IBM, STMicro planning Rs 50K cr chip plant in India

India appears set to get its first chip-making facility with at least two global players — IBM and STMicroelectronics — in advanced stages of talks with the government for an investment of over Rs 50,000 crore.

Both STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest chipmaker semiconductor player, and a consortium including IBM have indicated that they would initially invest over Rs 25,000 crore each, at least two government officers familiar with the development told TOI. The government is hoping to not just get foreign exchange but also go for import substitution.

While locations for the chip-making facilities by IBM and STMicroelectronics have not been finalized, but top government sources said that one of the investor consortiums has indicated that it wants to set up the facility near Greater Noida, while another one has been proposed in Gujarat. A third option is near Bangalore where an information technology investment region (ITIR) spread over 42 square kilometers is being set up.

STMicroelectronics did not respond to a questionnaire sent on Monday, while an IBM spokesperson said the company it "does not comment on rumor or speculation".

The units are expected to get concessions worth nearly Rs 60,000 crore over 13 years, which will include a three-year construction period and the first 10 years of operations. "Chip-making requires high quality power and water supply, which need massive investments.

Besides, globally companies locate facilities where governments offer certain benefits," said a high-ranking officer. Taiwan, South Korea and China have used concessions to attract investors.

Commerce minister Anand Sharma confirmed talks were underway but did not disclose details. He told TOI that the move was part of the government's drive to reduce dependence on import of products and shift to local manufacturing to deal with the problem of current account deficit. He said the demand for electronic hardware is expected to reach $400 billion by 2020, compared to around $45 billion now.

A government estimate suggested that this requires investment of around $100 billion, which will create around 28 million. Although India is an important centre for chip design and verification, production is nonexistent.

If the investments materialize , they would create a large vendor base and would result in further foreign investment into the country.

This is India's second attempt to attract chipmakers into the country.

Obama govt months behind in testing IT data security

The federal government is months behind in testing data security for the main pillar of Obamacare: allowing Americans to buy health insurance on state exchanges due to open by October 1. 

The missed deadlines have pushed the government's decision on whether information technology security is up to snuff to exactly one day before that crucial date, the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general said in a report. 

As a result, experts say, the exchanges might open with security flaws or, possibly but less likely, be delayed. 

"They've removed their margin for error," said Deven McGraw, director of the health privacy project at the non-profit Center for Democracy & Technology. "There is huge pressure to get (the exchanges) up and running on time, but if there is a security incident they are done. It would be a complete disaster from a PR viewpoint." 

The most likely serious security breach would be identity theft, in which a hacker steals the social security numbers and other information people provide when signing up for insurance. 

The inspector general's report, released without fanfare last Friday, found that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services or CMS - the agency within HHS that is running Obamacare - had set a May 13 deadline for its contractor to deliver a plan to test the security of the crucial information technology component. 

A test was to have been performed between June 3 and 7. But the delivery deadline slipped and the test - assessing firewalls and other security elements - is now set for this week and next. 

"CMS," concludes the inspector general's report, "is working with very tight deadlines." 

The delays mean that the ruling by CMS's chief information officer certifying the Obamacare IT system as secure will be pushed back from Sept. 4 to Sept. 30, a day before enrollment under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the law that established Obamacare, is supposed to start. 

"Several critical tasks remain to be completed in a short period of time," the report concluded. 

Any additional delays could mean CMS would not have the information it needs to authorize use of the system by October 1, the inspector general found. 

CMS spokesman Brian Cook said the agency is confident the Obamacare exchanges will open on time. "We are on schedule and will be ready for the marketplaces to open on October 1," he said. 

Identity theft?

When people try to enroll in health insurance starting on October 1 for insurance plans taking effect in 2014, their identity, income and other information they furnish with their application will be funneled through a federal "data hub." 

The hub is like a traffic circle for data. It does not itself store information, but instead has digital spokes connecting to the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies that will allow it to verify information people provide. Opponents of Obamacare have repeatedly raised concerns that sensitive personal information could be stolen. 

Before the hub or any other federal information system can open, a 2002 law requires that it obtain a "security authorization package," which is essentially the roadmap for keeping out hackers and preventing security breaches. 

The first component of the package provides an overview of the system's security requirements and describes the controls the contractor has installed. It covers access controls and authentication, for instance, so that hackers cannot ping the hub and access IRS data. 

A second component is a risk assessment that identifies vulnerabilities and determines the probability of a data breach. 

The final component is an assessment by an independent testing organization that proper security controls have been implemented correctly, are operating as intended, and are meeting security requirements. 

"CMS has extensive experience building and operating information technology systems that handle sensitive data" as a result of its experience with Medicare and Medicaid, the agency said in a statement. 

Despite the tight IT deadlines Obamacare faces, the 2002 federal law on information security might provide an important loophole. The requirement that CMS's chief information officer make a "security authorization" decision does not mean the CIO has to conclude that the data hub is impregnable. He can decide that, despite identified security risks, the hub can operate. 

