencies, police agencies, NATO, hospitals, etc.

Netra.AI

India to Reduce the Risk of Vision Loss for the Diabetic Patients with Intel-powered Netra.AI

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AI and machine learning have pushed every limit in making things simpler for humans, and now these two together will be reading the human retina to identify retinal conditions to reduce the risk of partial or complete blindness in diabetic patients. Sankara Eye Foundation (Indian branch) and Leben Care (Singapore) have developed a new AI and machine learning-based software-as-a-service platform that would be assessing the retinal risk and help diagnose any issues. The platform is making use of AI and deep learning and is powered by Intel. The platform is called Netra.AI and is specifically built for India.

What is Netra.AI?

Netra.AI is a cloud-based platform and is designed to detect diabetic retinopathy (DR) in very little time, that too, with complete accuracy. DR is a retinal condition that can lead to blindness. And India, which is the largest diabetic population in the world, needed such technology to help reduce the risk of vision loss in diabetic patients. This can also be a great step in reducing the burden on the vitreoretinal surgeons as Netea.AI will help in identifying such conditions in time so that a favorable step is taken to avoid the risk.

“With Netra.AI, Sankara Eye Foundation and Leben Care have leveraged the power of Intel Xeon Scalable processors and built-in Intel Deep Learning (DL) Boost to accurately detect DR and enable timely treatment to effectively combat avoidable vision impairment and blindness in diabetic patients,” the Vice President and the Managing Director of Sales, Marketing and Communications Group at Intel India, Prakash Mallya, said in a statement.

How Netra.AI Works

The Netra.AI platform includes a cloud-based web portal, which is responsible for providing immediate DR grading results. Portable and technician-operated camera devices are used to take pictures of the human retina, which then are analyzed by the Intel-powered Netra.AI. With the fundus images taken, Netra.AI detects any type of damage based on pixel density. On the basis of this analysis, the system generates quick results for that retina with bio identifiers. These results also include the various stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and the result is out only in two minutes.

Netra.AI
Image Source: biospectrumasia.com

Netra.AI works on some powerful algorithms based on a four-step deep convolutional neural network (a class of deep neural networks). The founders of Netra.AI have collaborated with retina experts around the world to make the system work with absolute accuracy.

Benefits for India

India has the largest diabetic population, and in the rural area, people with diabetes suffer the most, as there are no retinal specialists available, and the asymptomatic patients only find out their condition at the later stages. According to the reports, the estimated number of diabetic patients will reach 98 million by 2030, causing loss of vision and blindness in adults. The country needed a solution such as Netra.AI, as detecting retinal conditions in the early stages can help in reducing the number of diabetic patients and the risk of further damage in the existing patients.

“Technology and AI are democratizing healthcare access, especially in screening for ailments. Our team at Sankara Eye Foundation has focused on our vision to eliminate needless blindness from India. The current solution, Netra.AI, where we had a key role in the design and development with Leben Care uses robust AI-enabled platforms from Intel. It is an example of how like-minded collaborators can create meaningful and impactful solutions for various challenges that face humanity,” said Dr. Kaushik Murali, the president of Medical Administration, Quality & Education at Sankara Eye Foundation in India.

Source: newsroom.intel.com

Other than DR

Other than DR, Netra.AI will also be able to detect other retinal conditions like glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other retinal pathologies. For now, according to the company, Netra.AI has already screened 3,093 patients, among which it has found that 25 percent of the total screened patients were already at risk.

Sony IMX661

Sony launches IMX661 127.68 Megapixel Image Sensor with Global Shutter Function

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This week Sony has broken big news for the launch of a large-format CMOS Image Sensor that will come with a global shutter function. Sony has revealed the specifications and features of the product and the name of this image sensor is IMX661. According to Sony, the newly released image sensor has the highest effective pixel count in the entire industry. It is one of its first kind and the product will be starting to ship from April of this year.

Sony IMX661 Image Sensor

Sony IMX661 has the highest effective pixel count of 127.68 megapixels and this sensor will provide nearly 10 times larger optical sizes than a typical 1.1-type image sensor (Gadgets 360). The new image sensor is developed based on Sony’s Pregius technology. Pregius is defined as Sony’s global shutter pixel technology which is further based on Sony’s low-noise CCD structure.

Sony IMX661
IMX661 CMOS Image Sensor
(left: color model, right: black and white model)
Image Source: sony.com

The company claims that one of the best features of IMX661 is that it can capture moving objects much more effectively without causing distortion. Sony image sensor is designed in such a way that it is capable of four times faster image readout speeds as compared to any other typical CMOS image sensor. So, let’s have a detailed look at all the specifications and features of the Sony IMX661 image.

