ONGC to invest $5.1 bn for developing oil finds off AP coasta

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on Friday signed an MoU with Andhra Pradesh government for investing $5.07 billion in developing oil and gas finds off the state's coast by 2019-20.

ONGC will invest $5.07 billion in bringing to production 10 oil and gas discoveries in the Bay of Bengal block KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5), which sits next to Reliance Industries' flagging KG-D6 fields.

First gas production is envisaged by June 2019 and oil would start flowing from March 2020. Gas from the offshore field will be brought via sub-sea pipeline to Andhra Pradesh before being transported to end users.


The MoU was signed by ONGC Chairman and Manging Director Dinesh K Sarraf and the state government's Industries Director Kartikeya Misra.

The 7,294.6 sq km deep-sea KG-D5 block has been broadly categorised into Northern Discovery Area (NDA - 3,800.6 sq km) and Southern Discovery Area (SDA - 3,494 sq km).

The NDA has 11 oil and gas discoveries while SDA has the nation's only ultra-deepsea gas find of UD-1. These finds have been clubbed in three groups - Cluster-1, Cluster-II and Cluster-III.

Gas discovery in Cluster-I is to be tied with finds in neighbouring G-4 block for production but this is not being taken up currently because of a dispute with RIL over migration of gas from ONGC blocks, officials said.

From Cluster-II a peak oil output of 77,305 barrels per day is envisaged within two years of start of production. Gas output is slated to peak to 16.56 million standard cubic meters per day by end-2021.

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How to secure a smartphone for the tweeter-in-chief

As President Donald Trump takes office, he has also taken up a new, digital symbol of the presidency. Before, during and since the campaign, he used an Android smartphone to conduct his business and tweet prolifically, directly reaching millions of followers. But when he was inaugurated, Trump surrendered that device and accepted in its place a smartphone that has somehow been made more secure.

It is a key move for a man who might now be not only the 45th commander-in-chief but also America’s first president with such devotion to Twitter. Many private companies deal with issues like this, in which employees joining the ranks already have a mobile phone they use for their personal life. Should that device be connected to company systems? Or should workers be issued a cumbersome second phone for work-only purposes? There are federal recommendations about that, but few firms are handling data as sensitive as the president’s phone might be.


A presidential smartphone is probably the most attractive target imaginable for foreign governments’ hackers. Attacking the phone could provide access to the highest secrets of national security, and near-constant real-time information about exactly where the president is, raising the potential for physical threats. Securing a phone like that requires several layers of protection.

Exactly what has been done to protect the president’s phone is intentionally left unclear to the public. But as a scholar of mobile security, I know that beyond overall network security measures, there are several technological approaches to securing a smartphone for special use. The most secure, however, is also among the least practical and least likely: ensuring the phone cannot connect to the internet at all. So how might have government cybersecurity specialists locked down Trump’s new phone?

Hiding key information

One level of protection is what is called “security by obscurity.” Many people presumably had Trump’s pre-presidential phone number. Now, relatively few people will have his new number. Similarly, his old phone’s internal device identifiers, such as its unique 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity number, or IMEI, may not have been as carefully guarded as those for his new phone. Keeping that information secret means the first hurdle for potential attackers involves figuring out which phone to attack in the first place.

Another layer of security involves ensuring the device was made by a trusted manufacturer, using trusted components, reducing the risk that the hardware would have any vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit. Similarly, anyone who worked with or handled the phone at any step would have to be prevented from tampering with it to introduce any weaknesses.

Adding even more security in the physical device itself would be a specialized computer chip to add significant encryption capability for data stored on the phone or transmitted to or from it. Called a “Trusted Platform Module,” this hardware element is required by the Defense Department in all new devices handling military information. In addition, it could be used to ensure that any attempts to tamper with the phone, its settings or the operating system installed would be identified immediately.

Custom configuration

The phone also might be configured to connect only with certain predetermined phone and data networks that are regularly screened against intrusions. Limiting its contact with the internet would, of course, be key – though that would also significantly limit the phone’s usefulness to a president whose routine involves constant connection.

To handle that middle ground – finding a compromise between a full, unrestricted internet connection and a completely disconnected device – Trump’s phone likely has some degree of customization. This could include a custom operating system, such as the Android variants the Department of Defense has developed. These would contain security features not typically found in commercial systems, such as special restrictions on logging in and unlocking the phone, as well as specialized encryption settings.

