Iyer said the growth of cybersecurity insurance policies taken by enterprises in India highlights how they are trying everything to safeguard themselves from the impact of cyber attacks.
“Indian organisations are also not as well-equipped as maybe US companies, making them the most likely to experience a data breach caused by a system glitch or business process failure,” Iyer said. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/india-the-most-targeted-country-for-data-breaches/article8907519.ece
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11-20-17 After a Punjab government entity published the Aadhaar information of 20,100 citizens on its official website in August this year, the Unified Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has reported another breach. This time around, more than 200 central and state government websites have made private Aadhaar details such as names and addresses public. ...
In April 2017, the Aadhaar details of 1.4 Mn registered users were made public on the Jharkhand Directorate of Social Security. These details included sensitive information such as names, addresses, bank account details and Aadhaar numbers....
Later in August, Qarth Technologies co-founder Abhinav Srivastava was arrested by Bengaluru’s Central Crime Branch on charges of data theft. According to the complaint, Srivastava illegally accessed UIDAI data through an “Aadhaar e-KYC verification” mobile app that he developed himself. Qarth workers were accused of developing an app and accessing details on the official website without authentication.
During his interrogation, Srivastava gave a six-hour step-by-step demoto sleuths of how he managed to hack into the Aadhaar website. In his demonstration, Srivastava said that he took advantage of the lack of Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) in the URL of the Aadhaar website. Another report claimed that Abhinav used shortcuts to access data from various websites that used Aadhaar data. https://inc42.com/buzz/aadhaar-uidai-government/
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Jan 2018 Investigations by the English daily (The Tribune) revealed that the racket is six months old and was started as a WhatsApp group. The group targeted operators of Common Service Centres Scheme (CSCS), offering them access to UIDAI data.
CSCS operators were initially assigned the task of making Aadhaar cards, but in November last year the service was restricted to post offices and designated banks. https://www.thequint.com/news/india/aadhaar-data-breached
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Retweeting CBS journalist Zack Whittaker's response on a BuzzFeed report on the breach of Aadhaar database in India, Snowden said, "It is the natural tendency of government to desire perfect records of private lives. History shows that no matter the laws, the result is abuse." https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/62379098.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
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(3 strong reasons to greatly oppose the UIDAI system in India:)
(1) Bill Gates, on a recent visit to India, hailed it as a “12-digit lie detector,” and the (2) World Bank's chief economist Paul Romer said “it could be good for the world if this became widely adopted.” ...(3) Nandan Nilekani, the tech titan who designed the program
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/04/a-security-breach-in-india-has-left-a-billion-people-at-risk-of-identity-theft/?utm_term=.729a210737d0
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Nandan Nilekani, billionaire
(born 2 June 1955) is an Indian entrepreneur, bureaucrat and politician--interview below:
4-11-17
Q: I don’t have an Aadhaar number, and I’d like to believe that I’m an honest taxpayer. But essentially now there is no way that I can pay tax without getting an Aadhaar number.
Quartz: How do you feel about the Modi government’s push to make Aadhaar mandatory for a number of things, including now for filing income tax returns?
Nilekani: The Aadhaar ID always was meant to be a platform and, obviously, reducing wastage and fraud in benefits was a key part of that. But it was also meant for other applications. Q: I don’t have an Aadhaar number, and I’d like to believe that I’m an honest taxpayer. But essentially now there is no way that I can pay tax without getting an Aadhaar number.
NN: Suppose you have to drive on the road, you have to get a driver’s licence. Do you feel that is an imposition of the state? Similarly, when you have to travel abroad, you have to get a passport. Do you see that as an imposition of the state?
But I already have a PAN for my tax.
NN: See, if the government decides that there are a lot of duplicate PAN cards and many people are evading tax with that. And if they use the Aadhaar number to remove duplicate PAN cards, what about that is bothering you?...
it’s not difficult to recreate what an Aadhaar ID looks like.
NN: That’s true of all documents. Every document in India…If you heard Mr (Nitin) Gadkari’s statement that 30% of driver’s licences are fake. So, when a guy uses a driver’s licence to enter the airport, the same thing applies, no?
So you don’t feel that the use of Aadhaar as a photo ID is a problem?
NN: We have always said that the proper use of Aadhaar for authentication should be online. I give it to you, if I just use a physical thing, you don’t know if it’s the real one or not. That’s why we’ve always said that the right use of Aadhaar authentication is online, where, like when you go and get a Reliance Jio SIM connection, it actually does an online authentication using your biometrics.
