Verizon Communications will launch 5G internet for enterprise customers in 21 US cities by end of this month. It is offering a 10-year price lock, unlimited data and plans ranging from 100 Mbps to 400 Mbps to new business clients in Atlanta, Detroit, Las Vegas, San Francisco, etc. The wireless carrier has a deal with Microsoft and Nokia to help organisations in automation, lower operation costs and increase data traffic using private 5G networks.
The White House, in a statement, said that Russia’s foreign intelligence service, SVR, was behind the SolarWinds hack, which stole data from nine federal agencies and 100s of private firms. Russian govt was always believed to behind the cyber attack, but the statement is the first formal acquisition. The White House also announced a series of sanctions against five Russian cybersecurity firms said to be involved in supporting hack.
Google tax collected in India increased 81% for the FY21 to touch Rs 2057 cr, against Rs 1136 cr collected in FY20. Google tax is referred to as tax applicable to non-resident e-com firms in India. The revenue of these firms increased due to pandemic led lockdown and social distancing norms, which lead rise in tax collected from them. The biggest contributor to the Google tax was Bengaluru ( Rs 1020cr), Hyderabad ( Rs 538cr), Delhi ( Rs 323cr) and Mumbai (134cr).
PhonePe is set to enter the stockbroking business. The fintech startup has applied for the license from the SEBI and is waiting for the mandatory approvals. PhonePe aims to tap its existing user base to foray into the broking business by encouraging them to invest a part of the unutilised funds in wallets in stocks. PhonePe, in March, processed 1.19 bn UPI transactions to the tune of Rs 2.31 lakh cr to grab 44% of the UPI market share.
IBM’s cybersecurity unit has uncovered more cyber attacks on the global COVID-19 vaccine supply chain since the issue first came to light in the late last year. The cloud computing firm said that it recently came to know that the phishing campaign has targeted 44 more firms involved in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across 14 countries. The said campaign is targeting the organizations involved in the COVID-19 vaccine “cold chain”.
Twitter has launched an initiative on “responsible ML ” to reviews its algorithmic fairness with the aim to bring transparency on how it tackles “the potentially harmful effects of algorithmic decisions.” Concerns on algorithms used by internet platforms, which some allege promote violence, hate, racial/gender bias, is at an all-time high. Recently, controversies at Google’s AI ethics team resulted in the firing of two researchers and the resignation of a scientist.
About 3.1 mn cybersecurity position, mostly in the Asia-pacific region, are lying across the globe, said a report by Michael Page India. The report said that 19 mn ransomware and phishing attacks were identified in the region during Feb-May 2020, most of them were COVID-19 theme while overall cybercrime went up by 600%. The demand for cybersecurity professionals is short by 43% mostly for app development security, cloud security. threat intelligence, data privacy.
Dell would spin off its 81% stake in VMware to lower its long-term debt of $41.62 bn, mostly taken during its 2016 acquisition of EMC. The cloud computing firm will disburse a special cash dividend of around $12 bn to all its stakeholders, including Dell, which will receive around $9.7 bn, in a likely tax-free transaction. Dell, with the spinoff, will also get an investment-grade rating and simplify the capital structure. VMware, at present, is Dell’s best-performing unit.
Bharti Airtel switched to a new corporate structure to focus on digital opportunities and enable its true potential. Airtel Digital will now have all the digital assets — Wynk Music, Airtel X stream, Airtel Thanks, Mitra Payments platform — and will part of its listed entity Bharti Airtel. It will also have future digital products and services — Airtel Ads, Airtel IQ, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud. The telecom business will be under a newly created entity Airtel Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel.