Flynn Remedios

Sunday, July 22, 2007

a brief profile

Flynn Remedios, journalist, writer, editor, Techno-legal, Brand & Image Management consultant is one of India's most prolific writers. With about 15,000 published articles in about 15 years, he has a record of sorts. He is also a visiting lecturer at some prestigious institutions in India. He has written on subjects like Technology (The Economic Times), Fashion and Lifestyle, Music, Movies, (Sunday Review) Markets and Finance (The Asian Age), Crime (The Free Press Journal), Politics (The Sunday Observer) and Environment (The Sunday Times of India).

He is known as the original Sting Ops Expert and Investigative Journalist. In the year 1996, his article on Where to buy an AK-47 in Mumbai published as a cover story in Island Magazine from the Magna Group created a furor among police and political circles. This was before the advent of investigative television journalism in India. His investigative stories on Rave Parties (exposing a section of the film industry), child trafficking, Casting Couch and others got him as many bouquets as it did brickbats.

His expose on corruption in the topmost elcheons of the Shiv Sena (a local fundamentalist political party in Mumbai got him nearly killed.

He has worked in varying capacities with various newspapers and magazines like the Times of India, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Sunday Observer, The Asian Age, The Free Press Journal, The Magna Group (Island magazine, Showtime, Savvy), The Blitz, The Daily, The Afternoon Dispatch & Courier, Current, etc., besides several other trade and niche publications. Currently he is the Editor of a yet-to-be-launched fashion and lifestyle magazine.

He also contributes to dozens of portals, websites and specialised databases on selected topics.

He is also a cyber crime and techno-legal consultant and has assisted the Mumbai police (Crime Branch), the CBI and even the armed forces in tracking down hackers/crackers and other cyber criminals. He is also a cyber crime consultant to several financial institutions and banks in India and abroad.

Unfortunately, two nasty incidents in his life put the brakes on his career graph. He is now a freelance writer, instructor, film journalist, stock markets consultant, activist (he runs two NGOs) and is currently authoring two books - one on cyber crime and another on Para-normal pheonomena.

Besides print journalism, he has worked with other organisations in Mumbai like Karrox Technologies Ltd (Head - Internet Security Division), Gurukulonline (Head - Mobile Internet Division) and IndiaOnline Network Ltd (Vice President - Technology and Projects)

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Change - The Relativeness of Truth

The only constant in Life is change.

Everything changes - people, faces, surroundings, neighbourhoods, colour, TV programmes, friends, enemies, political parties in power, seasons, weather, night, day, girl friends, boy friends, lovers, husbands, wives, jobs, hobbies, religion, pets, phone nos., values, ethics, laws, roads, rivers, relationships, needs, likes, dislikes, cuisine, love, hate, emotions, feelings, thoughts, mindsets, landscapes, continents, seas, oceans, truth, falsehood, right, wrong, happiness, sorrow, joy, pain

I am not putting a full stop to that list cause I haven't yet thought of all the things that change. As I write herein, I keep adding to the list.
I am trying to think of something in Life that doesn't change. Can someone help me. Is there one damn thing that doesn't change in this world. If I am not wrong the only damn thing that doesn't change is the god-dammed fact that everything changes.

Even universal laws change. I am not sure about universal constants like Absolute Zero - but I am sure as the definition of UTP or NTP or any of those variables changes even universal constants would change.

As I write this, I am trying to get over the demise of a close friend. Well demise not as in death, but the passing away. The ending of a relationship. The relationship hasn't fully ended, but I can see the signs. And I know it's time to let go. The time to start afresh again. The time to close a door and open a window. I can feel it within me - it's the time to move on. The time to accept that everything in this dammed world changes. Everything comes to an end, whether good or bad. One can't have good times all the time and neither can one have bad times all the time. Even good has to end and pave the way for something bad, something undesirable, something unwanted. Something that brings sadness, sorrow, hurt, loss, pain,

And at this point in time, I am reminded of Buddhism's great teachings - never crave for anything mortal. Never get attached or allow yourself to get attached to anything mortal, for everything mortal has to end. But this piece is not about the mortality of this world, it's about the ineveitability of change. Nothing will stay constant my friends (and enemies) not you, not me, not nothing.

