United News of Bangladesh

The Treasury Department of US on Thursday slapped six Russian technology companies with sanctions for supporting Kremlin intelligence agencies engaged in “dangerous and disruptive cyber attacks.” But only one of them stands out for its international footprint and partnerships with such IT heavyweights as Microsoft and IBM. That company, Positive Technologies, claims more than 2,000 customers in 30 countries, including major European banks Societe Generale and ING, as well as Samsung, SK Telecom of South Korea and BT, the British telecommunications giant. Also read: Microsoft server hack has victims hustling to stop intruders Its clients also include the FSB, a successor to the KGB that “cultivates and co-opts criminal hackers” who carry out ransomware and phishing attacks, the Treasury Department said. The U.S. said big conventions hosted by Positive Technologies are “used as recruiting events” by the FSB and the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency. GRU agents are the swashbucklers of Russian intelligence. The agency stands accused of spearheading the hack-and-leak operation that interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to favor Donald Trump. Its agents also conducted the most damaging cyberattack on record, the runaway 2017 NotPetya virus that did more than $10 billion in global damage, its victims including the shipping giant Maersk and pharmaceutical company Merck. The CEO of the software industry-supported Internet Research Institute in Moscow, Karen Kazaryan, said he was not familiar with most of the Russian IT companies sanctioned on Thursday. But Positive Tech is well-known in the industry for its annual Hack Days conference, which is scheduled for May 20-21 at a Moscow hotel. Also read: Microsoft buying speech recognition firm Nuance in $16B deal Former CIA analyst Michael van Landingham applauded the naming and sanctioning of Russian IT companies known to have aided and abetted malign government activity. “Naming specific companies can create incentives for educated and skilled Russians who might be able to obtain jobs elsewhere where they don’t support Russian state hacking,” he said. Positive Tech’s specialty is identifying vulnerabilities in popular software such as Microsoft’s Windows operating system. The world’s intelligence agencies regularly lean on companies like it not to disclose potent vulnerabilities publicly when they find them but to instead quietly share them for hacking adversaries’ networks. The U.S. did not accuse Positive Technologies of any such behavior and the Treasury Department declined to answer questions about the company’s activities beyond a press release.

Localised global ICT solutions provider Huawei will invest more in components for intelligent vehicles.  The Chinese telecom giant's Rotating Chairman Eric Xu announced this at the 18th Global Analyst Summit in Shenzhen on Monday.  The announcement came after the recent disclosure of the financial report of 2020, where the company saw comparatively slower growth than previous years. Read Huawei brings financial aid, free service for Asia-Pacific SMEs. "Moving forward, we will continue to find ourselves in a complex and volatile global environment. A resurgence of Covid-19 and geopolitical uncertainty will present ongoing challenges for every organisation, business, and country," Xu said. "We believe deeply in the power of digital technology to provide fresh solutions to the problems we all face. So we will keep innovating and driving digital transformation forward with our customers and partners to bring digital to every person, home, and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world."  Read Huawei posts 3.8% growth in 2020. The first Huawei Global Analyst Summit took place in 2004 and has been held annually ever since. This year's summit, "Building a Fully Connected, Intelligent World," will run from April 12 to 14 with several breakout sessions where industry experts from around the world can share their unique insights and discuss future trends, read a press release. Read Huawei to disclose steady business performance in 2020.

Global smartphone brand Oppo has started a new campaign where anyone can win Oppo F19 Pro by posting picture and video on the company's official Facebook page. The campaign started on April 7 and will continue till April 11. To participate in this competition, the participants will have to take colourful videos or photos that represent AI Color Portrait mode and share the video or photo in the comment box with the hashtag #AIColorPortrait #ColorYourself. Read OPPO F19 Pro Review with Price in Bangladesh Also, they will have to share this post on their timeline and tag at least three friends and family members and make it public. The campaign is open for all. Three winners will be selected randomly and one of them will get an Oppo F19 Pro handset, the other two will get exciting gifts. The winners of the campaign will be announced on Oppo's Facebook page and they will have to claim their prize within 24 hours of that announcement. Read realme 8 Pro Full Review: 108MP prime camera with superb photographic features AI Color Portrait Video is a new feature that resembles AI Color Portrait photo. The feature can recognise the human subject in the video, differentiate them from the background, and retain only the colours of the subject in the video. It works in real-time so users can preview the footage while recording it. This feature even works with up to two people in the shot and also supports both the front-facing and rear cameras.     Oppo F19 Pro has dual-view video, AI Color Portrait video, sleek and smart design, powerful battery, 30W VOOC Flash Charge 4.0 and many more features. This handset is now available at Tk28,990. Read Best Upcoming Phones in April 2021 in Bangladesh: Official and Unofficial

