Month: December 2022

The strategic bank x FinTech partnership aims to help merchants manage omnichannel payments and also seamlessly access financial services on an agile-tech platform

MUMBAI, India , Dec. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — In a bid to enable financial inclusion for the country's SMEs, HDFC Bank, India's largest private bank, has partnered with embedded FinTech platform, Mintoak to create an ecosystem for them, starting with payments. HDFC Bank's SmartHub Vyapar was developed by Mintoak's API-first, cloud-native tech to seamlessly deliver payment acceptance and access to commerce enablement solutions for the merchant in one place.

Today, SMEs are in digital chaos with multiple QRs and payment apps apart from other digital elements like bookkeeping apps, POS solutions etc. While most of these options are widely available for the merchants, the sheer effort of managing them is becoming a distraction. Consolidation of payments on one platform is a way forward that can ease the merchant's pain and allow them to concentrate efforts on their business and key revenue drivers. Amongst the many players jostling for relevance at the merchant counter, this consolidation depends on two aspects (1) Technology that matches or is better than what merchants are currently using, and (2) Offered by someone merchants can trust.

Banks are best placed to ride the consolidation wave given the trust they command as custodians of merchants' current accounts. To reimagine small business payments, this trust needs to be supplemented by cloud-native competitive technology that enables business owners to grow their revenue. Mintoak's omnichannel payments and commerce enablement platform, white labelled as SmartHub Vyapar for HDFC Bank makes accepting payments and accessing financial services easy for merchants.

The new version of the API-first platform has already demonstrated very promising performance metrics across a significant size of their merchant base, further reinforcing the bank's faith in Mintoak. There has been an increase in the overall activation rates, total payment throughput and merchant engagement score with the development of some key product features focused on business growth for merchants.

Parag Rao, Country Head – Payments, Consumer Finance, Technology & Digital Banking, HDFC Bank said, “We have crafted our new SmartHub Vyapar app to meet every need of the merchant and bring efficiencies to their ecosystem and help them grow their business.”

Raman Khanduja, Co-founder & CEO of Mintoak said, “A merchant is looking for a comprehensive solution that offers efficient payments, enables commerce and provides easy access to finance. We strongly believe that as custodians of money, banks command trust. Complemented by agile technology, they are best placed to offer a full stack of integrated solutions – payments, VAS and financial services. We are confident that we will continue delivering cutting-edge solutions to complement the bank's trust and empower business owners to grow.”

(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire India and this publication takes no editorial responsibility for the same)

KCP Infra Limited (formerly KCP Engineers Private Limited) has started an internship training program for the Engineering Graduates across five states to create awareness and to explore the various job opportunities in the infrastructure sector. The main objective of this training program is to develop skilled Engineers in the infrastructure sector and to encourage more budding entrepreneurs. The company is providing practical training to the interns along with stipend as per industrial standards. 

KCP Infra Limited (formerly KCP Engineers Private Limited) is travelling in the Growth path of achieving Rs.1500 Crores Turnover during the current financial year. Further, we are proposed to participate in various bids on PAN India basis for more than Rs. 5000 Crores in upcoming years. 

Further, our Company has diversified its business in various infrastructure development projects such as Construction of roads and bridges, smart city projects, pipeline projects, electrical & Energy Saving projects, Multi-level car parking projects, Solid Waste Management projects. We also have inimitable innovations in Road and Infrastructure sector which make the company eminent in the industry.

Our Company is registered as a “Special Class” contractor in the States of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh & Kerala and “Super Special Class” contractor in Military Engineering Services. Further, the Company is registered under the Bureau of Energy Efficiency as an “Energy Service Company” (ESCO), which is engaged in design, retrofitting and implementation of energy efficiency projects. The Company has obtained the rating of Grade 3 in ESCO and Grade 2 in RSCO.

Our Company has successfully completed the various infrastructure projects of National Highways, Highways Department, PWD and Local bodies, Southern Railways, Smart City Projects and other infra projects of Government of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala etc.

