Don't know of teen getting Rs 1.44 crore offer, says Google

TNN
August 3, 2017

Chandigarh, Aug 3: A 16-year-old boy, Harshit Sharma, from a government school in Chandigarh was the toast of online media and Twitterati on Tuesday after word spread on the internet that he had landed a designer's job in Google for an annual salary of Rs 1.44 crore. By late evening however there was a big question mark on Sharma's 'achievements'. Many wondered if the entire story was hoax after Google officially told that it had no information on the boy's candidacy.

"Currently, we don't have any information on our records with respect to Harshit Sharma's candidacy," a Google spokesperson said.

Word about the boy's so-called achievements had spread after his school - Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33 - issued an official release that the boy had got the job. But when TOI spoke to principal Indra Beniwal, she said, "The student passed out from our school this year and he had come to the campus to inform us about the Google offer. He had sent me the letter on WhatsApp mentioning his recruitment with Google but I deleted the letter by mistake."

According to Beniwal Harshit had come to school a fortnight ago to inform her about him getting the job. On being asked the content of the letter, she said, "The letter had mentioned that Google had hired the boy. I am trying to get the letter. Once I get the letter, I will inform you."

A student of science stream with IT as a subject, the principal said that the boy was academically average though, she said, he was good at practicals. Interestingly, the principal told TOI that he had received Rs 7,000 earlier as well as a reward for the Digital India campaign. Exactly, why he was given the money is not clear.

TOI tried to contact the boy, who is originally from Kurukshetra, but his phone was switched off. Sources also said Google does not recruit from schools.

The school's official release on July 29 read, "Harshit, a student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33 of Class 12(IT stream) has been selected by tech giant Google for graphic designing. Initially, he will be trained for a one-year period for which he will receive a stipend of Rs 4 lakh per month. On completion of training, he will get remuneration of Rs 12 lakhs per month. He was interviewed through video conferencing and was selected on the basis of posters designed by him. Principal, Indra Beniwal lauded him on his achievement."

The department of public relations, Chandigarh administration later issued the same press release adding further credence to the news.

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Agencies
March 15,2020

Cybercriminals continue to exploit public fear of rising coronavirus cases through malware and phishing emails in the guise of content coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US and World Health Organisation (WHO), says cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

In the APAC region, Kaspersky has detected 93 coronavirus-related malware in Bangladesh, 53 in the Philippines, 40 in China, 23 in Vietnam, 22 in India and 20 in Malaysia. 

Single-digit detections were monitored in Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Myanmar, and Thailand. 

Along with the consistent increase of 2019 coronavirus cases comes the incessant techniques cybercriminals are using to prey on public panic amidst the global epidemic, the company said in a statement. 

Kaspersky also detected emails offering products such as masks, and then the topic became more commonly used in Nigerian spam emails. Researchers also found scam emails with phishing links and malicious attachments.

One of the latest spam campaigns mimics the World Health Organisation (WHO), showing how cybercriminals recognise and are capitalising on the important role WHO has in providing trustworthy information about the coronavirus.

"We would encourage companies to be particularly vigilant at this time, and ensure employees who are working at home exercise caution. 

"Businesses should communicate clearly with workers to ensure they are aware of the risks, and do everything they can to secure remote access for those self-isolating or working from home," commented David Emm, principal security researcher.

Some malicious files are spread via email. 

For example, an Excel file distributed via email under the guise of a list of coronavirus victims allegedly sent from the World Health Organisation (WHO) was, in fact, a Trojan-Downloader, which secretly downloads and installs another malicious file. 

This second file was a Trojan-Spy designed to gather various data, including passwords, from the infected device and send it to the attacker.

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Agencies
July 13,2020

New Delhi, Jul 13: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has blocked Bharti Airtel's Platinum and Vodafone Idea's RedX premium plans that offer faster data speeds and priority services to customers as both the plans were violating net neutrality norms.

The telecom watchdog has asked Bharti Airtel to explain within seven days how such a similar plan being launched does not violate the rules of net neutrality.

Vodafone Idea's RedX plan has been in the market since November 2019. They made some modifications in May 2020 and the Bharti Airtel was soon going to launch a similar plan.

According to TRAI, the higher speed for premium customers discriminate against others and violates net neutrality.

Responding to TRAI's move, Airtel spokesperson said: "We are passionate about delivering the best network and service experience to all our customers. This is why we have a relentless obsession to eliminate faults and have been consistently recognised by international agencies as the best network in terms of speed, latency and video experience."

"At the same time, we want to keep raising the bar for our post-paid customers in terms of service and responsiveness. This is an ongoing effort at our end," the spokesperson said.

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Agencies
February 29,2020

Ahmedabad, Feb 29: The presence of two feral pigeons onboard a GoAir flight at the airport in Ahmedabad in Gujarat created a flutter among the amused passengers, even though the avian surprise did not lead to any untoward incident or delay in the flight.

The incident took place on Friday when the passengers were boarding the Ahmedabad-Jaipur flight.

"Two pigeons had found their way inside the flight G8 702 while the passengers were boarding," an airline statement said on Saturday.

"The crew immediately shooed away the birds. The flight took off at its scheduled time at 5 p.m.," it added.

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