India blames Pakistani hands behind Internet scare that led to NE exodus, Islamabad seeks proof

A day after India blamed Pakistani hands behind doctored images and text messages that went viral over cell phones and  social networks to create panic amongst people from India’s north eastern region, Pakistan has promised that it will investigate into the allegations if India comes up with proof.

Last week, doctored images portraying gun toting monks from the north east, killing Muslims, began doing the rounds on the Internet through Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Soon, text messages threatening a Muslim retaliation against people from the north eastern states began doing the rounds.

This triggered panic and an exodus of people from north east residing in various states. Thousands of northeast Indians fled from cities including Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai to their homeland.

The Indian government soon came out with a 43 page report and blamed Pakistani groups behind the false propaganda. On Sunday, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had asked his Pakistani peer Rehman Malik to take action against perpetrators.

Going by a report prepared by National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and Computer Emergency Response Team India (Cert-In), several of the disturbing images that sought to create tension between Muslims and Indians from the north eastern region were doctored and had their origins in Pakistan.

The Indian government has reportedly asked Facebook and Google to block nearly 80 Internet pages.  A daily limit of 5 text messages per user has also been put in place by the government to stop mass circulation of text messages that promote hate.

While social media has been widely credited for catalysing positive change in the world through events like the Arab spring, it has also been instrumental in spreading in rumours. There is already a strict ban on usage of social media in countries like China and reckless social media behaviour will only lead to governments asking for more power over the Internet, leading to censorship and practices that hamper free speech.

Lesson Learnt: For a free and fair internet, share responsibly.

What are your thoughts?

Also see: Rohan Rathore Is Alive But It’s Time He Dies [Irresponsibly Powerful Web]

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Anipang Tops the Gaming Charts in Korea, Pushed On by KakaoTalk Game Center

One Korean developer has been riding the wave of popularity of the chat app KakaoTalk in the country, which now has a Game Center, pushing its Anipang game to the top of the Google Play free game chart this weekend.

Anipang is a cutesy, Bejeweled-like puzzler created by the South Korean startup developers SundayToZ. The studio started in social games in 2009, but only switched to mobile in March of this year with the launch of Aqua Story. SundayToZ’s biz dev VP, Angus Lau, tells us that Anipang is “approaching two million installs” already, despite only being launched on July 30th – the same day that the KakaoTalk Game Center went live in Korea. Already the game has hit one million daily active users (DAU) and is the second-highest grossing game at present on the local version of Google Play. That’s thanks to a host of in-app purchase options. It also helps that Anipang is a familiar title from the company’s browser-based game of the same name on Cyworld.

SundayToZ is currently focusing on Android, but Angus tells us that it’ll branch out into iOS pretty soon, “[We’ll be] offering translated versions of Aqua Story in Asian languages including Japanese and both traditional and simplified Chinese.” Anipang will get to join in the expansion fun too:

Anipang, although only available in Korea now, [we] have plans to launch outside of Korea, in markets that have heavy KakaoTalk usage. We will also release iOS versions in the coming months for the two mobile titles as well as other titles towards the end of this year.

SundayToZ is backed by Softbank Ventures Korea and Walden International, and at the moment, Angus explains, “There are 28 members on the team, mostly made up of programmers and designers.”

It makes sense to be looking into iOS, as the KakaoTalk Game Center app will soon launch on that platform after initially debuting only on Android. When we last talked to KakaoTalk we were told that the messaging app now has 24 million DAUs, and that 90 percent of smartphone users in Korea are now signed up with the app.

Anipang is still restricted to download in South Korea right now. It’s here in the Google Play store.

The post Anipang Tops the Gaming Charts in Korea, Pushed On by KakaoTalk Game Center appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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Top Online Destinations in India: Google leads the traffic race, Facebook tops engagement

Google Sites ranked as the top online destinations in India reaching 57.8 million people age 15 and older accessing the Internet from a home or work computer. Facebook followed with 50.9 million visitors (83.4 percent reach), followed by Yahoo! Sites (65.5 percent reach) and Microsoft Sites (48.1 percent reach). Local web properties secured several spots in the top 10 ranking, including Times Internet Limited, reaching 33.7 percent of the online population, Network 18 (29.3 percent reach), Rediff.com India Ltd (25.2 percent reach) and NIC.in (21.8 percent reach), as per Comscore report.