Though the Infrastructure sector contributes more revenue to the construction industry, the majority of Civil Engineers were not aware about the various job opportunities in these sectors. Our Company has started an internship training program for Engineering Graduates to create awareness and to explore the various job opportunities in the infrastructure sector. The main objective of this training program is to develop skilled persons in the infrastructure sector and to encourage more budding entrepreneurs.

We are giving practical training in the emerging job opportunities of the Infrastructure sector along with stipend as per industrial standards. For the last 5 years, more than 100 Engineering Graduates have successfully completed the internship training program and placed in various jobs in the infrastructure sector.

After considering the tremendous success of the internship training program, our company decided to induct 300 Engineering Graduates every year for the internship training program on PAN India basis. Currently, the training program will be conducted at our project sites situated at Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Gujarat.

We warmly welcome the Engineering Graduates to join hands with us to explore the various job opportunities in the infrastructure sector. Number of interns is limited to 300 persons. Applications will be selected based on their eligibility. The certificate will be issued to the concerned persons after successful completion of training. To apply for the Internship training program and to know more about the training program please contact the HR Department of our company at newproiectscbe@gmail.com and agm-hr@kcpinfra.com.

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Engaging discussions on growth and empowerment in the technology sector marked the concluding day of the IET Future Tech Congress 2022, a 2-day national technology conference organised by The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). The event focused on the opportunities and challenges that customer demands in the future will reveal, and how technology will play a pivotal role in navigating the same. The conference successfully concluded with 40+ sessions, 70+ speakers, 25+ supporting partners and 500+ attendees.

 

The event featured spotlights on Manufacturing, Fintech, Mobility, Technology Standards, Sustainability and Healthcare, and charted out future roadmaps for the adoption of 5 key technologies-AI, Blockchain, Digital Twin, 5G and Quantum Computing.

 

The concluding day of the event was graced by the presence of Shri Suresh Prabhu, Former Railways Minister and a renowned Parliamentarian as Chief Guest. “I hope the present generation focuses on not creating challenges for the future. That in itself is the best contribution that we can make for the future. With engineers of the calibre that we have seen on this platform, I am sure that we can contribute greatly to this goal. I have never seen this degree of meaningful community engagement among those with the ability to deal with these problems before,” he said, sharing his thoughts and experiences at the event.

 

The conference, which involved insightful deliberations on the impact of future technologies like AI, Blockchain, Digital Twin, Quantum Computing and 5G, drew participation from exponents of IT and Technology, such as Pankaj Vyas-CEO and MD, Siemens Technology Pvt. Ltd., Sir Julian Young-Past-President of the IET, Dilip Sawhney-Regional Director, Rockwell Automation, Kiran Aatre-Dy Director, Applied Materials and Utpal Mangla, General Manager, Industry EDGE Cloud; IBM Cloud Platform, IBM.

 

“To make emerging technologies meaningful, you need purpose. And what can be a better and bigger purpose than saving our planet?”, said Pankaj Vyas, CEO & MD, Siemens Technology and Services Pvt. Ltd. at the IET Future Tech Congress 2022.

 

“The IET Future Tech Congress 2022 saw the gathering of the technology leaders from the region. More than 11 government functionaries, policy makers and ministers participated in the dialogue. I would like to express my gratitude to the Chief Guest, Shri Suresh Prabhu, our presenting partner Siemens, and all the dignitaries and speakers for their valuable insights. Undoubtedly the Future Tech Congress has become the region's most important confluence of tech stakeholders,” said Shekhar Sanyal, Country Head and Director, IET India.

 

The event saw the participation of renowned policy makers and government dignitaries, such as Smt. Usha Sharma, Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan Secretariat, Shri.V. Ponnuraj-Secretary to Government, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (e-Governance), Government of Karnataka, Center for E Governance, Hon’ble Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad-Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha; Former Union Cabinet Minister, Ministry of Law and Justice; Ministry of Communications; and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Shri E V Ramana Reddy-Add Chief Sec, Dept of Electronics, IT, BT and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka.

