Facebook to launch satellite to expand Internet access in Africa

Facebook said it would launch a satellite in partnership with France’s Eutelsat Communications to bring Internet access to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

The satellite, part of Facebook’s Internet.org platform to expand internet access mainly via mobile phones, is under construction and will be launched in 2016, the companies said on Monday.

The satellite, called AMOS-6, will cover large parts of West, East and Southern Africa, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. The project will be conducted under his Internet.org initiative that aims to bring Internet access to the two-thirds of the world that have been unable to receive it. Among other projects include using solar-powered drones to beam out Internet signals to rural areas, and the set-up of the Innovation Lab to mimic real-world connectivity issues for developers to test their app’s performance.

“To connect people living in remote regions, traditional connectivity infrastructure is often difficult and inefficient, so we need to invent new technologies,” Zuckerberg said.

"Over the last year Facebook has been exploring ways to use aircraft and satellites to beam internet access down into communities from the sky," Mr Zuckerberg wrote.

In a statement, Eutelsat said users on the ground would be able to use "off the shelf" products to access the service when it launches in the second half of 2016.

"The capacity is optimised for community and Direct-to-User Internet access using affordable, off-the-shelf customer equipment," the company said.

"Eutelsat and Facebook will each deploy Internet services designed to relieve pent-up demand for connectivity from the many users in Africa beyond range of fixed and mobile terrestrial networks."

Facebook has nearly 20 million users in major African markets Nigeria and Kenya, statistics released by it showed last month, with a majority using mobile devices to access their profiles.The company opened its first African office in Johannesburg in June.

Android Vulnerability - "Stagefright"

Stagefright is a remotely exploitable software bug that affects versions 2.2 ("Froyo") and newer of the Android operating system. It allows an attacker to perform arbitrary operations on the victim device through remote code execution and privilege escalation. Security researchers demonstrate the bug with a proof of concept that sends specially crafted MMS messages to the victim device and in most cases requires no end-user actions upon message reception to succeed, while using the phone number as the only target information.

The underlying attack vector exploits certain integer overflow vulnerabilities in the Android's core component called "Stagefright",  which is a complex software library implemented primarily in C++ as part of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and used as a backend engine for playing various multimedia formats such as MP4 files

Stagefright 2.0 is finally back in the ranks of Android vulnerability, causing over 1bn Android devices to be hacked easily through a remote server execution. Stagefright bug was first encountered in 2008 when the hacker can easily hack the device and get access to internal resource and execution by simply exploiting the media handling capabilities of the Android devices. The first Stagefright bug enabled hackers to send an MMS message and take control of the device.

Stagefright 2.0 is security vulnerability made of two holes in Android that can allow an attacker to take over a Smartphone via an MP3 or MP4 video.The vulnerability lies in the processing of metadata within the files, so merely previewing the song or video would trigger the issue. Since the primary attack vector of MMS has been removed in newer versions of Google’s Hangouts and Messenger apps, the likely attack vector would be via the Web browser.Mark James, security specialist at ESET said: “Visiting a website and previewing an infected song or video file could enable the attacker to gain access to your mobile device and run remote code, in theory allowing them full access to your device enabling them to do whatever they wish ... including installing other malware, or just harvesting your data for use in identity theft.”The vulnerability affects even those smartphones that have had the original Stagefright bug patched, such as Google’s Nexus devices and Samsung’s Galaxy S6 series. 

If your device is vulnerable, keep an eye on news from your handset manufacturer for updates which might patch the vulnerabilities.

Alphabet replaces Google's 'don't be evil' slogan with 'do the right thing'

Alphabet, which took over as Google’s new holding company on Friday, has dropped the tech giant’s “Don’t Be Evil” mantra from its code of conduct.

Alphabet Inc. posted a new code of conduct for its employees Friday, after Google completed its transformation into a holding company. There were few substantive changes in more than 20 documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission; the Alphabet code of conduct, posted on its website, is among them.

Google's code of conduct, of course, is best-known for its first line, which was also included in Google’s 2004 filing for its initial public offering: “Don’t be evil.”

Alphabet’s code doesn’t include that phrase. Instead, it says employees of Alphabet and its subsidiaries “should do the right thing – follow the law, act honorably, and treat each other with respect.”

“Don’t be evil” marked Google’s aspiration to be a different company. But the phrase also has been held up by critics who say Google has not always lived up to it.

Google’s code of conduct is much longer than Alphabet’s. It includes idiosyncracies about drinking alcohol at work (OK but not too much) and taking pets to the office (dogs are cool but cats are discouraged).

The Alphabet code sticks to the basics: avoid conflicts of interest, maintain integrity and obey the law.

To be sure, the vast majority of Alphabet employees will still be Google employees, part of the core search-and-advertising unit that is the new holding company’s biggest division. Those workers are still covered by Google’s code of conduct and the “Don’t be evil” motto.

Ultimately, whether it's "Do the Right Thing" or "Don't Be Evil," there's a fundamental belief at Google that the company is the moral arbiter of what a just future should look like.

Bye bye GOOGLE , hello Alphabet

GOOGLE HAS REORGANIZED itself into multiple companies, separating its core Internet business from several of its most ambitious projects while continuing to run all of these operations under a new umbrella company called Alphabet.

“What is Alphabet? Alphabet is mostly a collection of companies. The largest of which, of course, is Google,” Google co-founder Larry Page said in a blog post .“This newer Google is a bit slimmed down, with the companies that are pretty far afield of our main Internet products contained in Alphabet instead.”In other words, Google will continue to run internet-centric services such as Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome, and Android. But “moonshot” projects such as the X Lab and the Calico life extension project will operate as somewhat separate entities.
As for the actual structure of Alphabet, it will be comprised of a smaller version of Google, which will be slimmed down to include the company’s core businesses. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, these businesses include “search search, ads, maps, apps, YouTube and Android and the related technical infrastructure.” Alphabet will also contain other business like Fiber, Nest, and Calico.

