Undeclared WW-III
Bruce Willis starrer Live Free or Die Hard 4.0 showed how hackers attacked the US administration by shutting power grid, water systems and defence establishments. “It was not a Hollywood fantasy,” says American scientist Bruce Khavar. “It is happening in real world, and is going to get worse.” Khavar has developed a revolutionary cyber security platform, which, he claims, is “unhackable”.
The Berkeley-based scientist was in New Delhi with his South Korean business partners—A-NEX Corporation chairman Hong-ki Kim and CEO Eun-yeon Hwang—to meet key government personalities to offer his “impregnable” and “unhackable” super cloud with cyber security technology.
Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Khavar said that smart cities of future need to graduate to a new internet paradigm for safety of people whose lives are dependent on government computer infrastructure, most of which are vulnerable to cyber-saboteurs.
“Your technology has to be superior to the hacker…to defeat the bad guy you have to be a good guard,” said Khavar, chief of Cyber Advance Technology (CAT). He takes credit for creating Operation Technology and Operation Centric Network (OT-OCN), a system not visible to hackers but capable of securing the existing internet-based computer infrastructure.
Besides defence and key strategic installations, Khavar is keen to offer his system to Indian smart cities. “The present internet system has no immunity. Hackers can break into government networks and cause havoc.”
He claimed that his invention was affordable. “We are careful about not giving the technology to rogue nations or entities prone to use it for cyber-attacks,” pointed out Khavar. “These cyber-attacks are weapons of an undeclared World War III.”
No media: FM quite clear
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is adamant about not letting the media enter the North Block, which houses her office and ministry. Some ministry officials say that she thinks that the media is not painting the correct picture of a growing economy. That is why, they say that restrictions have been made on the entry of PIB accredited journalists to the North Block. Only those who have a prior appointment are allowed to enter. Recently, journalists found an opportunity to talk to her, just as she was about to leave after a short notice press conference. Firmly, Sitharaman refused to ease the restrictions. In fact, she asked PIB officials if they had allowed her to be “gheraoed”. The PIB officials later said, “She was joking.” But journalists didn’t appreciate this. A correspondent retorted, “Tell her, she is not Goddess of Finance.”
Karnataka Deputy CM once watched porn
Laxman Sangappa Savadi, a former BJP MLA from Athani constituency in Belgaum district, is one of the three Deputy Chief Ministers appointed by Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa. In the previous Yediyurappa government, Savadi was the Minister for Cooperation and Agriculture Marketing. In a February 2012 Assembly session, he was caught on camera watching porn on his mobile handset, along with a colleague, C.C. Patil. When the news broke, Savadi said that the Assembly session was about a “rave party scandal” and they were watching the clip for “educational purposes to know more about rave parties”. They had resigned at the time.
Temple for atheist Karunanidhi
The late DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi was a self-proclaimed atheist. But a temple is being planned in his honour by the people of a Scheduled Caste sub-sect at Kuchikadu village, 37 km from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu. The temple to be constructed at a cost of Rs 30 lakh. The ground-breaking ceremony for the temple, being made in association with the local DMK women’s wing, was held some days ago. The initiative is a “mark of thanksgiving to Kalaignar” for earmarking 3% quota in government jobs and education for the Arunthathiyars as part of the quota for SCs during the DMK regime a decade ago.
Air Hostess Marries ‘Gangster’
A Haryana-based air hostess Gurjeet Kaur and a jailed “gangster” Vikramjeet Singh married at an Arya Samaj temple at Pabupura village in Jodhpur under tight police security recently. Singh is reportedly an alleged member of the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang and an accused in several cases of extortion and shooting in Haryana. Currently, he is lodged in Jodhpur jail. The wedding took place in a temple. The couple is said to have been in love for many years.