NN... In a phone, the cost of putting a fingerprint reader is about $25. The cost of putting an iris (of the eye) reader is about $6. https://qz.com/957607/nandan-nilekani-aadhaar-is-being-demonised-because-its-so-transparent/.................................................................
| Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Chairperson & Managing Director, Biocon Limited |
Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a pioneer of the biotechnology industry in India and the founder of the country’s leading biotechnology enterprise, Biocon. Named among TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw is recognized as a thought leader who has made her country proud by building a globally recognized biopharmaceutical enterprise that is committed to innovation and affordability in delivering best-in-class therapeutics to patients across the globe.
she is ranked among ‘World's 25 Most Influential People in Biopharma’ by Fierce Biotech, Forbes magazine’s ‘100 Most Powerful Women’ and Fortune’s ‘Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Asia-Pacific.’ She has been recognized as the only Indian on Forbes' list of 'World's Self-Made Women Billionaires.' She has been conferred with the highest French distinction - Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour). She was bestowed with ‘The Global Leadership in Engineering Award’ by Los Angeles-based USC Viterbi, School of Engineering in 2016 for excellence in biotechnology worldwide and most recently with the Advancing Women in Science and Medicine (AWSM) Award for Excellence 2017 by The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, USA. She has also featured in ‘The Worldview 100 List’ of the most influential visionaries by Scientific American magazine and named among the ‘100 Leading Global Thinkers’ by Foreign Policy magazine. Also, featured among the top ten ‘Medicine Maker Power List', an index of the 100 most influential people across the globe in the field of medicine, being recognised consecutively for the third year since 2015. https://www.biocon.com/biocon_press_kmprofile.asp?subLink=down
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Genetic engineering's Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, a billionaire:
Beginning with enzymes After a brief period as a trainee manager at Biocon Biochemicals Limited, of Cork, Ireland, to learn more about the business, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw returned to India.[22]:109 She started Biocon India in 1978 in the garage of her rented house in Bengaluru with a seed capital of Rs. 10,000.[23] Although it was a joint venture, Indian laws restricted foreign ownership to 30% of the company. The remaining 70% belonged to Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.[24] Initially, she faced credibility challenges because of her youth, gender and her untested business model. Funding was a problem: no bank wanted to lend to her, and some requested that her father be a guarantor. A chance meeting with a banker at a social event finally enabled her to get her first financial backing.[20]:156[21]:104[22]:109 She also found it difficult to recruit people to work for her start-up. Her first employee was a retired garage mechanic.[17] Her first factory was in a nearby 3,000-square-foot shed.[20]:154 The most complicated piece of equipment in her lab at that time was a spectrophotometer.[25] As well, she faced the technological challenges associated with trying to build a biotech business in a country with a shaky infrastructure.[20]:156[21]:114 Uninterrupted power, superior quality water, sterile labs, imported research equipment, and workers with advanced scientific skills were not easily available in India at the time.[26]
The company's initial projects were the extraction of papain (an enzyme from papaya used to tenderize meat) and isinglass (obtained from tropical catfish and used to clarify beer).[21]:104 Within a year of its inception, Biocon India was able to manufacture enzymes and to export them to the US and Europe, the first Indian company to do so.[20]:156 At the end of her first year, Mazumdar used her earnings to buy a 20-acre property, dreaming of future expansion.[17]
Expanding into biopharmaceuticals[edit]
Mazumdar spearheaded Biocon's evolution from an industrial enzymes manufacturing company to a fully integrated bio-pharmaceutical company with a well-balanced business portfolio of products and a research focus on diabetes, oncology and auto-immune diseases.[27][28] She also established two subsidiaries: Syngene (1994) which provides early research and development support services on a contract basis and Clinigene (2000) which focuses on clinical research trials and the development of both generic and new medicines. Clinigene was later merged with Syngene. Syngene was listed on BSE/NSE in 2015 and has a current market cap of US$1.15 billion.[19][20]:158[21]:106[22]:111[29]:211–212
Mazumdar is responsible for establishing Biocon's direction. As early as 1984, she began to develop a research and development team at Biocon, focusing on discovery of novel enzymes and on development of novel techniques for solid substrate fermentation technology.[30]:30–31 The company's first major expansion came in 1987, when Narayanan Vaghul of ICICI Ventures (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) supported creation of a venture capital fund of US$250,000.[22]:113 The money enabled Biocon to expand its research and development efforts. They built a new plant featuring proprietary solid substrate fermentation technology based on a semi-automated tray culture process, inspired by Japanese techniques.[20]:156[22]:110[30] In 1989, Biocon became the first Indian biotech company to receive US funding for proprietary technologies.[20]:158