A more limited app store

The apps allowed on the president’s phone should be few and limited only to those verified in advance. There should be little, if any, ability to automatically download and install apps, which could carry with them security-breaching code. For similar reasons, automatic updates to apps or the operating system might be restricted.

What happens inside a phone’s processor and memory when it’s running an app is already fairly secure even on commercial smartphones. Parts of the memory storing data and other parts handling the software instructions for working with those data are typically separated and identified. For smartphones such as those used by the president, this memory tagging should be done in hardware. This can prevent a number of different types of attacks that try to trick the device into running software code from areas of memory set aside to handle data.

Also important is determining which data an app can use. Most operating systems allow users to make that decision. To improve security even more, the phone could be programmed with mandatory limits provided by, say, the secret service. To some degree, this ability is present on many smartphones, preventing users or attackers from corrupting key elements of the system.

But it could be stepped up – even enforcing that a particular file could be shared only with people or apps holding a certain level of security clearance, and having the system prevent sharing it elsewhere. For example, even if the president inadvertently told the Twitter app (if it’s installed on his phone) to share a piece of classified information, the phone’s software could step in and prevent that from happening.

Additional steps

Separately encrypting the memory spaces used by each app can boost security further. That would ensure that even if a malicious app makes its way onto the phone, it cannot see what other apps are doing, nor read the data they are working with.

Academic researchers have developed other ways that could be incorporated into a more secure presidential smartphone. The concept of “data tagging” can ensure that data that have been accessed by a certain app are accessed only in restricted ways. For example, the phone could be instructed that information that has passed through the White House’s secure wireless networks should not be accessible to the Twitter app.

Additionally, context-dependent settings could monitor the phone’s location and take note of surrounding devices. Perhaps the phone’s microphone and camera could be shut off, and any active Twitter link disconnected, if the phone itself is in the Oval Office, and whenever the president is meeting with members of his national security team.

How exactly the president’s phone is protected is vitally important to our national security. Trump’s agreement to stop using his previous, commercial-grade phone in favor of a government-secured one is a good step toward keeping the president informed and engaged while he and the nation also stay safe.

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US Pushes Cybersecurity Acquisition Tools as Contracts Flow

Vendors of cyber security offerings are finding that the U.S. government is serious about improving the protection of federal IT assets. A steady stream of data protection contracts has been flowing to providers, including some notable high-value transactions during the last half of 2016.

One example is a Department of Homeland Security contract, with a potential value of US$395 million, for various cyber security protection services designed to prevent, detect, contain and eradicate cyber threats. While DHS went through the process of selecting a vendor last year, a final award is pending due to a legal challenge. Still, the magnitude of the DHS project indicates the significant level of potential federal investments in cyber security.

Federal contracting is never easy, of course, and the providers who have received cyber security contracts have had to meet all the requirements of doing business with the government. While those requirements remain in force, federal agencies, especially the General Services Administration, are trying to improve the processing of cyber protection acquisitions through expansions or enhancements to various federal procurement vehicles.

GSA's recently selected Adobe as a provider of data protection capabilities for federal agencies. The administration last month revealed it had engaged Adobe for a "new, government-wide enterprise software acquisition agreement for best-in-class, data-centric security and electronic signature solutions."

The agreement will help agencies "comply with current information security and electronic government policy recommendations and requirements," including the Cyber security National Action Plan, the Cyber security Strategy and Implementation Plan, the Cyber security Act of 2015, the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, and the E-Sign Act of 2000, according to GSA.
Contract Vehicle Available to All Agencies

As part of a government-wide initiative, all federal agencies will be able to use the GSA vehicle to acquire the various cyber protection capabilities offered by Adobe. GSA did not conduct a request for proposals to set up the acquisition. Instead, the administration used its existing IT contracting capability, known as "Schedule 70."

The agreement "came as a result of vendor engagement and market research conducted by our IT software category, with the goal of identifying software publishers that would be interested in a GSA IT Schedule 70 modification of this nature," said John Radziszewski, GSA IT software category manager.

"Adobe was identified at that time as a publisher who was interested in participating," he told the E-Commerce Times. The transaction was facilitated through Carahsoft, an existing Schedule 70 provider and designated re seller of Adobe offerings.

The agreement covers two basic Adobe products. One is an Enterprise Digital Rights Management Product Grouping, which allows only agency personnel with specific credentials to apply persistent protection to sensitive documents and information.

That level of protection allows agencies to revoke or change document permissions regardless of location, GSA noted, which is helpful in guarding against fraud. In addition, agencies can add certificate-based digital signatures to PDF documents used with Acrobat.