Health privacy expert McGraw said "the worst case scenario" of not meeting the IT security deadline is that the government will not be able to bring the data hub online on Oct. 1. In that case, people will be able to apply for insurance starting on that date but will not be told if they have been accepted or whether they are eligible for government subsidies to pay their premiums.

GOOGLE: If You Use Gmail, You Have 'No Legitimate Expectation Of Privacy'

If you happen to be one of the 400 million people who use Google's Gmail service for sending and receiving emails, you shouldn't have any expectation of privacy, according to a court briefing obtained by the Consumer Watchdog website.

In a motion filed last month by Google to have a class action complaint dismissed, Google's lawyers reference a 1979 ruling, holding that people who turn over information to third parties shouldn't expect that information to remain private.

From the filing (emphasis added):

Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their communications are processed by the recipient’s ECS provider in the course of delivery. Indeed, “a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties.” Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 743-44 (1979). In particular, the Court noted that persons communicating through a service provided by an intermediary (in the Smith case, a telephone call routed through a telephone company) must necessarily expect that the communication will be subject to the intermediary’s systems. For example, the Court explained that in using the telephone, a person “voluntarily convey[s] numerical information to the telephone company and ‘expose[s]’ that information to its equipment in the ordinary course of business.” Id. at 744 (emphasis added).

It should be noted that in January 2012, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer cited the same case as Google (Smith v. Maryland), but she argued that business transactions over the phone or internet are not automatically disentitled to Fourth Amendment protection.

“Google has finally admitted they don’t respect privacy,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director, in a news release. “People should take them at their word; if you care about your email correspondents’ privacy don’t use Gmail.”

The lengthy brief goes on to maintain that Google uses automated processes to sift through email for the purposes of providing spam filters, relevant advertising, and other features of the Gmail service. The opposition complaint however, takes issue with this, saying the company is instead trying "to capture the [email] authors' actual thoughts for Google's secret use."

Google argues the terms of service and privacy policy of Gmail lays out their automated processes of scanning email — and by agreeing to use the service, users are bound to those terms.

The company's reasoning shouldn't come as a huge shock. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told a CNBC interviewer in 2009 the company is bound to the federal terms of the U.S. PATRIOT Act.

"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place," Schmidt said. "But if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines, including Google, do retain this information for some time. And ... we're all subject, in the United States, to the Patriot Act, and it is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities."

Beware! Hackers may ‘steal‘ your car

magine driving on the freeway at 60 mph and your car suddenly screeches to a halt, causing a pileup that injures dozens of people. Now imagine you had absolutely nothing to do with the accident because your car was taken over by hackers. 

Charlie Miller, a security researcher at Twitter, and Chris Valasek, director of security intelligence at IOActive, a security research company, recently demonstrated car hacks at the Black Hat and DefCon computer security conferences in Las Vegas. The researchers completely disabled a driver's ability to control a vehicle. No brakes. Distorted steering. All with a click of a button. While the demos were with hybrid cars, researchers warn that dozens of modern vehicles could be susceptible. 

Hackers and security researchers are moving away from simply trying to break into - or protect - people's email accounts, stealing credit cards and other dirty digital deeds. Now they're exploring vulnerabilities to break through the high-tech security of homes, cause car accidents or in some extreme cases, kill people who use implanted medical devices. 

"Once any single computer in a car is compromised, safety of the vehicle goes out the window," Miller said in an email interview. Moderncars typically have 10 to 40 little computers in them. 

"Right now, there aren't a lot of ways for hackers to remotely attack cars: Bluetooth, wireless tire sensors, telematics units," he added. "But as cars get Internetconnections, things will get easier for the attacker." 

Carmakers and the government are aware that our vehicles are vulnerable. In fact, Miller and Valasek received a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, to research ways carmakers can thwart attacks. The biggest fear is the future: as cars become more computerized - or become fully automated, computers on wheels that drive for you - they'll become more inviting targets. 

But the demonstrations by security experts and hackers weren't a peek at what's to come. The researchers hacked a Toyota Prius and Ford Escape, two hybrid cars that are already on the road. 

Certainly, hackable cars are a troubling development for people who don't even like to use cruise control. 

Now to add to your paranoia: security researchers warned that our homes are more vulnerable than our cars to attackers. That is, if burglars trade in their lockpicks and crowbars for laptops and Wi-Fi scanners. 

Devices like the Lockitron, a Wi-Fi enabled front door lock that can be used with a smartphone, could open a way for tech-savvy thieves to break into your home. That's not to pick on Lockitron. They just happen to be on the cutting-edge of wireless home security. 

"We've built Lockitron from the ground up with security in mind," the company said in a statement, while acknowledging that "anyone claiming their system is 'unhackable' is wrong." At the conferences, security experts lauded the company for the protection it has built into the Lockitron. 