Major Improvements

The advent of the digital era and especially the AI revolution has increased the demand for CMOS image sensors exponentially. Today, in various fields across any industry, image sensors are of much importance as a part of industrial equipment. Sony via its newly launched IMX661 aims to solve many complicated challenges across many industries where image sensors are of much importance.

The new image sensor is a combination of Sony’s Pregius technology along with a 3.6-type large optical size. These are the two main technologies when combined together will deliver a high pixel count and distortion-free images of moving objects. The image sensor also captures highly efficient images using a wide viewing angle along with no motion distortion in a single operation.

Sony IMX661 delivers a high level of performance in terms of image processing and this image sensor also has improved precision for recognition. So, in the fields of crime detection, Sony IMX661 will help hugely in facial recognition with a plus point of the distortion-free image. Not to mention that Sony IMX661 is a boon for all wildlife photographers out there for whom one of the most important things is capturing moving subjects sharply.

Specifications of Sony IMX661

Sony IMX661 will be available in two colors, namely, black and white. The unit cell size of the product is 3.45 X 3.45 micrometer. This large-format CMOS image sensor has a diagonal optical size of 56.73mm. Sony said the sensor is the best option for using in wide-area monitoring and aerial photography. This brings us to one of the most important features of this image sensor, i.e., high resolution with extreme precision images.

Sony IMX661 is also rolling out with improved image readout speed to offset the increased signal processing volume (Gadgets 360). The new sensor is capable of delivering a frame rate of 12.9 fps for 14 bit, 19.6 fps for 12 bit, and 21.8 fps for 10 bit. Sony IMX661 also has improved AD converter processing functionality without increasing the product size. This is mainly due to Sony’s original configuration of the chip-on-wafer process.

To make the output interface faster, Sony has also embedded Scalable Low Voltage Signaling with Embedded Clock which has comparatively high-speed interface standards. Some of the other included features in the Sony IMX661 that are especially helpful in industrial equipment include trigger synchronization, Region of Interest (RoI) gradation compression, multi-exposure, pixel binning readout, etc.

Availability of Sony IMX661

Though the company is launching the IMX661 image sensor for industrial equipment, Sony might embed the high pixel count feature in consumer products as well. The product will start shipping in April 2021. The basic colors of the model will be either black or white, specifications of other colors are not provided in detail yet.

Verkada camera

Verkada camera breach caused by hackers exposing Tesla, Jail, and Hospitals.

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Another massive hacking incident shook the world as a group of hackers successfully compromised the security camera systems of Verkada Inc. Verkada Inc is a Silicon Valley startup and the company’s camera security system is used widely from companies to hospitals around the world. The hackers have said that they were able to collect a massive amount of security camera data and have also gained access to live feeds of a hundred thousand cameras. These cameras are set up inside hospitals, police departments, schools, prisons, etc.

The hackers have also exposed a few footages of companies including Tesla and Cloudflare Inc (San Francisco, Austin, London, and New York offices). But, this is not it as they also broke into the camera systems of women’s health clinics and also hacked the camera system of Verkada’s office. The cameras that were hacked also use facial recognition systems to identify people from the live footage. Since the hackers claim to have full footage of Verkada’s every customer, the intended damages cannot be fathomed if it is true.

Verkada camera details of exposed videos

Since the hackers claim to have access to full surveillance footage of Verkada’s customers, a few of them were revealed. Video footage taken by Verkada camera system inside Halifax Heath (Florida-based hospital) shows that a total of eight hospital staffers tackling and pinning a man on his bed (reported by Bloomberg). Another video that was revealed by the hackers was of Tesla warehouse in Shanghai. The video footage showed workers on an assembly line. The hackers have claimed to hack 222 cameras in total within Tesla. The organizations who were exposed in the leaked videos declined to comment immediately.

Verkada camera
Image Source: bloombergquint.com

There was another video from the surveillance footage witnessed by Bloomberg showed a police station in Massachusetts. A police officer was questioning a man in the video. The hackers also got into the camera security system of Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut. There is not a single place that was spared by the hackers, as they also accessed 330 security cameras inside Madison County Jail, Alabama. The hackers were not only able to access live footage but also archived videos (including audio in some cases) in high-resolution quality.

Who hacked into the camera system?