 

Speaking on the success of the event, Dr. Rishi Bhatnagar, Chair-IET Future Tech Panel said, “The advent of future technologies is here and embracing them is unavoidable. For instance, the automotive industry will be 80% software and only 20% hardware, not too long into the future. We are increasingly moving towards hyper-personalisation and hyper-localisation, and businesses are in dire need of a technology roadmap to navigate challenges that the future will bring. The IET Future Tech Congress 2022 truly brought together policy makers, academia, industry experts, business leaders and start-ups on a single platform to discuss this theme. It was wonderful to see the excitement over the two days, with discussions spanning across the entire lifecycle of future technologies – from innovation to implementation to advancement.”

 

Siemens, a leading technology firm focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare,was the presenting partner for the event. The event also featured other prominent organisations as partners, such as Applied Materials (Material Engineering Partner), India-EU ICT Standardisation Collaboration (Standardisation Partner), Hexagon (Digital Reality Partner), Aeris (Associate Partner), Kairon (Conversational AI Partner), Spykke (Charging Partner), Ultra Human (Health & Fitness Partner), India Blockchain Forum, India Smart Grid Forum, Kassia, NASSCOM: Centre of Excellence-IoT & AI, IB Hubs, Indian American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), Broadband India Forum (BIF), AREA and ETSI.

 

The Technology sector is one of the biggest growth enablers for the Indian economy. It accounted for 7.25% of Indian GDP in 2022 and is expected to contribute 10% by 2025. The IET Future Tech Congress is an effort by the IET to highlight the innovations taking place in the space and chart out a roadmap for the future of technology advancement in India. 

 

Through the event, the IET hopes to educate and inform prominent stakeholders about future trends and best practices that can be adopted to manoeuvre the ever-changing landscape of the industry.The next edition of the IET Future Tech Congress will be held on 21st September 2023, and further details will be updated on the official IET website and social media handles. 

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(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with NewsVoir India and this publication takes no editorial responsibility for the same)

Receives Certification from ARAI for its first model: Zen Micro Pod

  

ICICI Bank today announced the launch of a STACK for companies in real estate sector to offer solutions to their banking requirements on one platform. The STACK, which is a combination of digital and phygital solutions, enables participants of the real estate sector namely builders, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs) to undertake banking transactions expeditiously. This initiative is an extension of the ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates’ which the Bank launched last year to provide a customised set of banking solutions for corporates and their entire ecosystem.

 

The first-of-its kind initiative offers builders, banking solutions such as digital opening of bank accounts, instant generation of account number for RERA registration*, construction finance, inventory funding, and lease rental discounting to cater to their financial needs, depending on the life cycle stage of a project. In addition, it enables them to manage their payment obligations to vendors, employees, utility providers and statutory payments efficiently. 

The STACK also provides REITs and AIFs with services for digital collection, reconciliation, surplus distribution and custodial services. REITs are trusts that manage high quality real estate property portfolios, collect rent through lease income and distribute the surplus to the investors. AIFs invest privately pooled funds in various asset classes including the real estate sector. Both REITs and AIFs require robust collection, reconciliation and surplus distribution services digitally.

 

Speaking on the launch, Mr. Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said, “The real estate sector is the second largest employment generator in our country and is also one of the fastest growing sector in the economy. The sector’s contribution to GDP is likely to go up to 13% by 2025 from 7% now. The main participants in the real estate sector like builders, REITs and AIFs are poised to play a significant role in this expansion. Therefore, they require a banking partner which will serve their needs as well as provide solutions for their entire ecosystem.

 

Our research shows that this segment requires availability of finance, solutions for digital collection and bulk payment options throughout their lifecycle – from construction to leasing and selling the property– as well as services for their customers, employees and vendors. Armed with these insights, we are delighted to introduce a one-stop shop for the companies in the real estate sector. This will enable them to carry out their business more efficiently.”