I am not saddened that the relationship is coming to an end. I know there is bright light at the end of the tunnel. I know eventually there will be someone else in my life. In fact I can already see that someone else in the far distance. What saddens me is that with all our skills, technology, sophistication, etc, we can't make a damn thing stay on.....

(to be continued)

Sunday, October 30, 2005

India Hackers Scared Straight?

By Manu Joseph

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,45569,00.html
02:00 AM Jul. 27, 2001 PT

MUMBAI, India -- Indian hackers always thought they were too sophisticated to fall into the hands of the rough cops in this country, whom various human rights groups routinely accuse of brutality. But that feeling evaporated after one of the four people arrested recently in connection with a hacking incident accused Mumbai police of breaking his hand during interrogation.

While the charge hasn't been substantiated, hackers in Mumbai admitted to being petrified. And the police, while denying the incident, don't sound too apologetic. "Let hackers know that some tough people are out here," said Senior Inspector I.M. Zahid, an investigator in the hacking case. "I killed naxalities (terrorists) in Andhra Pradesh (South India) before being reassigned in Mumbai. I am not saying that I was merciless with the hackers, but my point is that we cops have seen such tough situations that we know how to handle boys."

It all started when 23-year old Anand Khare, who calls himself Dr. Neukar, gained control over ccicmumbai.com, the site of Mumbai cops' Cyber Crime Cell, or CCC. He pasted abuses and challenged them to catch him.

Three others were arrested and charged with helping Khare. One of them, Mahesh Mhatre, said an officer broke his hand during the interrogation. He also accused the police of torturing him.
Mhatre owns the cyber cafe from where Khare executed the hack. "I have approached the State Human Rights Commission asking them to look into the matter," said Mhatre's father, Subash. "I am waiting for their response."

The deputy commissioner of police, Manoj Lohiya, denied the allegation. "It's not our job to get personal," said Lohiya, who is also chief of the CCC. Mhatre's hospital report confired that there were no bone injuries. But according to a highly placed CCC official who took part in the interrogation, the men were "slapped around." He said calling it "torture" was exaggerated. But with a report that the State Human Rights Commission was investigating the death of a man who died in police custody still fresh in their minds, the hackers are scared.

"Some of my students are good hackers who love detecting flaws in Internet security," said Vijay Mukhi, a member of the CCC advisory committee and a highly reputed software tutor who offered his technical assistance to the cops as they pursued Neukar. "I have gotten calls from at least six of them asking me if they could join the CCC as technical hands. They want to be on the official side of Internet security now because they are scared." Darthvader, a self proclaimed "hacker with no malice," said that the punishment should fit the crime. "A slap on the wrist is understandable. But if a programmer is treated as a criminal then it leaves an unpleasant taste."
Another hacker calling himself Prince said that even the rumor of heavy-handed police tactics has been enough to send hackers diving for cover. "Indian hackers don’t have a strong united community, so it’s difficult to tell if there is a drop in activity," he said. "But the hackers I know are lying low. No body wants to mess again." L-20 blamed Khare for messing with law enforcement. "That guy was not even a hacker. He just used hacking tools and has given all of us a bad name," L-20 said. "Suddenly a cerebral activity has become a high-risk pastime."

Fear can be good, according to Flynn Remedios, a Web security consultant for CCC who took part in interrogating Dr. Neukar. "Though it was not intentional, if Mhatre’s allegation of police brutality scares away hackers, I would say it’s good." The message appears to be sinking in. Bertram D’Souza, for one, a 21-year-old engineering student and "Web security enthusiast," plans on taking the high road. "I am joining CCC to help out the cops in detecting hackers. That seems to me both safe and exciting."

E-mails warn of terror attacks on India

TIMES NEWS NETWORKMUMBAI: A few hours after police commissioner M N Singh toldnewsmen that terrorist organisations were making extensive use ofthe Internet for networking, unlike the underworld which stillpreferred mobile phones, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL)received an e-mail threatening to blow up all important installations in Delhi,Mumbai and Bangalore, besides airports, railway stations and hospitals. The e-mail, which was received by the VSNL and handed over to the police at7.30 pm on Wednesday, was also sent to important organisations like theBhabha Research Atomic Centre, various airlines, consulates, etc., jointcommissioner of police (crime), B S Mohite told newsmen on Thursday. The e-mail text challenges the police to protect India, saying that a group of"freedom fighters" based in Mumbai, Delhi, Gulbarga and Jaipur will execute`operation chaos in India' anytime up to November 14. The e-mail was sentbetween 1.30 pm and 2.30 pm on Wednesday.