Google shareholders will receive one share of Alphabet stock for every Google share they previously held. For those fearing a weird shakeup on Google’s masthead, you can relax; CEO Larry Page, CFO Ruth Porat, President Sergey Brin, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, and chief counsel David Drummond will all be retaining their positions at Alphabet.
Later this year, Google intends to implement a holding company reorganization (the "Alphabet Merger"), which will result in Alphabet owning all of the capital stock of Google. Alphabet will initially be a direct, wholly owned subsidiarGoogle. Pursuant to the Alphabet Merger, a newly formed entity ("Merger Sub"), a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet and an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Google, will merge with and into Google, with Google surviving as a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet. Each share of each class of Google stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Alphabet Merger will automatically convert into an equivalent corresponding share of Alphabet stock, having the same designations, rights, powers and preferences and the qualifications, limitations and restrictions as the corresponding share of Google stock being converted.

Organized Cyber Crime

Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals, who intend to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for money and profit.

Technology has allowed users worldwide an ease of access from online banking to instantaneous communication via email or phone. Criminals have also benefited from those same technological innovations, giving them a greater access to victims and targets, worldwide communication, and minimizing attribution. Cybercrime is an area that has flourished, as it requires little resources, no traveling, and a skill set that is readily available to learn. This has made cybercrime a serious threat to both national and international security. In 2014, McAfee estimated that the cost of global cybercrime is 0.8% of global GDP that’s over $400 billion USD in losses to cybercrime. Furthermore, unlike in traditional criminal activity, organized cyber-criminal groups prefer to remain unknown, which makes tracking cybercrime activity incredibly difficult.

Dozens of cybercrime groups have reached the level of sophistication where their technical capabilities are on a par with those of a nation-state, it has been claimed. Gangs are capable of building complex systems aimed at stealing money and intellectual property on a grand scale, costing almost the same to the global economy as counterfeiting or the narcotics trade.

For example, an organized crime group might spread malware which steals bank account details from an infected PC. That same malicious software would also use affected machines to carry out a denial of service attack against the bank in order to distract the bank's security team while the gang cleans out bank accounts using the stolen account credentials.

Cybercrime can be expected to grow, as is allows criminals to remain relatively anonymous, requires little to no transportation, has a high rate of return, and unlike other criminal activity, like drug trafficking, cybercrime has no enforceable international norms or laws to prosecute criminals. Add to this more businesses and individuals moving to information to online service platforms, and developing countries looking to grow their technology sector, giving an influx of users and victims for cybercrime. Cybercrime has serious implications on national, personal, and economic security.

Project Loon is being developed by Google X

Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by Google X with the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas. The project uses high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 32 km (20 mi) to create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds.It was named Project Loon, since Google itself found the very idea of providing internet access to the remaining 5 billion population unprecedented and "crazy.

The balloons are maneuvered by adjusting their altitude to float to a wind layer after identifying the wind layer with the desired speed and direction using wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Users of the service connect to the balloon network using a special Internet antenna attached to their building. The signal travels through the balloon network from balloon to balloon, then to a ground-based station connected to an Internet service provider (ISP), then onto the global Internet. The system aims to bring Internet access to remote and rural areas poorly served by existing provisions, and to improve communication during natural disasters to affected regions.

Google says these balloons can deliver widespread economic and social benefits by bringing Internet access to the 60 percent of the world’s people who don’t have it. Many of those 4.3 billion people live in rural places where telecommunications companies haven’t found it worthwhile to build cell towers or other infrastructure. After working for three years and flying balloons for more than three million kilometers, Google says Loon balloons are almost ready to step in.

Designing of Loon :

The inflatable part of the balloon is called a balloon envelope. A well-made balloon envelope is critical for allowing a balloon to last around 100 days in the stratosphere. Loon’s balloon envelopes are made from sheets of polyethylene plastic, and they measure fifteen meters wide by twelve meters tall when fully inflated. When a balloon is ready to be taken out of service, gas is released from the envelope to bring the balloon down to Earth in a controlled descent. In the unlikely event that a balloon drops too quickly, a parachute attached to the top of the envelope is deployed.

Each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 km in diameter using a wireless communications technology called LTE. To use LTE, Project Loon partners with telecommunications companies to share cellular spectrum so that people will be able to access the Internet everywhere directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices. Balloons relay wireless traffic from cell phones and other devices back to the global Internet using high-speed links

Supporting Digital India is no way related with Internet.org

Digital India is an initiative of the Government of India to ensure that government services are made available to citizens electronically by improving online infrastructure and by increasing internet connectivity. It was launched on 1 July 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The initiative includes plans to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks. Digital India has three core components. These include.

· The creation of digital infrastructure
· Delivering services digitally
· Digital literacy

Digital India is a purely Prime Minister Modi’s initiative for the betterment of India to have a digitally connected country. As science and technology have become an important part of a country’s growth, the importance of making India into a Digital India is very much concerned by the Prime Minister. Digital India is no way related with Zuckerberg’s Internet.org.

Rumours have been started to spread that Mark Zuckerberg is silently promoting his Internet.org (now called as FreeBasics).Blaming an engineer for the "mistake", Facebook said the product in no way connects to or registers support for Internet.Org.

"There is absolutely no connection between updating your profile picture for digital India and registering support for Internet.Org," Facebook said in a statement.An engineer mistakenly used the words "Internet.Org profile picture" as a shorthand name he chose for part of the code, it added.

"But this product in no way connects to or registers support for Internet.Org. We are changing the code to eliminate any confusion," the statement said.