A second capability is the Adobe Document Cloud for Enterprise -- Premium eSign Services solution. It is a cloud-based, enterprise-class e-signature service that lets agencies replace paper and ink processes with fully automated electronic signature workflows, GSA said.

GSA's 'Win-Win' Program

The Adobe agreement also provides other benefits, according to GSA, such as assisting federal agencies in modernizing IT acquisitions and generally improving operational efficiency.

In addition, the negotiated offer with Adobe will provide government agencies with "significant savings over previous pricing," said Mary Davie, assistant commissioner for information technology in GSA's Federal Acquisition Service. GSA estimates the value of the potential savings at $350 million.

The pricing element is a significant benefit, observed David Wennergren, executive vice president at the Professional Services Council.

"This is an enterprise software agreement, which always is with a single company. These agreements are designed to provide an easy mechanism for agencies to get a good price on software licenses by leveraging the government's buying power," he told the E-Commerce Times.

"Enterprise software agreements can be win-wins. For the government, they aggregate demand and buying power to get the best price for buying software, and then make that good rate available for multiple agencies. For companies, they reduce the administrative burdens of negotiating and managing a plethora of licensing agreements and may help drive demand for their software and other products and services," Wennergren explained.

"There are enterprise licensing agreements in place with a number of software companies through GSA's SmartBuy program, the Defense Department's Enterprise Software Initiative, and other programs," he noted. The agreement with Adobe is just one of multiple initiatives and adds one more tool to federal acquisition capabilities, especially in the cybersecurity area.

Yet agencies will have alternatives to consider.

"There are ... similar types of products being provided by other software providers on IT Schedule 70," GSA's Radziszewski said.

Recent contract awards demonstrate the federal effort to utilize a variety of acquisition vehicles to pursue that goal. They include the following:

ManTech: GSA last summer awarded two contracts with a potential total value of $110 million to ManTech International on behalf of DHS. Tasks will include continuous diagnostic monitoring for cybersecurity purposes and protecting cloud operations.
The transaction vehicle was a government-wide acquisition contract through GSA's Alliant program. Mantech last fall received a contract from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which carried a potential value of $322 million over five years. The award included the provision of IT enterprise management services and enterprise cybersecurity services to NGA.

Iron Vale: The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services last year awarded a contract to Iron Vale for providing a comprehensive cybersecurity support.
CMS used a competitive GSA schedule program procurement that simplifies the process of obtaining commercial supplies and services, the agency said. CMS used GSA's e-Buy website to post the opportunity.

The contract combined two existing agreements into a single entity and provided a one-year base period with four additional option years. Its total potential value is $67.6 million.

Advanced Concepts and Technologies International: The company last month received a contract to provide cyber acquisition support services to the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate, Office of Cyber security and Communications, over a period of four years. Valued at $21 million, the contract was facilitated through the GSA OASIS Small Business Pool.
Defense Department Activities

In addition to civilian agencies, the Defense Department has remained active in the cyber technology market. For example, Engility Holdings will provide cyber-research, security assessments, and analysis for the U.S. Air Force under a $31 million contract awarded last month.

The contract was facilitated through the Defense Technical Information Center, a centralized agency within the Defense Department. The DTIC has a coordinating arrangement with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. Among other tasks, the Air Force unit tracks life cycle performance of weapons systems.

Also, the U.S. Army engaged Booz Allen Hamilton for cyber security enterprise support through a $13.2 million firm-fixed-price contract with options. The award was issued last year for a five-year period. It was facilitated through a conventional acquisition by the Army Contracting Command.

Whether through conventional acquisition vehicles or enhanced procurement procedures, it appears that federal agencies will continue to seek significant assistance to bolster their cybersecurity capabilities.

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Microsoft Hardens Latest Windows Version Against Hackers

Microsoft has fortified the latest version of Windows to make it more secure than previous editions, but the strongest protections will be available only to those willing to pay a steep price for them.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update has introduced many mitigation techniques in core Windows components and the Microsoft Edge browser, helping protect customers from entire classes of exploits for very recent and even undisclosed vulnerabilities, Matt Oh and Elia Florio of Microsoft's Windows Defender ATP Research Team wrote in an online post last week.

Countering unidentified vulnerabilities -- also known as "zero day" vulnerabilities -- is particularly important because they are a powerful tool used to penetrate systems and steal data by attackers, especially those working for nation-states.