In a quick operation that lasted merely two hours, the police, under thesupervision of deputy police commissioner, Archana Tyagi, along with internet experts Vijay Mukhi, Flynn Remedios and staff, swooped down on a cybercafe,Jay Paras, at Rajawadi in Ghatkopar and picked up its owner for interrogation. Mukhi said the e-mail was traced through the internet protocol (IP) addressallotted to it. "The e-mail was sent using a dial-up connection through aspecific telephone number which was traced to the cybercafe," he said. Mohite however, refused to identify the owner, but said either he or somebodyknown to him must have sent the e-mail since he alone had the password tothe particular machine from where the mail was sent. The police have seized themachine and registered a case of sedition, conspiracy and threatening nationalsecurity against the unidentified senders. Mohite also refused to comment on whether the e-mail could be a hoax. "Weare taking the case very seriously," he said. He said, the police had alerted allthe organisations which have been threatened and security heightened.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_ID=2001218917

Need For Better Infrastructure to Fight Cyber Crime Stressed

Mumbai: The Mumbai police cyber crime cell is basking in glory, having been felicitated twice this year by the corporate sector. But the cyber cops have a long way to go. According to insiders, there is an urgent need for the state government to improve the infrastructure, increase trained manpower and make the cyber crime cell accessible to the common man.
The cell has received 36 cases since its inception in December last year, of which 25 were solved and eight persons arrested.

According to a senior IPS officer who requested anonymity the cell is still in its infancy. "It has only six officers and eight constables working on three to four computers, a scanner and a printer." It requires more staff since number of complainants are expected to increase five-fold in the coming months. The cell needs state-of-art hardware and software.

At present, the cell seeks support from the Internet industry, whose professionals are part of the technical advisory committee of Mumbai police. "The Internet professionals should impart dynamic training to policemen. In the technology field, what you learn today becomes obsolete tomorrow. It has to be an ongoing training programme," the IPRS officer stated.

One of the major problems faced by the cell is the inordinate delays in cracking a case. Said an Internet expert, who is closely associated with the cell: "If there is a complaint from a far flung suburb, the officers take almost 24 hours to co-ordinate with the technical advisory committee, reach the location and begin investigations. The loss of time may result in crucial electronic evidence being tampered or lost. We, therefore, need more cyber crime cells at zonal and police station level so that the work can be expedited immediately after a complaint is lodged."

According to the IT Act, a cyber crime can be investigated by an officer not less than an assistant commissioner of police (ACP). But the Mumbai cell does not have an ACP for a full-time cyber investigation job. "We seek help of any ACP at the division level or at the HQ to deal with cyber crime cases," an investigating officer said. "In fact, the ACP's role is merely to endorse investigations, which is actually done by inspectors and sub-inspectors."

According to police commissioner M.N. Singh, the cell would have a major role to play in the 21st century since cyber crime was an emerging phenomenon. Incidentally, Mumbai police is one of the few police forces in the country to have a dedicated cell for cyber crime. So far, the cell has registered five FIRs, but it is yet to file a charge sheet in the court. "I cannot tell you when the charge sheets will be filed. As far as developing infrastructure is concerned, the process will take some time," senior inspector I.M. Zahid of the cell said.

A major challenge before the cell is to make electronic evidence admissible in a court, said Flynn Remedios, member of the technical advisory committee. "One of the main problems is convincing the judiciary of evidence in digital format. The judiciary is used to seeing material objects such as firearms, choppers, blood stained clothes, etc. as evidence. The prosecution will have to work hard to explain the technical part of investigations."
Advocate Haresh Jagtiani, who has studied the IT Act said "There is a possibility that a magistrate hearing a cyber crime case will find it difficult to understand the technical aspects of the case. Such magistrates and even lawyers should be given special training on information technology. The business industry can generate a fund to facilitate such training.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Many Options, Tough Choices

TEAM CD[ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 03, 1999 02:59:30 PM]

It's not about planning share options. It's whether you get your ESOPs right that matters. It's the soft option, right? Give your employees the share options they've been wanting, you become a great employer, the Reds love you, investors will believe your managers empathise with them, and everyone lives happily ever after. Wrong. It doesn't quite work that way. As Corporate India is discovering.In just over a month since SEBI announced its guidelines, reports of companies planning share option plans is growing almost daily. HDFC, ICICI, L&T, Dabur India, Tata Steel, Nicholas Piramal, Tata Donnelley, Gujarat Ambuja, Ranbaxy, Reliance...