In terms of engagement, visitors were most engaged on Facebook, spending an average of nearly 4 hours on the site in June. Visitors spent 2.5 hours on Google Sites, with YouTube accounting for a strong share of time spent on the property. Among local brands, Network 18 led as the most engaging property with visitors averaging 31.6 minutes during the month.

Top Online Categories by Share of Total Minutes June 2012 Total Internet: India, Viewers Age 15+ Location Home/Work*
	Total Unique Visitors (000)	% Reach	Average Minutes per Visitor
Total Internet : Total Audience	61,004	100.0%	772.5
Google Sites	57,826	94.8%	155.3
Facebook.com	50,890	83.4%	224.9
Yahoo! Sites	39,977	65.5%	63.3
Microsoft Sites	29,363	48.1%	19.8
Wikimedia Foundation Sites	21,031	34.5%	11.1
Times Internet Limited	20,535	33.7%	16.9
Network 18	17,891	29.3%	31.6
Ask Network	15,829	25.9%	3.5
Rediff.com India Ltd	15,346	25.2%	28.3
NIC.in	13,308	21.8%	23.6

Top Categories

- Social networking accounted for 25.2% of all time spent online in June, an increase of 0.8% points from the previous year.
- Entertainment sites ranked second, accounting for 10 percent of minutes (up 1.2 percentage points from the previous year), while Portals accounted for 8.8 percent of total minutes.
- Although it represented just 2.0 percent of total minutes, time spent on Retail sites grew 0.5 points in the past year as online shopping continued to gain adoption.
- Email traffic went down by 0.5%.

Top Online Categories by Share of Total Minutes June 2012 vs. June 2011 Total Internet: India, Viewers Age 15+ Location Home/Work*
	Share of Online Minutes
	Jun-2011	Jun-2012	Point Change
Social Networking	24.4%	25.2%	0.8
Entertainment	8.8%	10.0%	1.2
Portals	11.4%	8.8%	-2.6
e-mail	8.6%	8.1%	-0.5
Search/Navigation	3.4%	3.2%	-0.2
Business/Finance	2.9%	3.0%	0.1
News/Information	2.3%	2.2%	-0.1
Retail	1.5%	2.0%	0.5
Instant Messengers	3.8%	2.0%	-1.8
Games	1.6%	1.8%	0.2
Directories/Resources	1.6%	1.7%	0.1

Source: comScore Media Metrix.

*The data does not include visits from public access computers, such as Internet cafes, mobile phones or PDAs

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“Worst Busters” Project To Reform The Worst Of Japan With Smartphone Apps

Omoshiro Houjin Kayac Inc. [J] has announced that they will begin Worst Busters, [J] a project that will, using an application, reform the worst areas in the 47 prefectures of Japan, by their collaboration with 1192 Inc. [J].

“Worst Busters” is a project to take on what 1992 has deemed the “worst” of society as a challenge of communication, and to tailor policies and ideas and offer suggestions for ways to solve the problems of society.  This time with the collaboration between 1992 and Kayac, they are directing their focus on the prefectures of Japan and will make suggestions of various policies and ideas using smartphones for resolution techniques.  Also, they are announcing one part of their ideas on their accompanying site to kick off the project.  The currently announced Worst Busters ideas are as follows.

･ Social buried treasure map

Osaka is the worst in terms of spending money! (source: household finances survey yearly report H15)  The expression means it would be good to search for buried treasure by yourself.

･Self-development promotion app

Ibaragi’s worst point is “Prefecture with no charm”!  (source: “region brand 2009” survey result)  This expression means that if you have self-confidence you will appear more charming to others.

･Photo posting app

Shimane’s worst is “I have no idea where I am!” (source: goo ranking).  The expression means let’s upload lots of pictures of good places in Shimane.

