#FactCheck -2018 Baba Ramdev Video on Cheap Petrol Resurfaces Amid Fuel Price Hike, Shared Out of Context

Introduction
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One of the biggest gaming populations in the world today is found in India. Every day, hundreds of millions of young Indians engage with streaming services, immersive digital content, mobile games and e-sports ecosystems. Yet, despite this massive scale of participation, India remains largely absent from the global conversation on original gaming intellectual property. Although the nation produces very few globally significant gaming worlds of its own, it consumes games on an astonishing scale. This paradox highlights a more serious structural issue with the gaming discourse in India. Our national conversation around gaming often begins and ends with regulation i.e., online betting, taxation, fantasy gaming legality, addiction and compliance. Although these worries are valid they have inadvertently obscured a much more crucial query: is India creating a gaming industry or is it just regulating a gaming market? Various subject-matter experts have expressed their views on this issue, like Shailendra Vikram Singh Former Deputy Secretary (Cyber & Information Security), Ministry of Home Affairs who is of the opinion, 

“I believe India’s gaming story presents a unique paradox. While we are one of the world’s largest gaming markets, we have yet to fully realize gaming’s potential as a strategic pillar of the AVGC vision. Much of the conversation remains focused on regulation and consumption, whereas the larger opportunity lies in creation, innovation, and global competitiveness.

In my view, gaming should be recognized as a strategic creative and digital industry. It has the potential to generate high-value employment, foster indigenous intellectual property, and strengthen capabilities in design, storytelling, animation, immersive technologies, and emerging digital skills. Beyond its economic value, gaming can also serve as a powerful platform for education, skilling, and public engagement.

I also see gaming as an important medium for bringing India’s rich cultural heritage, historical narratives, and diverse traditions to global audiences through interactive storytelling. As digital experiences increasingly shape how younger generations learn, engage, and understand the world, culturally rooted content can become a source of both creative expression and national soft power.

At the same time, sustainable growth must be built on trust. Strong safeguards for cybersecurity, child protection, user safety, responsible gaming, and data governance are essential to creating a resilient and trusted ecosystem.

To realize the full promise of the AVGC vision, I believe India must aspire to be more than a large gaming market. A nation of gamers must ultimately become a nation of game creators.”

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The Misplaced Focus of Regulating Bodies

 
A country with one of the world’s oldest storytelling civilizations should not remain from the world’s most influential storytelling medium. Examining how other nations viewed gaming as a strategic cultural enterprise highlights the disparity even further. Japan turned gaming into a tool of soft power by exporting global icons like Mario,  Pokémon and Zelda. Along with K-pop and digital culture, South Korea incorporated gaming into its larger cultural export sector. With businesses like Tencent and games like Genshin Impact and Black Myth: Wukong, China is now aggressively marketing gaming as a geopolitical and technological impact ecosystem.  

Through The Witcher, Poland even showed how local folklore based storytelling may achieve cultural relevance on a worldwide scale. In contrast, India contributes very little to the global gaming imagination despite having one of the strongest civilisational storytelling traditions in human history, including the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Buddhist Narratives, tribal folklore, Indic mythology and regional legends.  

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Artificial Intelligence and Lore of Lost Opportunities

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The arrival of artificial intelligence now changes this equation dramatically. AI is lowering the barriers to creativity in ways previously unimaginable. For character design, procedural storytelling, localisation, environment creation, NPC interactions, voice synthesis and animation pipelines, independent producers and small studios can now use generative AI. Agile creative ecosystems are increasingly able to accomplish what formerly required enormous infrastructure and production teams. This offers India a once-in-a-lifetime chance to overcome conventional developmental barriers in the gaming sector. India may become a global center for AI-assisted storytelling, culturally grounded gaming storylines and scalable independent game production instead of competing just through capital-intensive AAA ecosystems. 

The AVGC Promotion Task Force for India’s Digital future explicitly highlighted the significance of intellectual property development, academic integration, skilling and incubation systems. However, India still views gaming more as a compliance industry than as a significant creative economy. Economists use revenue forecasts to discuss gaming. Taxation frameworks are used by policymakers to discuss it. However, narrative ownership, digital culture, creative sovereignty and gaming as a long-term civilisational export are not sufficiently discussed. 