Now the fun starts. Corporate India's got what it wanted - free and flexible regulations leaving much of the decision-making to individual companies. Ask R Shankar Raman, senior vice-president of L&T finance, which is structuring an ESOP for L&T. L&T's management has first to decide whether it's part of salary or a reward, then work out who gets it, top management or everyone, its HR guys have to work out how to quantify performance and link it to distribution of shares, then take into account the variable performance of various divisions, what pricing will achieve the right results, worry about shareholder dilution, and only then deal with the fineprint of accounting and taxation.

Managements are suddenly realising that freedom isn't easy to deal with. Start from choosing a type of plan. An ESOP, an employee stock purchase plan (ESPS) or phantom stocks? An ESPS is an outright sale of shares to employees at a fixed price. Phantom Stocks, are in essence compensation incentives linked to stock-price performance. There's no right answer, it depends on a company's philosophy. ESOPs are most common, and structuring and administering an ESOP is a delicate task. The critical decisions have nothing to do with regulations, or rewards. It's about strategic focus, clear and enforceable HR systems, and identifying business goals. "In India it is still viewed as a basic rewarding system - which is wrong. Companies are using it as a compensation strategy, because they are unaware of its potential as a business strategy. There is a definite nexus between goals and options," says Rajesh Dhume, director, Ernst and Young.
It's not supposed to be a lollipop for good li'l employees.It's meant to be a powerful strategic tool to activate and channelise human capital. Oops. Now CEOs are having to answer fundamental questions. Why should you have an ESOP, and what do you hope to achieve? There's no single right answer. "You need ESOPs when companies want to grow, when you need to attract critical talent from outside, and in mature companies, to incentivise top management, so that they feel like owners," says TV Mohandas Pai, CFO, Infosys, a pioneer of ESOPs.

In the first place, not every company should be handing out the lollies. ESOPs make sense in people-driven industries, in services, in knowledge businesses. Says Merwyn Raphael, of HR consultancy William Mercer, "Those in industries that do not record jumps in stock value prefer a differential bonus. Internationally, unions in industries like pharma, genetics, and even automobiles where market price is dictated by factors other than individual performance are wary of ESOPs."

The size of the company matters. Broadbased plans, where everyone gets a piece of the action, works best in smaller companies, with low equity bases, ideally start-ups. At L&T, for instance, ESOPs aren't being uniformly instituted across all group companies; it will be done gradually.
In India, most non-IT companies are already large in terms of numbers, and a broadbased ESOP would play havoc with the shareholding. It is most likely that Indian plans will choose to be selective rather than broadbased, and be restricted to top management. ESOPs can be used as part of various strategies (see page3). But plans have to be structured as part of a company's overall compensation and HR policy, which aligns with its business strategies. Otherwise, it doesn't work to increase shareholder value. "Today, in India, options are being seen as an add-on. With time, it will become part of the compensation package, especially for a company's key people," says Jairaj Purandare, managing partner, Arthur Andersen.

For recruitments, it's only for those high-flying executives you have to hire from outside, or to entice people into start-ups. In India, say experts, family-owned businesses might well want to use it to professionalise top management. And yes, as golden handcuffs, it keeps those critical people in high-turnover industries back. "But just by keeping people in the company you are not assured that their performance will be driven by it, unless you link ESOPs to performance," says Purandare.Option plans have to build in factors like feeling of ownership, link to company performance and individual performance. Performance-linking, which is being considered almost a must in India, is a fairly recent trend overseas. At HDFC, for instance, the premium is on future performance. Says Susir Kumar M, company secretary, "The scheme should drive future performance. HR has to build up a measurement against all activities of an employee, if everything is measurable, we can set targets."