Rather than focus on a single vulnerability, Microsoft is focusing on mitigation techniques that counter classes of exploits, Oh and Florio explained.

"As a result, these mitigation techniques are significantly reducing attack surfaces that would have been available to future Zero-Day exploits," 

Paying for Protection

For the most effective post-breach protection, customers should sign up for Windows Defender ATP, Oh and Florio suggested, a service that is available only to users of Windows Enterprise E5.

That appears to be a departure from how Windows security was treated in the past, observed Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft.

When Microsoft launched its Trustworthy Computing initiative in 2002, there was a commitment to making all versions of Windows equally secure, he recalled.

"Now, what Microsoft is saying in a subtle way," Cherry told Tech News World, is that "to be the most secure on Windows, you should be using Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection -- but we're saving that for our best customers, our customers willing to pay for the enterprise edition. That's a big change that's happening in Windows security."

What Users Get

Nevertheless, the security improvements in the new Windows 10 Anniversary Update are worthwhile for consumers.

"This is great news for users," said Jerome Segura, a senior security researcher for Malware bytes.

"Microsoft is addressing zero days and exploits in general by sand boxing a lot of the components in the operating system," he told Tech News World.

Sand boxing is a technique used to isolate activity in a space where it can be observed without affecting its surroundings. If it behaves badly in the sandbox, then it won't be allowed to play with the other parts of a system.

Sandbox techniques were used in Windows 10 to neutralize an exploit that used corrupt fonts to gain escalated privileges on a system, Microsoft's Oh and Florio explained. Escalated privileges allow an intruder greater freedom to roam and access data on a network.

Room for Improvement

While Microsoft is making good progress in hardening the Windows kernel, it could improve the operating system's security in other areas, too. One of those areas is third-party applications and components.

"While it's trying to ensure that its operating system is secure, it still depends on Flash, Java and other pieces of software. At the end of the day, the security of the system is going to depend on all the pieces, not just what Microsoft ships," Malware bytes' Segura observed.

"You can have an OS that's safe, but if you have an outdated Flash plug-in, you can still get infected," he pointed out.

Hackers also are exploiting Microsoft Office documents.

"Microsoft needs to tighten up legacy code like macros -- either disable it or sandbox it," Segura said.

Threat to Security Vendors?

As Windows security improves, will it threaten the security ecosystem that has grown up around the OS?

"Ultimately, Microsoft's new anti-exploit features in Windows calls into question the value of legacy antivirus protections," said Simon Crosby, CTO of Bromium.

"However, it is important to note that relatively few enterprises use Windows 10 yet, so any Microsoft mitigation in Windows 10 that fails to address the legacy Windows installed base cannot address threats targeting [the security ecosystem]," he told Tech News World.

Windows users still need to use antivirus programs, added Jack E. Gold, founder and principal analyst with J.Gold Associates. "Microsoft is pushing its antivirus program," he told Tech News World, "so it's not saying you don't need antivirus anymore."

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Will Trump end globalisation? The doubt haunts Davos' elite

It’s been impossible to escape the shadow of Donald Trump at this year’s gathering of the business elites at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

Uncertainty over what Mr. Trump will do once he takes office Friday and whether his presidency will mark the end of globalization dominated discussions all week at this event, which more than any has become synonymous with international business.

Sure, lofty ambitions were discussed, from fighting epidemics to dealing with inequalities across the world. But inevitably all talk turned to Mr. Trump, who has promised to rewrite free trade deals and even slap tariffs on China, the world’s second-largest economy.

“Do I really think we’re going back to protectionism? I don’t really know yet and I can promise you I’m paying a lot of attention to it because trade matters to us,” said David Cote, chairman and CEO of industrial conglomerate Honeywell. “It’s a little too early to press the panic button; we ought to see what ends up happening here.”

Roberto Azevedo, director-general of the World Trade Organization, the institution that oversees global trading rules, reminded delegates that in the 1930s, unilateral actions to raise tariffs led to a “domino effect” that wiped out two—thirds of global trade in three years.

“That would be a catastrophe of untold proportions,” he said. “I think we should try not to talk ourselves into a trade war and I think we’re seeing a lot of that.”

The case against globalization


Whether or not world trade goes into reverse, it’s evident that globalization the commitment to lower barriers to doing business around the world s under threat like no other time in decades.

