Daily Roundup: Facebook, Bill Cosby and Global Cybersecurity Index 2020
Finance, Current Affairs
In the Face(b,ooo,ooo,ooo,k) of success
Finance
Most of us have heard of the elite group called FAANG, but now in that elite group is an odd one out. Interestingly, there’s another elite group FAAMG brewing up with behemoths who are members of the 4 Comma Club i.e. have hit the Trillion Dollar market capitalization (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google).
On Monday, Facebook for the first time closed above USD 1 trillion market capitalization. This happened because of the 4.2% rally in response to a favourable legal ruling on the antitrust complaint that the US FTC had filed along with a coalition of state attorney generals of 48 states. Had FTC won, Facebook might have had to divest Instagram and WhatsApp.
Is it really a monopoly?
FTC had sued the company last December, arguing that Facebook engaged in a systematic strategy to eliminate threats to its monopoly. This includes the 2012 and 2014 acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, respectively, which the FTC previously cleared. The Judge dismissed the case calling it legally insufficient and that the FTC did not provide enough detailed data to prove that Facebook is a monopoly in the loosely defined market for personal social networking.
Empire builder
So far Facebook has done over 90 acquisitions but three particularly stand out and have helped Facebook in turbocharging their offerings to claim their users’ valuable time and thus, attract the bulk of their USD 85 billion-plus revenue.
WhatsApp, Instagram and Oculus have been its largest and most notable acquisitions and it’s no hidden secret that Zuckerberg has also aggressively tried to acquire Twitter and Snapchat. Going forward, the watchdog i.e. the FTC (CCI equivalent in the US) will not play ball.
Bill Cosby set free
Current Affairs
Bill Cosby was released from prison today after sexual assault charges against him were overturned by Pennsylvania's highest court.
During the revolutionary #metoo movement, 60 women came out accusing Cosby of rape. In April 2018, he was sentenced to 3-10 years of imprisonment on three counts of aggravated indecent assault, where the 2005 admission served as pivotal evidence.
More than 60 women had accused him of either sexual assault, rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, or sexual misconduct.
Bill Cosby was one of the biggest entertainers in the world, along with one of the first and biggest African American comedians to be widely accepted in the world (majorly in the US).
With the earliest accusation against him dating back to the 1960s, it wasn’t until 2005 that he faced a trial against Andrea Constand, and admitted to giving Quaalude (an illegal seductive drug) to a number of young women and having ‘casual sex’ with them, but “he wouldn’t call it rape”.
The prosecutor in the case (the one representing the victims), Bruce Castor, entered into a non-prosecution agreement with Cosby - to help his client win damages. This ensured that Cosby’s admission could never be used against him in court. Later, the case reached a settlement.
Interestingly, Bruce Castor was also part of Former US President Donald Trump’s infamous second impeachment trial.
Cosby's admission to providing drugs led to his conviction for sexual assault, which was then overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court due to violations of Cosby's due process rights, where the court used evidence from the non-prosecution agreement.
Cosby was released on 30th June 2021.
Although Cosby isn’t exonerated, this certainly is a huge setback to society’s fight against rape and sexual assault. Coming out to share the worst moments of their life, especially against someone powerful takes a lot of courage. Technical loopholes like these allow rapists to prey on the weak, and makes the victims “think twice”.
60+ women had accused one man of rape
60+ women had to relive the worst moments of their life
60+ women had their personal lives & families exposed to the society
Yet the rapist is now free.
India makes it to Top 10 in Global Cybersecurity Index 2020
Current Affairs
On Tuesday, the United Nations published its 2020 Cybersecurity Index report and ranked India 10th in the world. Ironically, the year 2020 marked the largest number of data breaches in India! Read on to understand the predicament.
What is cybersecurity?
According to the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU), cybersecurity is the collection of tools, policies, security concepts, security safeguards, guidelines, risk management approaches, actions, training, best practices, assurance and technologies that can be used to protect the cyber environment, organization and user’s assets. The general security objectives comprise the following:
availability
integrity, which may include authenticity and non-repudiation
confidentiality
ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI)
The GCI is a trusted tool that gauges the global commitment of countries around the world to cybersecurity in terms of raising awareness of the importance and different dimensions of the issue. GCI is built on five pillars:
Legal Measures
Technical Measures
Organizational Measures
Capacity Development, and
Cooperation
The index ranks nations using 82 questions developed by a panel of experts.
World’s most secure nations
As per GCI 2020,
US - Most secure nation
UK
Estonia
South Korea, Singapore, Spain
Russia, UAE, Malaysia
Lithuania
Japan
Canada
France
India - improved its ranking and jumped up 37 places
India’s steps towards a resilient cybersecurity mechanism
Information Technology Act (IT) 2000 – primary law that deals with cyber-crime and digital commerce in India; covers a broad range of offences including child pornography, cyber terrorism etc.
CERT-In (Cyber Emergency Response Team – India), 2004 - national nodal agency that responds against computer security threats
National Cyber Security Policy, 2013 - provides the vision and strategic direction to protect the national cyberspace
National Cyber Security Coordination Centre (NCCC), 2017 - performs real-time threat assessment
Cyber Swachhta Kendra, 2017 - platform for users to analyze and clean their systems by removing various viruses, bots/ malware, Trojans, etc.
Cyber Surakshit Bharat Initiative, 2018 - aims to spread awareness about cybercrime and build the capacity of frontline IT staff across all government departments
Sandes Platform, 2020 - instant messaging platform like WhatsApp that ensures secure communication between users
Efforts ≠ Outcome?
India witnessed 93.1 million malware attacks at the beginning of 2020 and in February 2021- a year after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic- the number quadrupled to 377.5 million cyberattacks.
Are Indians truly ‘cyber-safe’?
India does not have a specific legislation dealing with user data breach cases or penal actions relating to the same. The Personal Data Protection Bill, which is proposed to deal with such cases of data breaches, has been pending in the Lok Sabha since 2019. The lack of clear regulatory frameworks and policy execution impacts our country’s overall cyber hygiene.
Author’s opinion
With the world shifting to home-schooling, hybrid and work-from-home models, there is dire need for a national cybersecurity strategy that makes a citizen feel secure. India’s global ranking on certain parameters definitely doesn’t reflect the grim reality of digital India. Possessing the true potential of a global leader, India needs to address its ‘cyber truth’ and mitigate the damage- both economical and psychological, caused by cyberattacks.
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