 

The key offerings of the STACK for companies in real estate sector:

 

·         Digital bank account opening: The Bank offers builders the facility of opening accounts like designated RERA account, escrow account for project lending and a current account for regular expense management. These accounts are equipped with a convenient one-view access to all accounts with a single login on the Bank’s Corporate Internet Banking (CIB) platform. The Bank has also introduced a completely paperless, digital on-boarding facility for builders to open the RERA account expeditiously and digitally. Further, the Bank facilitates builders to get instant account number for RERA registration*. In order to help builders to comply with RERA guidelines, the Bank transfers the specified portion of funds directly to the RERA account of the project, eliminating operational friction for the builders. Additionally, the Bank offers the convenience of digital escrow account opening to enable builders to receive funds from various credit lines.

·         Various types of loans: The Bank offers a wide array of loans to the builders throughout their project lifecycle. The list includes construction finance, inventory funding and Lease Rental Discounting (LRD) facility. Additionally, the Bank provides builders with facilities like overdraft, letter of credit and bank guarantee to enhance financial and operational efficiencies.

·         Digital collection solutions: The Bank offers the builders a customised solution to digitally collect and easily process refunds for various projects in the pre-launch phase. The solution can capture the buyers’ details, collect the booking amount digitally, give instant transaction status to the builder. Similarly, the builder can collect payments from the buyers in the post-launch phase of selling the property. A single platform helps builders to track collection from various buyers of multiple projects. It also offers customised MIS and automatic reconciliation of accounts. These solutions can be integrated with the builders’ ERP via API integration or  host-to-host SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) solution. 

·         Payment solutions: The Bank offers tailor-made solutions to carry out bulk and statutory payments. With this, builders can conveniently pay salary to employees, clear utility bills and pay to contractor/vendor. Further, builders can make statutory payments for TDS, GST, custom duty and Employees' Provident Fund/ Employees’ State Insurance seamlessly through digital channels. They can avail real time payment advice, schedule payments and do multiple GST payments in one go.

 

·         Customised mortgage loans for buyers: The STACK is one-stop shop for mortgage loans to the prospective home buyers. The Bank extends customised home loan solutions to retail buyers at the project premises. The Bank also provides Loan Against Property (LAP) and home overdraft facility.

 

·         Digital solutions for FDI and foreign exchange: The Bank also offers builders, REITs and AIFs a digital workflow that converts FDI remittance to Indian rupees and submit the required regulatory documents expeditiously through its CIB platform. This paperless process requires no visit to the branch. Additionally, the real estate stakeholders can avail various foreign exchange solutions through the digital platform, FxOnline, which offers hedging and settlement solutions for foreign exchange management. A team of specialists provides advisory services for regulatory requirements and structured transaction guidance on Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

 

·         Services for REITs and AIFs: The Bank offers various services to REITs and AIFs. The Bank offers a digital collection solution to enable them to collect funds and rentals. It also facilitates reconciliation at a project/ tenant/ service level and investor level, respectively, bringing in significant operational efficiencies. They can avail this facility through an API integration, host-to-host SFTP or even receive such MIS on emails. The Bank also has an arrangement with various leading RTAs (Registrar and Transfer Agents) for providing digital solution to REITs and AIFs to distribute the surplus to the investors. Additionally, AIFs can also avail custodial services and fund accounting services.

 

Cyber attacks on healthcare facilities have been rising in recent years, and the pandemic has only worsened matters. With hospitals and other healthcare facilities struggling to keep up with the demand for care, they have become an easy target for cybercriminals. While this may seem like a small amount, it can be devastating for a hospital that is already stretched thin.

 

Research done by CyberPeace Foundation (CPF), Autobot Infosec Private Limited, along with the academic partners under CyberPeace Center of Excellence (CCoE), has found that nearly 1.9 million attack events have been recorded in 2022 till 28th November on the Healthcare based threat intelligence sensors network simulated by the research group in India.

 

The study is a part of CyberPeace Foundation’s e-Kawach program to implement comprehensive public network and threat intelligence sensors across the country to capture internet traffic and analyze real-time cyberattacks that a location or an organization faces. A credible intelligence on real-time threats empowers organizations or a Country to build cybersecurity policies.

 

“By deploying the simulated network, we can collect data on attack patterns, the different types of attack vector for the different protocols, and the recent trends of malicious activity,” – Spokesperson, CyberPeace Foundation added.