The main allegations are that it has increased inequalities in wealth, eroded job security for the middle and lower—income families in developed countries, and kept a lid on wages as businesses seek low—cost workers in poorer countries. The breakneck pace of technological innovation is making jobs redundant, particularly in industries like manufacturing.

Anti—poverty charity Oxfam illustrated the issue of inequality starkly in a report this week in which it said that eight billionaires own as much wealth as half the world’s population, or 3.6 billion people.

There’s a perception among many middle— and lower—income households in developed economies like the U.S. and Europe that globalization hasn’t worked for them and it’s their anger that supported Trump’s victory and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union this year.

The case for it


Globalization has helped lift hundreds of millions to escape poverty over the past decades. Populous countries like China and India have enjoyed phenomenal growth, improved standards of living, life expectancy, literacy and employment rates.

As though to underscore that value of that, China’s leader visited the Davos forum this year for the first time ever.

In a historic address, Chinese President Xi Jinping cast his country as a champion of free trade and stability. Though China does in fact put big limits on foreign companies in the country, Xi’s message was clear- that China wants to take a bigger role on the global stage and keeping business flowing.

“We must remain committed to promoting free trade and investment through opening up, and say no to protectionism,” Xi said, without directly referencing Trump. “Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, so are light and air ... No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war.”

Way ahead


The key will be what policies Trump actually puts in motion, and whether other countries follow the temptation to throw up bigger barriers to business.

Britain will this year renegotiate its trade relations with the rest of the EU, the region it does most business with. And populist political movements have risen in countries like the Philippines and are increasingly prominent in developed economies like France, the Netherlands and Italy.

“We may be at a point where globalization is ending,” said Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates.

Beyond Trump, Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said the broader international system must change.

Dealing with inequality will have to become a central concern for governments, she said, adding that could mean greater redistribution of wealth a tough message to deliver to a crowd of millionaires and billionaires.

Theresa May, Britain’s prime minister, sought to convince the Davos elite that Britain was not retreating from the global scene. But she did concede that policymakers from the mainstream have to support those for whom globalization is not working.

“The forces of liberalism, free trade and globalization that have had, and continue to have, such an overwhelmingly positive impact on our world ... are somehow at risk of being undermined,” she said.

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The Truth About Black Money

Black Money is the part of our system and it's create by us,because we make them this system to our own need and sporting to other people for this who need this ?

Why this we create ?
Why we Follow this?
Why we note beat this?




please wait will revert you soon.....

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BLACK MONEY....

Advantage:-

• The Bill provides for stringent measures against violations; this includes property confiscation

• The Bill also provides deterrent through 10 years RI for tax evasion and penalty of 300 percent of taxes on concealed income and assets

• Moreover, the flat rate of 30 percent is taxed on undisclosed foreign income while there is no exemption against this under the IT Act 1961

• Magnitude of deterrent is also high. Concealment of income pertaining to foreign assets will be charged with penalty three times the amount of tax over and above the flat rate 

• Inaction or failure to file returns with inadequate disclosure of foreign assets is also punishable by law under this Bill

• The Bill also makes concealment of income and evasion of tax pertaining to foreign asset a predicate offence which will allow enforcement agencies to attach and confiscate accounted assets held abroad

• Computation of tax liability on overseas property will be on the basis of current prices and not price required; this is a fair assessment 

• The Bill also provides a compliance window for those who want to disclose their foreign income/assets stashed abroad

• The Black Money Bill will also put an end to fake transactions, tax evasion and undeclared possession of property abroad using tax payer’s money

Disadvantages:-

• Procedure to bring back Black Money has not been indicated in the Bill; it only prescribes punishment for those caught with black money or compliance window for those who voluntarily disclose their money/assets stashed abroad . More stringent laws are needed to punish the practice of stashing black money. 

• Bill also does not address issues such as DTAA/Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement coming in the way of black money detection

• Bill is based on the premise that foreign assets and accounts are the principal source of black money; Global Financial Integrity estimates black money outside India to be only INR 28 lakh crore

• Domestic black money is a much bigger number and a larger problem; Black money stashed abroad is also brought back to India through round tripping of FDI via investment havens so domestic black money is much more 

• The Bill also fails to provide a mechanism to retrieve information regarding the defaulters which has agreements with foreign governments

• Domestic laws and international treaty obligations blocking the detection of black money are also not addressed in the Bill

• The Bill also provides excessive powers to tax authorities without looking at the failure of tax administration in the nation. This includes assessing officers, ED, CBDT and others

• The Bill is not part of a holistic strategy to control the generation of black money

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