In 1990, Mazumdar incorporated Biocon Biopharmaceuticals Private Limited (BBLP) to manufacture and market a select range of biotherapeutics in a joint venture with the Cuban Center of Molecular Immunology.[20]:158
Establishing independence[edit]
Biocon Biochemicals of Ireland was acquired from Leslie Auchincloss by Unilever in 1989.[31]:50 The partnership with Unilever helped Biocon to establish global best practices and quality systems.[25] In 1997, Unilever sold its specialty chemicals division, including Biocon, to Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).[24] In 1998, Kiran Mazumdar's fiancée, Scotsman John Shaw, personally raised $2 million to purchase the outstanding Biocon shares from ICI.[22]:106[32] The couple married in 1998, whereupon she became known as Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. John Shaw left his position as chairman at Madura Coats to join Biocon.[33] He became Biocon’s vice chairman in 2001.[17]
In 2004, after seeking the advice of Narayana Murthy, Mazumdar-Shaw decided to list Biocon on the stock market.[22]:114 Her intent was to raise capital to further develop Biocon's research programs. Biocon was the first biotechnology company in India to issue an IPO.[20]:159 Biocon's IPO was oversubscribed 33 times and its first day at the bourses closed with a market value of $1.11 billion,[20]:159 making Biocon only the second Indian company to cross the $1-billion mark on the first day of listing.[34]
Affordable innovation[edit]
Mazumdar-Shaw's belief in "affordable innovation" has been a driving philosophy behind Biocon's expansion. Inspired by the need for affordable drugs in less-wealthy countries, she has looked for opportunities to develop cost-effective techniques and lower-cost alternatives.[34][35] She has also proposed that drug companies be cost-sensitive in marketing to developing countries, so that people can afford the drugs they need, particularly chronic therapies.[20][35]
Mazumdar-Shaw noticed the market potential for statins (cholesterol fighting drugs) early on . When the patent of the cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin expired in 2001, Biocon got involved in its development. Then they expanded to other forms of statins. Part of her strategy was to enter into long-term supply contracts, establishing a dependable market base over time. Statins soon accounted for over 50 per cent of the company's revenue.[13] The company’s revenue went up from Rs. 70 crore in 1998, to Rs. 500 crore in 2004 when it went public.[34]
Biocon continues to expand into new areas. Yeast expression platforms offer a desirable alternative to mammalian cell cultures for the genetic manipulation of cells for use in a variety of drug treatments. Unicellular methylotrophic yeasts such as Pichia pastoris are used in the production of vaccines, antibody fragments, hormones, cytokines, matrix proteins, and biosimilars.[36]
Biocon's major areas of research now include cancer, diabetes, and other auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.[22][37] Because of the high percentage of people in India who chew betel or tobacco, India accounts for eighty-six per cent of oral cancer in the world, known locally as "cancer cheek".[38][39] Diabetes is prevalent, and people who do not wear shoes are at risk to have a minor scrape or injury develop into gangrene, or "diabetes foot".[38][39] Biocon is also working on drugs to treat psoriasis, a skin pigment disease which can result in social ostracization.[38]
Bio-pharmaceuticals developed include Pichia-derived recombinant human insulin and insulin analogs for diabetes, an Anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody for head and neck cancer, and a biologic for psoriasis.[35] Biocon is Asia's largest insulin producer,[40] and has the largest perfusion-based antibody production facilities.[41]
As of 2014, Biocon directed about 10% of its revenue back into research and development, a much higher proportion than most Indian pharmacological companies.[42] Biocon has filed at least 950 patent applications as a result of its research activity.[42] Mazumdar-Shaw has actively engaged in acquisitions, partnerships and in-licensing within the pharmaceuticals and bio-pharmaceutical area, entering into more than 2,200 high-value R&D licensing and other deals between 2005 and 2010.[34] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiran_Mazumdar-Shaw
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.By 2008 India had many other GM crops (besides a joint deal with Monsanto's Bt cotton), including rice, eggplant, okra, potatoes, tomatoes and groundnuts. at page 102 of https://books.google.com/books?id=GwpsVDKQcSUC&pg=PA98&lpg=PA98&dq=Kiran+Mazumdar+Shaw+genetic+engineering&source=bl&ots=j6Qn-BJLFH&sig=w_aOJtWvYmDWUHQXYYeEtUFORlM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNhpSU3sLYAhUl34MKHSW0CaYQ6AEIejAQ#v=onepage&q=Kiran%20Mazumdar%20Shaw%20genetic%20engineering&f=false
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The simple act of sowing a seed, saving a seed, planting a seed, harvesting a crop for a seed is bringing back this memory—this timeless memory of our oneness with the Earth and the creative universe.
There’s nothing that gives me deeper joy than the work of protecting the diversity and the freedom of the seed. Every expression of diversity is an expression of freedom, and every expression of monoculture is an expression of coercion.
-Vandana Shiva (shown)
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/vandana-shiva-seed-saving_n_4302670.html
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