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Playing Everyone Else’s Game

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The actual danger does not lie in the fact India won’t grow into a sizable gaming industry. The change has already taken place. The bigger risk is that, in a global market that is becoming more and more controlled by foreign narratives, foreign engines and foreign platforms, India may permanently remain a consumer ecosystem. Processors and graphic engines won’t be the only factors influencing gaming in the future, cultures that can emotionally engage worlds will also play a significant role. India possesses the depth of civilisation, creative heritage, technical prowess and population size necessary to develop into such a creator economy. It does not, however, have a consistent institutional focus on supporting studios, storytellers, animators and original intellectual property ecosystems. 

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References

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1. AVGC Promotion Task Force Report, Government of India
2. KPMG India Media & Entertainment Reports
3. EY-FICCI Media & Entertainment Industry Reports
4. Newzoo Global Games Market Reports
5. Lumikai “State of India Gaming” Reports
6. UNESCO Reports on Cultural & Creative Industries
7. World Economic Forum reports on AI and Creative Economies

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Introduction

In the age of advanced technology, Cyber threats continue to grow, and so are the cyber hubs. A new name has been added to the cyber hub, Purnia, a city in India, is now evolving as a new and alarming menace-biometric cloning and financial crimes. This emerging cyber threat involves replicating an individual’s biometric data, such as fingerprint or facial recognition, to gain unauthorised access to their bank accounts and carry out fraudulent activities. In this blog, we will have a look at the methods employed, the impact on individuals and institutions, and the necessary steps to mitigate the risk.

The Backdrop

Purnia, a bustling city in the state of Bihar, India, is known for its rich cultural heritage, However, underneath its bright appearance comes a hidden danger—a rising cyber threat with the potential to devastate its citizens’ financial security. Purnia has seen the growth of a dangerous trend in recent years, such as biometric cloning for financial crimes, after several FIRs were registered with Kasba and Amaur police stations. The Police came into action and started an investigation.

Modus Operandi unveiled

The modus Operandi of cyber criminals includes hacking into databases, intercepting data during transactions, or even physically obtaining fingerprints of facial images from objects or surfaces. Let’s understand how they gathered all this data and why Bihar was not targeted.

These criminals are way smart they operate in the three states. They targeted and have open access to obtain registry and agreement paperwork from official websites, albeit it is not available online in Bihar. As a result, the scam was conducted in other states rather than Bihar; further, the fraudsters were involved in downloading the fingerprints, biometrics, and Aadhaar numbers of buyers and sellers from the property registration documents of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, and Telangana.

After Cloning fingerprints, the fraudster withdrew money after linking with Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) from various bank accounts. The fraudsters stamped the fingerprint on rubber trace paper and utilised a polymer stamp machine and heating at a specific temperature with a chemical to make duplicate fingerprints used in unlawful financial transactions from several consumers’ bank accounts.

Investigation Insight

After the breakthrough, the police teams recovered a large number of smartphones, ATM cards, rubber stamps of fingerprints, Aadhar numbers, scanners, Stamp machines, laptops, and chemicals, and along with this, 17 people were arrested.

During the investigation, it was found that the cybercriminals employ Sophisticated money laundering techniques to obscure the illicit origins of the stolen funds. The fraudsters transfer money into various /multiple accounts or use cryptocurrency. Using these tactics makes it more challenging for authorities to trace back money and get it back.

Impact of biometric Cloning scam

The Biometric scam has far-reaching implications both for society, Individuals, and institutions. These kinds of scams cause financial losses and create emotional breakdowns, including anger, anxiety, and a sense of violation. This also broke the trust in a digital system.

It also seriously impacts institutions. Biometric cloning frauds may potentially cause severe reputational harm to financial institutions and organisations. When clients fall prey to such frauds, it erodes faith in the institution’s security procedures, potentially leading to customer loss and a tarnished reputation. Institutions may suffer legal and regulatory consequences, and they must invest money in investigating the incident, paying victims, and improving their security systems to prevent similar instances.