Right. So you need formal appraisal systems in place, and also methods for measuring individual contribution to the company's business performance. In many Indian companies, this itself is a tall order. And in large companies, it isn't as easy as it sounds. "It is difficult to actually attribute and link the contribution of an employee, particularly at the lower levels, to stock value," says Raphael.

And after all this, it doesn't always work as it is supposed to. Option plans work fine when the company stock performs well, and rises. Suppose it falls? "It can lead to an exodus of critical talent," warns Pai. In many industries, specially cyclicals, stock prices are at the mercy of a whole lot of external factors. And even if it rises, and rises, it can have a curious effect. Ask Infosys, which has largely had a great experience with share options. "In high-growth companies, which have a high burn-out potential, an employee who makes a lot of money from options may just lose the ambition to keep on performing," says Pai. So your best talent, stuffed with options, may just decide to retire to the south sea islands.

If it's not correctly linked to performance, employees may treat options as an entitlement - defeating more than half the reasons why they're given. They are also a more complex kind of compensation, and require regular and constant administering. And finally, if EPS is badly affected, you might well have a bunch of angry shareholders baying for your blood. And behind them, employees.

- Sudeshna Sen, Aruna Vaidyanathan Seema Shukla and Flynn Remedios

PLEASE NOTE: This article was published first in Corporate Dossier, The Economic Times. All copyrights and IPR are duly recognised. The original author has re-published this piece for his personal records only.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

India Online Network lights up its fibres

With a high-tech DWDM optical fibre network that spans the length and breadth of Mumbai city, India Online Network is all set to give users a taste of its SpeedMelon broadband Internet services

It seems Mumbai city is all wired up for broadband services, what with different service providers digging up the whole city to lay their cables and ducts. One such Broadband service provider is India Online Network Ltd (IOL). It has already installed an end-to-end optical fibre network in Mumbai. IOL launched its SpeedMelon broadband Internet service in June 2001. Since this is an 'always on' Internet service, it is regarded as an extended intranet. To speed up access and optimise the usage of bandwidth, it is hosting broadband content (like movies) and popular website home pages on its own intranet servers.

"Our network infrastructure is designed on the lines of an intranet. In fact it's a WAN with an intranet design," says Porus Tavadia, General Manager, Strategic Alliances, IOL.

IOL began work on its DWDM fibre optic network about a year back when it started laying the backbone, a 48-core fibre optic cable with a capacity of 48 Gbps (full-duplex). The 100 Km backbone runs through Mumbai city, beginning at Cuffe Parade in South Mumbai and extending northwards to Andheri.

POPS AND RINGS

A bird's eye-view of the network shows a series of rings around points of presence (PoPs). A PoP in this case is a combination of routing or switching equipment, and IOL has chosen Cisco equipment for this purpose. The PoP is connected to the backbone and to the Ethernet rings. PoPs and rings are currently located at Cuffe Parade, Marine Lines, Andheri and various other parts of Mumbai. Typically, each POP can service 16 rings. Each ring is a six core fibre with 2 Gbps capacity that can service 248 ports or users. The fibre optic cable from the ring terminates at the router on the building. A CAT-5 cable is drawn from the router and leads to the user's premises, where it terminates at the Ethernet card in the users PC. Hence no cable modems are required.
Connectivity at the customers end could differ slightly. In case of a corporate customer, the LAN could be connected to a Proxy server or firewall, which in turn is connected to the ring via a router.

DATA CENTRE

The core of the network is the Data Centre, located at IOL's Marine Lines office in Mumbai. The broadband service provider has an intranet for internal use within the data centre. The backbone is connected to the intranet via a switch. The intranet has mail servers, application servers, and DNS servers. The servers are a mix of Sun Solaris and Windows 2000 boxes. IOL maintains separate mail servers for internal use and for SpeedMelon accounts. There is also an additional Relay server that schedules downloads and transmission of e-mail at different periods during the day. This enables efficient usage of bandwidth and helps administrators keep a check on e-mail viruses.

The Application Servers run authentication software, monitoring programs and billing applications. The DNS servers resolve a domain name to its numeric IP address.

The intranet at the data centre also has a Cisco Cache Engine. Home pages of popular websites are stored in the cache for quick access.