Hackers could also turn our televisions and webcams against us, monitoring everything we're saying and doing. Next-generation light bulbs that are connected to the Web could be tampered with. Digital refrigerators could be turned off, spoiling food without your knowledge. 

Some hacks could be mere practical jokes, albeit messy ones. Researchers have warned that the Bluetooth-enabled INAX Satis model toilets, which can be controlled via a smartphone app, could easily be hacked to spray water up instead of down. In response to warnings that its toilets could be hacked, INAX said it issued a security update for its toilets this month. 
Yes, in the future, you will need to download security updates for your toilet. 

And then, there are the usual smartphones fears. At BlackHat, Kevin McNamee, the director of Kindsight Security Labs, demonstrated how to take over an Android smartphone by injecting code through the game "Angry Birds." Once he had control of the phone, McNamee was able to remove photos and personal data from the device without the owner having any clue. 

Other researchers took over an iPhone by hacking a power adapter - yes, a little white power cord - to suck passwords and emails from a device that ran operating systems earlier than iOS 7. 

But some of the most advanced, and scariest, security researchers are thinking about hacks of implanted medical devices. 

Barnaby Jack, who was perhaps best known for a hack that made an ATM spit out cash, was supposed to demonstrate at Black Hat how implantable medical devices, including a pacemaker, can be hacked to kill someone. But Jack died unexpectedly, shortly before he was to make his presentation. He was often referred to as an "ethical hacker" and hoped to show the pacemaker exploit as a warning to device makers. 

So, should we dig holes in our yards, bury our computers and smartphones and never drive our cars again? Some researchers said many of these demonstrations were certainly provocative, but they were more theoretical than any sort of real risk we had to worry about today. 

"Sometimes there is a gap between the researcher community and the real world. Researchers bridge this gap often, but it's not uncommon to see conference talks on exotic technologies that don't really impact our everyday lives just yet," said Chris Rohlf, founder of Leaf Security Research, a security consulting company, in an interview. "As technology embeds itself into these everyday devices and other parts of our lives, you will see an increased focus on their security. Anywhere you find technology you'll inevitably find hackers." 

But when these technologies do arrive, I would not count on the companies that are installing computers in our cars, homes and bodies to be able to stop rogue hackers. 

"We haven't figured out how to stop attacks against Web browsers in personal computers despite trying for the last 10 years, so there isn't any reason to think that we can stop attacks against cars or other devices in the near future," Miller said. "We should be concerned and start taking action now before something bad happens. I'll still be using my car and refrigerator in the meantime though."

How big data is a key part of Intel’s data centre vision

Intel recently shared its long-term strategic vision of how corporate data centers will evolve. Big Data processing plays a central role, driven by a future of escalating data volumes from mobile, cloud, and “Internet of Things” sources. Intel is starting to pull together a portfolio of offerings as a foundational infrastructure for analyzing Big Data. 

Not surprisingly, this is a hardware-centric strategy, allowing Intel to sell more server engines to effectively run Big Data software applications. Intel believes it has the right chips (x86) to manage and analyze this data. But the chipmaker is taking a proactive role thinking further up the stack and fishing for Hadoop-related software opportunities.

Big Data is one of several demand-side drivers shaping the data center of the future

Intel laid out a detailed blueprint of key infrastructure for building the data centers ...

Why you need standardisation of SLAs in a multi-cloud environment

Many technical experts believe that cloud computing is capable of reshaping the entire ICT industry in a revolutionary manner. With the introduction and development of cloud computing, the two business entities that emerged include – Cloud Service Providers and Cloud consumers.

Although the consumers of cloud services do not possess much control over the primary computing resources, but it is quite essential for the cloud consumers to obtain necessary guarantees in terms of service delivery standards.

These guarantees are usually provided through SLA (Service Level Agreement) which is negotiated between service provider and cloud service consumer. One of the major requirement of a well defined SLA is its standardization.

It must possess apposite level of granularity, namely the trade offs between complicatedness and expressiveness, so that most of the consumer expectations are covered. An SLA must also be relatively straightforward to be verified, weighted, evaluated.

You cannot rush in the process ...

Why you need standardisation of SLAs in a multi-cloud environment

Many technical experts believe that cloud computing is capable of reshaping the entire ICT industry in a revolutionary manner. With the introduction and development of cloud computing, the two business entities that emerged include – Cloud Service Providers and Cloud consumers.

Although the consumers of cloud services do not possess much control over the primary computing resources, but it is quite essential for the cloud consumers to obtain necessary guarantees in terms of service delivery standards.

These guarantees are usually provided through SLA (Service Level Agreement) which is negotiated between service provider and cloud service consumer. One of the major requirement of a well defined SLA is its standardization.

It must possess apposite level of granularity, namely the trade offs between complicatedness and expressiveness, so that most of the consumer expectations are covered. An SLA must also be relatively straightforward to be verified, weighted, evaluated.

You cannot rush in the process ...