Raising Awareness

Empowering Purnia Residents to Protect Themselves from Biometric Fraud: Purnia must provide its inhabitants with knowledge and techniques to protect their personal information as it deals with the increasing issue of biometric fraud. Individuals may defend themselves from falling prey to these frauds by increasing awareness about biometric fraud and encouraging recommended practices. This blog will discuss the necessity of increasing awareness and present practical recommendations to help Purnia prevent biometric fraud. Here are some tips that one can follow;

• Securing personal Biometric data: It is crucial to safeguard personal biometric data. Individuals should be urged to secure their fingerprints, face scans, and other biometric information in the same way that they protect their passwords or PINs. It is critical to ensure that biometric data is safely maintained and shared with only trustworthy organisations with strong security procedures in place.
• Verifying Service providers: Residents should be vigilant while submitting biometric data to service providers, particularly those providing financial services. Before disclosing any sensitive information, it is important to undertake due diligence and establish the validity and reliability of the organisation. Checking for relevant certificates, reading reviews, and getting recommendations can assist people in making educated judgments and avoiding unscrupulous companies.
• Personal Cybersecurity: Individuals should implement robust cybersecurity practices to reduce the danger of biometric fraud. This includes using difficult and unique passwords, activating two-factor authentication, upgrading software and programs on a regular basis, and being wary of phishing efforts. Individuals should also refrain from providing personal information or biometric data via unprotected networks or through untrustworthy sources.
• Educating the Elderly and Vulnerable Groups: Special attention should be given to educating the elderly and other vulnerable groups who may be more prone to scams. Awareness campaigns may be modified to their individual requirements, emphasising the significance of digital identities, recognising possible risks, and seeking help from reliable sources when in doubt. Empowering these populations with knowledge can help keep them safe from biometric fraud.

Measures to Stay Ahead

As biometric fraud is a growing concern, staying a step ahead is essential. By following these simple steps, one can safeguard themselves.

• Multi-factor Authentication: MFA is one of the best methods for security. MFA creates multi-layer security or extra-layer security against unauthorised access. MFA incorporates a biometric scan and a password.
• Biometric Encryption: Biometric encryption securely stores and transmits biometric data. Rather than keeping raw biometric data, encryption methods transform it into mathematical templates that cannot be reverse-engineered. These templates are utilised for authentication, guaranteeing that the original biometric information is not compromised even if the encrypted data is.
• AI and Machine Learning (ML): AI and ML technologies are critical in detecting and combating biometric fraud. These systems can analyse massive volumes of data in real-time, discover trends, and detect abnormalities. Biometric systems may continually adapt and enhance accuracy by employing AI and ML algorithms, boosting their capacity to distinguish between legitimate users and fraudulent efforts.

Conclusion

The Biometric fraud call needs immediate attention to protect the bankers from the potential consequences. By creating awareness, we can save ourselves; additionally, by working together, we can create a safer digital environment. The use of biometric verification was inculcated to increase factor authentication for a banker. However, we see that the bad actors have already started to bypass the tech and even wreak havoc upon the netizens by draining their accounts of their hard-earned money. The banks and the cyber cells nationwide need to work together in synergy to increase awareness and safety mechanisms to prevent such cyber crimes and create effective and efficient redressal mechanisms for the citizens.

Reference

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/patna-news/purnia-emerges-as-cyber-fraud-hotspot-as-biometric-data-used-for-online-swindling-police-arrest-17-and-recover-cloning-equipment-1016841669436

Introduction

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a warning to students about fake social media accounts that spread false information about the CBSE. The board has warned students not to trust the information coming from these accounts and has released a list of 30 fake accounts. The board has expressed concern that these handles are misleading students and parents by spreading fake information with the name and logo of the CBSE. The board has has also clarified that it is not responsible for the information being spread from these fake accounts.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), a venerable institution in the realm of Indian education, has found itself ensnared in the web of cyber duplicity. Impersonation attacks, a sinister facet of cybercrime, have burgeoned, prompting the Board to adopt a vigilant stance against the proliferation of counterfeit social media handles that masquerade under its esteemed name and emblem.

The CBSE, has revealed a list of approximately 30 spurious handles that have been sowing seeds of disinformation across the social media landscape. These digital doppelgängers, cloaked in the Board's identity, have been identified and exposed. The Board's official beacon in this murky sea of falsehoods is the verified handle '@cbseindia29', a lighthouse guiding the public to the shores of authentic information.

This unfolding narrative signifies the Board's unwavering commitment to tackle the scourge of misinformation and to fortify the bulwarks safeguarding the sanctity of its official communications. By spotlighting the rampant growth of fake social media personas, the CBSE endeavors to shield the public from the detrimental effects of misleading information and to preserve the trust vested in its official channels.

CBSE Impersonator Accounts

The list of identified malefactors, parading under the CBSE banner, serves as a stark admonition to the public to exercise discernment while navigating the treacherous waters of social media platforms. The CBSE has initiated appropriate legal manoeuvres against these unauthorised entities to stymie their dissemination of fallacious narratives.