There are various worsts for other prefectures too, and Kayac and 1992 aim to reform the world with apps and continue putting out many more ideas from here on.  Furthermore they are recruiting individuals and corporations who sympathize with the ideas of this app and are helping to reform the world together.

Translation authorized by VSMedia.

“Worst Busters” Project To Reform The Worst Of Japan With Smartphone Apps

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Shareholders Approve: Youku and Tudou Sitting in a Tree, M-E-R-G-I-N-G

Tudou’s Gary Wang (left) and Youku’s Victor Koo, pictured today after shareholders of both companies approved the proposed merger.

China’s biggest-ever tech deal was revealed back in March of this year when Youku (NYSE:YOKU) and Tudou (NASDAQ:TUDO) shocked the nation’s netizens, proposing that the two largest video-streaming sites should merge. And now that’s closer than ever to being finalized after shareholders of both Youku and Tudou have agreed to the terms of the deal.

It’s a major step forward, but there’s still some way to go yet. So long as regulators don’t intervene, the careful legal process will stretch on for the rest of the year.

Aside from the new photo of Tudou’s Gary Wang (left) and Youku’s Victor Koo, nothing much changes immediately in the ongoing merger, which will ultimately form a new company called Youku Tudou Inc. Unless they think of a better name. The two brands and sites, Youku.com and Tudou.com, will go on largely unchanged even after the merger is complete. We believe that a thorough legal laundry list is the next thing to plough through, then Tudou will be very close to being de-listed from NASDAQ and merged into the $YOKU ticker.

The post Shareholders Approve: Youku and Tudou Sitting in a Tree, M-E-R-G-I-N-G appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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Thai Tech Round-Up [20 August, 2012]

We are back with the third issue of the Thai tech round-up, courtesy of Thumbsup, this week focusing on apps and gaming.

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First Line app stickers from a Thai cartoonist

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Line is the popular, Japanese-made chat app, which makes a lot of money from emoticon sticker packs sold as in-app purchases. In our first Thai round-up, we mentioned the exclusive stickers from one Thailand mobile telco in the Android version of the app. And now, “Mamuang” (meaning “mango” in Thai) is the first sticker pack from a Thai cartoonist, available now in the in-app Sticker Shop. Wisut Ponnimit, Mamuang‘s creator, is a famous cartoonist in the country, and draws cartoons in numerous Thai and Japanese magazines.

Mamuang is a very popular cartoon character in Japan, and so it made sense for Line’s creator, NHN, to bring it into the app. There are three main characters included in the sticker set: Mamuang, the cute doggy Manow (meaning “lemon”) and Loong Lin Yai (Thai for “big tongue uncle”). You can get all 40 virtual stickers for $1.99 within the app.

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New social radio app launches

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The first Thai-based digital radio streaming Facebook app – called “BandOn Radio” – has launched. Worapot Nimwijitra, a former executive at RS (a major Thai entertainment company), is the owner of this project.

BandOn Radio is a music streaming service similar to Spotify, Pandora, and Deezer (a startup already operating in Thailand). Bandon Radio programming will be arranged by various DJs who might be familiar to some local music lovers.

As for the business model, Bandon Radio’s income will come from advertising. So audiences have no need to pay for listening to the streams. One advantage of this service is that the DJs can interact with the audience directly on Facebook, and people will be able to listen to music-set re-runs. BandOn is on-air now.

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Two Thai gaming companies prepare for battle against China’s Tencent

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Two big players in the gaming industry in Thailand, Asiasoft and ThaiCyberGames, have announced a partnership to establish a new online game company. A big part of the reason for this is so as to better face up to Tencent, the biggest tech company from China, which is pushing into Southeast Asian markets these days.

Asiasoft runs some popular social gaming titles from South Korea and China. And it is now trying to expand into other local markers before it’s too late – specifically into Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. ThaiCyberGames is the official operator of Warcraft III in Thailand.

The plan for the partnership company is to build a strong online gaming presence in the region.

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Symantec Intelligence Report reveals 1 of every 364 emails to SMBs are phishing attacks

(Credit: Mitchell Communications Group)

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) disclosed its July 2012 Symantec Intelligence Report findings that focus on spam, malware and phishing attacks committed from late June to late July.