 

Trends noticed by the Research

Like any other critical infrastructure worldwide, the Indian Healthcare infrastructure is also vulnerable to cyber attacks involving state & non-state actors. The Healthcare based threat intelligence sensors network deployed by the CyberPeace Foundation, Autobot Infosec Private Ltd. with the CyberPeace Center of Excellence (CCoE) partners has seen a surge in the number of cyberattacks with 1846712 hits between January 2022 to November 28th 2022 from a total number of 41181 Unique IP addresses appearing from countries like Vietnam, Pakistan, China etc.

 

The vulnerable internet-facing systems having Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), vulnerable SMB and Database services enabled, and old Windows server Platforms were mostly attacked. Attackers also tried to inject malicious payloads into the network. The deployed network has captured a total of 1527 unique payloads belonging to Trojan, Ransomware, etc.

 

Analysis of data has drawn the attention that attackers also tried to exploit DICOM/MYSQL/MSSQL protocols to access the sensitive patients data like medical images, diagnostic databases etc. DICOM is standard protocol used in most medical and healthcare facilities for the management and transmission of medical images and related data.

 

Research team noticed a massive brute force, dictionary attacks were performed against the protocols FTP, MYSQL and MSSQL using some common credentials like ‘root’, ‘ftp’, ‘admin’, ‘web’, ‘web!’, ‘qwerty’, ‘password1’, ‘sql2005’, ‘passw0rd’, ‘administrator’ etc. One new trend has been noticed that attackers are nowadays using long passwords, not usually mentioned in the English dictionary, for example ‘4yqbm4,m`~!@~#$%^&*(),.;’ and ‘!@#$%^&*’. Some common FTP commands were also captured – “USER”, “PASS”, “PWD”, “CWD”, “PASV”, “STOR”, “PASV”, “STOR”, “PASV”, “STOR”, “PASV”, “STOR”, “PASV”, “STOR”, “PASV”, “STOR”, “TYPE”.

 

In an earlier report released in August 2022, CyberPeace of Foundation also mentioned that there has been an increase in the number of phishing/social engineering attacks on Indian organizations in the Healthcare business. CPF spokesperson drew attention to WhatsApp messages masquerading as an offer from Apollo Hospital with links luring unsuspecting users with the promise of medical subsidy presents making the rounds on the app.

 

Recently, news has been making the rounds on the internet that All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi faced a Cyberattack probably with the injected Ransomware on their systems.

 

“Cyber criminals are taking advantage of the fact that healthcare organizations are under immense strain and are more likely to pay a ransom to get their systems up and running again. Organisations should ensure their systems are secured by reducing unnecessary data, improving the patch level of software, backup and restore procedures and auditing systems to build awareness of any threats,” – Spokesperson added.

 

The Advisory

• Do not expose critical services unnecessarily to the internet.

• Network firewalls should always be patched with the latest security updates.

• Isolate the critical network from the public network.

• Periodically perform technical audits of Healthcare Infrastructure Devices, networks and any other end-points directly or indirectly connected to it, to identify security concerns.

• Run CyberAwareness Drive by Cyber Experts at regular intervals for the team.

• Develop an R&D lab to enhance CyberSecurity skills among the employees.

• Maintain strong Password Policy:

• Use a strong password for all devices and online accounts.

• Passwords should be at least 8-13 characters long.

• Passwords should contain at least one upper case (A-Z), numeric character (0-9), and a special character (!@%&….).

• Where possible it is recommended to use key based authentication along with passwords.

• Do not use the same password for all your online accounts. All the passwords should be different for different versions.

• Try avoiding a password that consists of dictionary words.

• Stay away from Phishing links: Phishing is an attempt of social engineering techniques to inject malware or obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card information by spreading fake links and pretending to be acting as a trustworthy entity. Please do not click on such links before verifying the authenticity of the same.

• Never share or forward fake messages containing links to any social platform without proper verification.

 

For more details, reach out to us at secretariat@cyberpeace.net.

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