The Board has previously unfurled comprehensive details concerning the impending board examinations for both Class 10 and Class 12 in the year 2024. These academic assessments are slated to commence from February 15 to April 2, 2024, with a uniform start time of 10:30 AM (IST) across all designated dates.

The CBSE has made it unequivocally clear that there are nefarious entities lurking in the shadows of social media, masquerading in the guise of the CBSE. It has implored students and the general public not to be ensnared by the siren songs emanating from these fraudulent accounts and has also unfurled a list of these imposters. The Board's warning is a beacon of caution, illuminating the path for students as they navigate the digital expanse with the impending commencement of the CBSE Class X and XII exams.

Sounding The Alarm

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has sounded the alarm, issuing an advisory to schools, students, and their guardians about the existence of fake social media platform handles that brandish the board’s logo and mislead the academic community. The board has identified about 30 such accounts on the microblogging site 'X' (formerly known as Twitter) that misuse the CBSE logo and acronym, sowing confusion and disarray.

The board is in the process of taking appropriate action against these deceptive entities. CBSE has also stated that it bears no responsibility for any information disseminated by any other source that unlawfully appropriates its name and logo on social media platforms.

Sources reveal that these impostors post false information on various updates, including admissions and exam schedules. After receiving complaints about such accounts on 'X', the CBSE issued the advisory and has initiated action against those operating these accounts, sources said.

The Brute Nature of Impersonation

In the contemporary digital epoch, cybersecurity has ascended to a position of critical importance. It is the bulwark that ensures the sanctity of computer networks is maintained and that computer systems are not marked as prey by cyber predators. Cyberattacks are insidious stratagems executed with the intent of expropriating, manipulating, or annihilating authenticated user or organizational data. It is imperative that cyberattacks be mitigated at their roots so that users and organizations utilizing internet services can navigate the digital domain with a sense of safety and security. Knowledge about cyberattacks thus plays a pivotal role in educating cyber users about the diverse types of cyber threats and the preventive measures to counteract them.

Impersonation Attacks are a vicious form of cyberattack, characterised by the malicious intent to extract confidential information. These attacks revolve around a process where cyber attackers eschew the use of malware or bots to perpetrate their crimes, instead wielding the potent tactic of social engineering. The attacker meticulously researches and harvests information about the legitimate user through platforms such as social media and then exploits this information to impersonate or masquerade as the original, legitimate user.

The threats posed by Impersonation Attacks are particularly insidious because they demand immediate action, pressuring the victim to act without discerning between the authenticated user and the impersonated one. The very nature of an Impersonation Attack is a perilous form of cyber assault, as the original user who is impersonated holds rights to private information. These attacks can be executed by exploiting a resemblance to the original user's identity, such as email IDs. Email IDs with minute differences from the legitimate user are employed in this form of attack, setting it apart from the phishing cyber mechanism. The email addresses are so similar and close to each other that, without paying heed or attention to them, the differences can be easily overlooked. Moreover, the email addresses appear to be correct, as they generally do not contain spelling errors.

Strategies to Prevent 

To prevent Impersonation Attacks, the following strategies can be employed:

1. Proper security mechanisms help identify malicious emails and thereby filter spamming email addresses on a regular basis.
2. Double-checking sensitive information is crucial, especially when important data or funds need to be transferred. It is vital to ensure that the data is transferred to a legitimate user by cross-verifying the email address.
3. Ensuring organizational-level security is paramount. Organizations should have specific domain names assigned to them, which can help employees and users distinguish their identity from that of cyber attackers.
4. Protection of User Identity is essential. Employees must not publicly share their private identities, which can be exploited by attackers to impersonate their presence within the organization.

Conclusion 

The CBSE's struggle against the masquerade of misinformation is a reminder of the vigilance required to safeguard the legitimacy of our digital interactions. As we navigate the complex and uncharted terrain of the internet, let us arm ourselves with the knowledge and discernment necessary to unmask these digital charlatans and uphold the sanctity of truth.

References 

• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/cbse-warns-against-misuse-of-its-name-by-fake-social-media-handles/articleshow/107644422.cms
• https://www.timesnownews.com/education/cbse-releases-list-of-fake-social-media-handles-asks-not-to-follow-article-107632266
• https://www.etvbharat.com/en/!bharat/cbse-public-advisory-enn24021205856

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