According to data gathered in July 2012, the number of Web attacks has increased three fold as compared to the last half of 2011. Due to unsuspecting users, attackers usually lure users to Web attack toolkits by using a variety of social engineering tricks suck as emails or social networking attacks. These usually contain harmful links to direct users to genuine websites that have been tampered with in which the attacker has initially installed a Web attack toolkit.

Spam : Global ratio of spam in email traffic increased from 66.8 percent in June to 67.6 percent in July, marking an increase of 0.8 percent. In Singapore, the spam rate increased to 66.6 percent in July from 65.8 percent in June.

Phishing : In July, every one in 475.3 emails includes some form of phishing attack.

Email-borne threats : In July, global ratio of email-borne viruses in email traffic was one in 340.9 emails, showing a decrease of 0.023 percent since June. July shows a 1.5 percent increase since June resulting in 26.5 percent of email-borne malware contained links to malicious Web sites.

This comprehensive reports also shows how attackers are using Olympic themed hashtags on Twitter to spread malicious code, pushing threats with popular Olympic-themed Android apps and creating spam and phishing scams that are not what it seem to be. These attackers formulate plans to trick users into downloading malware. The Olympic theme has been the major contributing scam content, doubling from late May to late July, when the Games began. Scams include fake promo emails from MasterCard promising trips to the Games and fake gift cards from Visa in order to get recipient’s personal information.

 

Geographical Trends:

Spam

·         In Hong Kong, 67 percent of email was blocked as spam and 66.6 percent in Singapore compared with 64.1 percent in Japan

·         In the US, 67.7 percent of email was spam and 67.9 percent in Canada

·         The spam level in the UK was 68.5 percent

 

Phishing

·         South Africa was the second-most targeted country, with one in 171.2 emails identified as phishing attacks

·         In Australia, phishing activity accounted for one in 752.1 emails and one in 2,241.4 in Hong Kong; for Japan it was one in 7,448.8 and one in 3,450.6 for Singapore

·         Phishing levels for the US reached one in 995.5 and one in 244.9 for Canada

·         In Germany phishing levels were one in 1,091.0, one in 719.6 in Denmark

·         In Brazil one in 786.2 emails was blocked as phishing

 

Email-borne threats

·         The Netherlands remained the geography with the highest ratio of malicious email activity in July, with one in 82.2 emails identified as malicious

·         For Japan the rate was one in 2,083.7, compared with one in 902.3 in Singapore

·         In Australia, one in 634.5 emails was malicious

·         In Brazil, one in 445.1 emails contained malicious content

 

Vertical Trends:

·         The Education sector was the most spammed industry sector in July, with a spam rate of 70.3 percent; the spam rate for the Automotive sector was 69.0 percent

·         The spam rate for the Chemical & Pharmaceutical sector was 67.9 percent, compared with 67.7 percent for IT Services, 67.7 percent for Retail, 68.8 percent for Public Sector and 67.2 percent for Finance

·         The Public Sector remained the most targeted by phishing activity in July, with one in 113.3 emails comprising a phishing attack

·         Phishing levels for the Chemical & Pharmaceutical sector reached one in 1,119.1 and one in 750.9 for the IT Services sector, one in 1,023.0 for Retail, one in 335.8 for Education, one in 285.9 for Finance, and one in 2,068.1 for the Automotive industry

·         With one in 85.3 emails being blocked as malicious, the Public Sector remained the most targeted industry in July

·         The virus rate for the Chemical & Pharmaceutical sector reached one in 322.7 and one in 503.3 for the IT Services sector; one in 596.1 for Retail, one in 210.6 for Education and one in 301.8 for Finance.

Market Trends:

·         Phishing attacks targeting small to medium-sized businesses accounted for one in 363.8 emails, compared with one in 418.3 for large enterprises.

·         Malicious email-borne attacks destined for small to medium-sized businesses accounted for one in 404.4 emails, compared with one in 214.4 for large enterprises.

Featured Image Credits: Hacker Journals

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