The hacking into the Verkada’s camera system was done by International hackers who wanted to show the world the pervasiveness and ease at which this system can be infiltrated. Tillie Kottmann is one of the hackers who has claimed the responsibility for the hacking incident. Tillie has also previously admitted the hacking into Intel and Nissan Motor. Tillie said some of the major reasons why this chain of hacking surveillance footage has been carried out by the group is mostly out of curiosity and constant fighting for the freedom of information and against intellectual property. Kottmann also mentioned that it is too much fun not to do it.

Apart from taking credit for accessing all camera footage, Kottmann also mentioned that they have found the root access on the cameras. This means that they can now execute their own codes in each and every camera. In doing so, this will further help them to hack into the broader Verkada network and use the cameras as a platform to launch similar hacks in the future. Kottmann also mentioned that “Obtaining this degree of access to the camera didn’t require any additional hacking, as it was a built-in feature.” (Bloomberg)

A group of hackers got into the network of Verkada’s camera system as they found an exposed user name and password information on the internet. The information was of an administrator account and after Bloomberg contacted Verkada regarding this, the hackers lost all video footage of both live and archive data.

The action was taken against hacking

In the light of the information regarding the camera system comprising, a Verkada spokesperson said that “We have disabled all internal administrator accounts to prevent any unauthorized access.” The company also mentioned that both the company’s internal security team as well as external security agency have started investigating this matter. They have also contacted law enforcement.

The controversial fact about this entire hacking incident is someone or the company has been careless enough that such sensitive information was lurking freely on the internet. Anyone can get into the surveillance system if they have a correct user name and password, but how easily are this information leaked is the main question. This will hurt the trust build between Verkada and its customers.

Microsoft

The Microsoft E-Mail hack is costing several organizations including European Union Banking Regulator

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Recently, the email system of Microsoft has been compromised due to a cyber-attack which is allegedly caused by a Chinese group. Several organizations have fallen victim to the hack of the Microsoft email system. One of the prime European Union financial regulators, the European Banking Authority has also suffered damage due to the chain of attacks.

Microsoft mentioned in a statement that the company thinks the attack is caused by a state-sponsored Chinese group operating out of China. This alleged Chinese group was trying to exploit some of the flaws in its Exchange email services that were previously not known. According to Microsoft, the main intention of this group is to steal sensitive data from various business and government organizations. Microsoft believes that so far then thousands of users have already been under attack.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has confirmed this attack on Sunday and also the organization is taking its email system offline as a precautionary measure. An organization of this importance suffers a huge casualty due to such cyber attacks. The investigation has already started in close corporation with many forensic experts, its ICT provider, and “other relevant entities.”

Microsoft E-Mail Hack

The hackers have infiltrated the user’s system using Microsoft’s email system. Currently, more than 20,000 US organizations have been compromised. Before this latest attack, there was another major attack last December where the system of SolarWinds Corp was compromised. But, it was believed that the attack in December was carried out by Russian hackers and now the blame has shifted to Chinese hackers. While investigating the latest cyberattack, it has been found out that the hack has left channels for remote access spread among credit unions, town governments, and small businesses (The Indian Express).

Microsoft

Apart from the US organization, many European and Asian organizations have also fallen victim to these attacks. Though Microsoft has issued emergency patches, the hacks don’t seem to get affected. The situation seems to be getting out of control from the big multinational tech giant. Microsoft previously thought that the attackers are targeting only some limited users. But, the hike in the numbers of victims has made the company take the help of government agencies and other security companies to protect its customers.

In response to those who are under attack, Microsoft mentioned that “impacted customers should contact our support teams for additional help and resources” (The Indian Express). Last Friday, Microsoft witnessed that only 10% of the affected customers have installed the patches issued by Microsoft. The numbers are still rising.

Warning, accusations, and declining

Last Friday, Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary mentioned that the vulnerabilities that were investigated in Microsoft’s Exchange Server were quite significant and that it could have a far-reaching impact. There has already been quite a high figure in the victim’s list and nobody still knows how many more to go. Blaming the hacker’s group is sponsored by China, the nation has declined and said that China is not behind this series of events.

The EBA which was also attacked mentioned that they might have accessed personal data. So, EBA advises on taking possible mitigation measures if that is what it takes. The security experts think that either China has changed the tactics of its attacks or there might be a second group that is committing this high-scale network infiltration and data theft.

Microsoft has urged all its customers to install the patch at the earliest. Since the attackers are entering from the back door, it is likely they will attack any unpatched system. Microsoft believes that the SolarWinds attacks and this latest attack are in no way connected. But, the company also first thought that the hackers are attacking specific targets which are now keeping to expand. So, the entire situation is becoming very unpredictable with every passing day.