Moving away from the intranet towards the Internet, there is a firewall connected to a router, which is in turn connects to the gateway. Currently IOL utilises Internet gateway services from Global Telesystems.

SERVICES

Besides broadband Internet connectivity, IOL is offering its corporate, SME and SOHO customers a range of services like Customised Bandwidth Solutions, VPN, Video Conferencing, video/music on demand, e-education and online gaming.
Explaining the concept of 'Customised Bandwidth' IOL officials say this is a two fold concept. For one, IOL is ready to offer bandwidth on demand. Secondly, it can reduce/increase the ratio of users to a pipe.
"A customer's bandwidth requirements may shoot up at any point in time and we are positioned effectively to provide bandwidth at the turn of a tap," says Flynn Remedios, VP, Technology & Projects, IOL.
IOL is also putting the finishing touches to its Speedmelon.net website that will have broadband content exclusively for SpeedMelon subscribers. "The USP of this website will be fast downloads of broadband content that will be pre-selected and stored on IOL's intranet servers," says IOL's Porus Tavadia. "We will host music, movies, games and other broadband content on our servers and stream it to our customers through 10 Mbps connections."

IOL is also considering the ASP model and will host applications that can be shared.
With all these services tucked under its belt, it looks like IOL is ready to give its SpeedMelon subscribers Internet access "at the speed of light."

Please Note:

This article appeared first in Network Magazine (Sept 2001) and can be found online at:

http://www.networkmagazineindia.com/200109/case1.htm

It has been re-produced here for record purposes only. This author/publisher hereby recognies all original copyrights and IPR.

Friendship@Internet on the rise

Friendship@Internet on the rise

Express News Service

Mumbai, January 27: THE Internet seems to have become the quickest way to make new friends and even find dating partners. An extensive survey recently carried out in several cities by CyberForensics India, a Mumbai-based private firm specialising in Net security, has revealed that a lot more people are meeting online and tend to exchange their telephone numbers within two to three chat sessions with a fellow stranger on the Net, almost always of the opposite sex.

In the last two months, CyberForensics interviewed over 1,500 people between 14 and 45 years in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. The method of interviews was either on phone, personal or by dispatching sample questionnaires.

‘‘We basically wanted to find out how people tend to interact on the Net, without being judgmental, and what are the main sites and services they use. Some of our survey results have surprised us too — for example, 60 per cent of the male respondents and 50 per cent females admitted to having had an affair with at least one of their online friends,’’ remarked Flynn Remedios of CyberForensics.

Also, around 60 per cent of the respondents had met in person at least 40 per cent of their online pals. This is mainly because they were curious to know what their virtual buddies actually looked like.
Of the 1,500 respondents, 900 were females and 600 were males. Some of the other conclusions through this survey were: more people are meeting online; more people are getting into relationships after meeting online, and about 50 per cent of them admitted to a physical relationships with at least one online partner, whom they met only online and that too in a cold-call (unsolicited message to a person in a chat room for the purpose of building online friendship).

Of the married people in the survey, about 70 per cent admitted to having a physical relationship at least once outside their marriage with an online partner.

Analysing the results, another member of CyberForesnics, Jennifer Vishnoi, said that she was not very surprised by the findings. ‘‘Most of us already knew this was happening, but were not sure we wanted to say it aloud,’’ she said. However, this comprehensive study has proved that the Internet is the ‘‘mating medium’’ of the 21st century, added Remedios.

According to him, one must look beyond this. ‘‘The actual reasons for such online behaviour are loneliness and depression. People are having problems with their mind, which in turn are fuelled by the competitive nature of today’s lifestyle,’’ he reasoned.

A Mumbai-based sexologist, Dr S Malde, who had earlier carried out a cyber survey, explained that people are being pushed to the edge and are looking for alternatives elsewhere. Once it was the telly tube, today it’s the Net. According to Dr Malde, cyber sex is becoming an alternative to actual sex, because the anonymity of the Net shields the victim and you see only what you want to see.

Please Note:
This article appeared first in The Indian Express, Mumbai Newsline and can be found online at:
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=7971#
This has been re-published here for personal record purposes only. This author/publisher hereby acknowledges all original copyrights and IPR