'Don't use social networking e-mail id for online transctions'

Security software maker Symantec today advised internet users not to use e-mail ids being used for social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter for carrying out online banking or business transactions in order to prevent stealing of financial data.

"They (internet users) should be more cautious while on social networking sites. They should have separate e-mail id for social networking site and other e-mail id for carrying out transactions like banking," Symantec MD Shantanu Ghosh told reporters here while replying to a query steps needed to be protected from cyber attack on social networking sites.

"We have observed that on social networking sites, people usually share their detail including personal ones with their friends as well as with those whom they do not know much and here they face the risk (of being attacked)," he said.

"Cyber attackers then can try to get into your e-mail ids through malware on these sites and try to steal vital information like credit card information," he said.

He said not to click on any "untrusted" link in their e-mails or social networking site as it also poses threat of stealing important financial information of the user.

Ghosh also cited an example when a malware in the name of bollywood female actress Katrina Kaif video was received by internet users on their e-mail ids in India and later it was found that the malware was intended to steal credit card information of the user.

Acknowledging that the number of malwares in the cyber world has grown to millions in India in last few years, he also stressed on be cautious on framing a secure password for their e-mail ids to avert any cyber attack.

"Some users use e-mail password as wife's birth date or anniversary day or birth year and most of these details are available on their social networking site account and it can also be misused by cyber attackers," he said.

He added that small and medium business in cities like Chandigarh, Surat, Jaipur are facing the threat of cyber attack because of less spending by small entrepreneurs on security technology and growing use of internet.

"Small cities, including Chandigarh, are sharing good amount of malware activity...(because) these companies are not spending much on security technology which makes them vulnerable to cyber attack," Ghosh said.

He said increasing use of broadband and low awareness among entrepreneurs about malwares are also some of the reasons behind their vulnerability of cyber attack.

"Augmented by broadband penetration, smaller and emerging cities of India are exploring opportunities offered by the virtual world in turn creating a new lucrative pool of targets for cyber criminals to exploit," he said.

As per the Symantec Internet Security, a sizeable 25 per cent of small and emerging cities like Chandigarh, Surat, Cochin, Jaipur are infected by malwares

GATE-2013 to get tougher

The increasing interest in higher education among the technical graduates in the country is a direct reflection of the growing number of aspirants for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). The aspirants have grown from a mere 1.8 lakh in 2008 to 7.7 lakh in 2012.

The GATE-2013 will see more numbers and certainly be tougher for two reasons. Due to sluggish recruitment in the IT industry more students are likely to appear while on other hand Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are recruiting in large numbers and GATE qualification is mandatory for most of those jobs.

Moreover, nearly 90 per cent of the applicants take the test unlike the Civil Services where about 50 per cent of applicants actually appear.

The GATE-2013 to be conducted by the IIT Bombay will also see several changes. Out of 21 papers in GATE 15 papers will be conducted in online mode this year. Last year only six papers were online while the previous year only four papers were in the online mode. However, this may not be a concern as GATE aspirants are used to online test like AIEEE or BITSAT.

Another change brought in for the exam includes exemption of application fee for female candidates to attract more number of girl students. The fee will be Rs. 1,200 for general and OBC candidates and Rs. 600 for SC, ST and Physically Challenged boys.

Till last year GATE score calculation used method of average and standard deviation of marks scored by all students. In the new formula to be applicable from this year, the average and standard deviation terms do not refer to the entire population, but to specific ability levels (qualification marks and top 0.1% of students). The score will be valid for two years.

The three-hour exam with 65 questions (30 one-mark questions and 35 two-mark questions) summing up to 100 marks will have questions from core subjects, engineering maths and general aptitude. “Questions from the core engineering subjects far outweigh the other two areas with 70 per cent weightage. But, General Aptitude and engineering maths with 15 marks each, play a vital role in maximising the score,” says Prudhvi Reddy, Course Director of GATE at TIME institute.

Mr. Reddy feels good performance in aptitude and Maths ensure the minimum qualification marks. “Offline mode will have only multiple choice questions. But, online mode exams will also have numerical answer type questions accounting for 15 marks.” Questions are likely to test the applicants’ grip on basic concepts and the ability to apply them in problems. The GATE notification issued gives an overview of the areas where applicants will be tested. These can be broadly categorised in to four types - recall, comprehension, application and Analysis and Synthesis. “Most of the recall based questions will be in the one mark category. Thorough knowledge of fundamentals and extensive practice are the only two factors that can bring success here,” Mr. Reddy says. The GATE trainers advice that candidates should plan their preparation strategically. Attempting previous papers and analysing the weightage given for various topics are crucial elements.

However, aspirants will face tough competition for six papers - CSE, ECE, EEE, ME, PI and IN that account for 90 per cent of the applicants. All these will be in the offline mode on second Sunday of February 2013.

Colleges plan on indefinite bandh

         The inspection of engineering colleges by the task forces constituted by the government, comprising officials from police, revenue, vigilance departments etc., is snowballing into a major controversy.

Majority of the engineering colleges, numbering about 580 out of a total of 685 private engineering colleges in the state, are totally against any inspections by the government, since they had agreed to a moderate fee hike of Rs 4,000 — from Rs 31,000 to Rs 35,000, as proposed by the government.

The managements of those colleges that agreed to a moderate fee hike of Rs 4,000, met here on Saturday to decide on their future course of action. They also intend to hold a meeting on Monday in the city with the managements of nearly 1,000 engineering, pharmacy, MBA and MCA colleges, which accepted the moderate fee hike as proposed by the government. They are planning to observe an “indefinite bandh” of colleges over the issue.

“The Cabinet sub-committee consisting of deputy CM Damodar Raja Narasimha and minister Botsa Satyanarayana had assured us during the talks that there would be no inspection of colleges that accepted a moderate fee hike. They told us the inspections will be restricted to those 83 colleges that claimed a steep hike, ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.05 lakh,” said K.V.K. Rao, chairman, Educational Institutions’ Protection Committee.

precautions to be taken during an online transaction

Dusing an online transaction,the sessions should be well secured & properly configured because this is where an attaker tries to steal the information he needs Apart from these,other precautions like not to open multiple tabs during an online transaction as it increases the chances of threat,click on dont't remember password & clear cookie values on public computers