Over 60,000 people in Bangladesh gained digital skills amid the pandemic with the support of Microsoft. The company made the announcement in a media statement released on Thursday. "From laid-off factory workers to retail associates and truck drivers, millions of people have turned to online learning courses from GitHub, LinkedIn, and Microsoft during the pandemic to help prepare for and secure the most in-demand roles, including customer service projects management and data analysis," it said. Microsoft's announcement builds on the company's efforts to help people by extending free LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn courses and low-cost certifications, that align to 10 of the most in-demand jobs, throughout 2021.  Also read: Microsoft server hack has victims hustling to stop intruders The next stage of the initiative sets a new foundation for a skills-based economy through a suite of new tools and platforms designed to connect skilled job seekers with employers.  "The pandemic has changed everything, and the post-pandemic world will be a lot different than what we knew of it," said Afif Mohamed Ali, country managing director of Microsoft Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, and Nepal. "We are standing on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), which will fundamentally bring alchemical change and significantly impact all industries, including the job market It has become vital for individuals to learn and improve the skill set that will help them emerge stronger in the post-pandemic world." "So, we have collaborated with LinkedIn to double our efforts to support the development of a more inclusive skill-based labour market, to create more alternatives, greater flexibility, and access learning paths to connect more people with new job opportunities," said Afif. Also read: TikTok owner picks Oracle over Microsoft as US tech partner LinkedIn plans to help 250,000 companies globally make skills-based hires this year through new and existing hiring products.  The company will provide both new ways for job seekers to demonstrate their skills and new tools for employers to connect to candidates based on their skill proficiencies including, LinkedIn Skills Path, LinkedIn profile features, and LinkedIn Skills Graph.  "More and more, we are seeing skills-based hiring becoming critical in our world of work. We've seen people across the globe express a desire to learn and build their skills, and organisations too, are hiring based on skills instead of traditional qualifications," said Olivier Legrand, managing director and vice-president of LinkedIn Asia Pacific and China. "LinkedIn, together with Microsoft, are committed to helping everyone shift towards a skills-based economy. In 2021, we will continue our efforts to equip job seekers with the right resources to pick up new skills, and connect them to opportunities, as well as aim to help 250,000 organizations make a skills-based hire." Read City Bank partners with Microsoft to enable its employees to work from home

Grameenphone has recently launched Grameenphone Explorers 2.0, the second batch of its youth-development initiative, to ensure the growth of skills and expertise among future leaders. The 12-week-long programme officially began with the orientation session on April 1. At the programme, ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, "Initiatives like Grameenphone Explorer 2.0 are key enablers that help devise how the youth of this country can prepare themselves to contribute to the growth of our great nation and unlock new opportunities for our future generations." Also read: Grameenphone announces 15,500 4G towers in country GP Explorers is an innovative upskilling initiative from Grameenphone – targeted to unleash the youths' potential and transform their mindset towards skills of the future. This year, GP Explorers 2.0 is set to feature a wide range of virtual and real-time engagements between the participants and mentors, focusing on building their communication proficiency, entrepreneurship skills, and digital skills. The programme also targets grooming their personalities to face the immensely competitive local and global job markets. Also read: Grameenphone provides Tk 30 crore to workers welfare fund Also,70% of the learning is designed to take place online with interactive digital tools, and 30% of live classes involve collaborative activities. GP Explorers 2.0 will also hold regular counselling and experience sharing sessions for the aspiring youths' deep cognitive support. Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman said, "The first season of GP Explorers has seen significant impact from the three-month programme; the-then trainees are now confidently getting into corporate ecosystems. We are optimistic about finding more of such future leaders, this time with GP Explorers 2.0." Also read: Grameenphone introduces portable pocket router Over 1,400 students from 67 renowned educational institutions had applied to be a part of GP Explorers, from where only 357 were chosen to be eligible for the campaign, read a press release.

Facebook said Tuesday it has removed hundreds of fake accounts linked to an Iranian exile group and a troll farm in Albania. The accounts posted content critical of Iran’s government and supportive of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, a dissident group known as MEK. In many cases, the Facebook and Instagram accounts used fake profile names and photos. Facebook determined the accounts were being run from a single location in Albania by a group of individuals working on behalf of MEK. Facebook found other telltale clues suggesting a so-called troll farm, in which workers are often paid to post content, including misinformation, to social media. Facebook says it removes such accounts based on how they behave, not on the material they post. Read: Facebook data on more than 500M accounts found online For one, researchers found that the activity seemed to follow the central European workday, with posts picking up after 9 a.m., slowing down at the end of the day, and with a noticeable pause at lunch time. Facebook, however, said it did not find evidence of people being paid. “Even trolls need to eat,” said Ben Nimmo, who works on Facebook’s global threat intelligence investigations, on a conference call with reporters Tuesday. The National Council for Resistance in Iran, an umbrella group that includes MEK, said in a statement that that no accounts affiliated with it or MEK have been removed. The group also denied the existence of an Albanian troll farm affiliated with MEK. MEK is a leading group opposing the Iranian government. It killed Americans before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and was labeled as a terrorist organization by the State Department until 2012. Nevertheless, U.S. politicians from both parties including Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich have given paid speeches to MEK in the past. The network of fake accounts was most active in 2017 and again in late 2020, Facebook said. In all, more than 300 accounts, pages and groups on Facebook and Instagram were removed as part of the company’s action. Around 112,000 people followed one or more of the Instagram accounts. In some cases, the fake accounts used photos of Iranian celebrities or deceased dissidents. A small number of the more recent Instagram accounts appear to have used profile pictures that were computer generated.

ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, has recently released the 5G Messaging Technical White Paper. The white paper aims at building the 5G killer service to better serve the public and thousands of industries, said a press release on Saturday. The messaging service is the basic service for operators. ZTE, by virtue of its 5G network technologies, took the lead in proposing the 5G Messaging solution. Also read: ZTE launches 5G smartphone pre-sale “With the advent of the latest technological evolution, standard development and terminal development of 5G networks, 5G Messaging is divided into three categories of messaging services--5G Short Message Service (SMS), 5G Rich Media Messaging and 5G Internet of Things (IoT) Messaging. 5G Short Message Service According to the 3GPP technical standards and terminal capabilities, the 5G networks and terminals will support SMS over NAS (Non Access Stratum), which is an SMS function based on 5G NR access. “The 5G SMS still provides the basic SMS services, with the functions and experiences being the same as those of the traditional SMS.” 5G Rich Media Messaging For a long time, the functions and experiences of the traditional text messages cannot satisfy the requirements of users, and restrict the development of industry applications. In the 5G era, the traditional text messaging is upgraded to GSMA UP2.4 with 5G rich media messaging and business messaging services, to complete a comprehensive upgrade of its functions, features, experiences and services. Also read: China's ZTE, local telecom firm start 5G technology trial in Uganda 5G Internet of Things (IoT) Messaging With 5G IoT Messaging standards and technologies that feature massive connections, low bandwidth, and lightweight, 5G IoT Messaging has achieved the messaging communication and commercial applications among objects, people and applications. ZTE is a leading equipment vendor for the global 5G Messaging platform. With rich experience in network construction, ZTE also has the excellent commercial operation experience in the world's largest messaging platform, where single LAN exceeds 100 million user scale and massive terminals are well-adapted. Also read: ZTE data center construction team awarded by DCD

Telecom Reporters' Network Bangladesh (TRNB) has got a new president and general secretary. Rashed Mehedi, special correspondent of Daily Samakal, and Samir Kumar Dey, senior reporter of Daily Ittefaq, have been picked for the posts. TRNB is a professional body of journalists who focus on telecommunications and information technology sectors in Bangladesh and South Asian countries. The new seven-member committee of TRNB was elected for 2021 at the organisation's annual general meeting at a Habiganj hotel on Thursday.

SpaceX chalked up another failed landing Tuesday for its futuristic, bullet-shaped Starship, as the prototype Mars rocket broke apart right before touchdown. A camera on the rocket froze not quite six minutes into the test flight, and dense fog in South Texas obscured views of the ruptured rocket. Other video showed debris raining down and explosions could be heard. "At least the crater is in the right place!" SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk tweeted. Musk said "something significant" happened shortly after the engine firings for landing: "Should know what it was once we can examine the bits later today." In addition, one of the three engines had trouble during the ascent, he noted. This was the fourth full-scale stainless steel model to launch since December to an altitude of more than 6 miles (10 kilometers). The previous three exploded at touchdown or shortly afterward. The prototype is 164 feet (50 meters) tall. "Another exciting test, as we say," SpaceX launch commentator John Insprucker said as he concluded the webcast. A newer version of the rocket has undergone hundreds of design changes, according to Musk. "Hopefully, one of those improvements covers this problem," he said. SpaceX plans to use Starship to send astronauts and cargo to the moon and, ultimately, Mars. Musk said earlier this month that SpaceX will be landing Starships on Mars "well before 2030." But he noted that "the really hard threshold is making Mars Base Alpha self-sustaining." Musk has named the launch and landing area at the southeastern tip of Texas, near the Mexico border, Starbase. A few hour after Tuesday's fiasco, he urged people to move to the area, saying on Twitter that he's looking to hire several thousand people over the next year or two — engineers, technicians, builders, workers of all sorts. He said he's also donating millions to the local school district and nearby city of Brownsville.

A billionaire's private SpaceX flight filled its two remaining seats Tuesday with a scientist-teacher and a data engineer whose college friend actually won a spot but gave him the prize. The new passengers: Sian Proctor, a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona, and Chris Sembroski, a former Air Force missileman from Everett, Washington. They will join flight sponsor Jared Isaacman and another passenger for three days in orbit this fall. Isaacman also revealed some details about his Inspiration4 mission, as the four gathered Tuesday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. He's head of Shift4 Payments, a credit card-processing company in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and is paying for what would be SpaceX's first private flight while raising money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Their SpaceX Dragon capsule will launch no earlier than mid-September, aiming for an altitude of 335 miles (540 kilometers). That's 75 miles (120 kilometers) higher than the International Space Station and on a level with the Hubble Space Telescope. Isaacman, 38, a pilot who will serve as spacecraft commander, still won't say how much he's paying. He's donating $100 million to St. Jude, while donors so far have contributed $13 million, primarily through the lottery that offered a chance to fly in space. Hayley Arceneaux, 29, was named to the crew a month ago. The St. Jude physician assistant was treated there as a child for bone cancer. That left two capsule seats open. Proctor, 51, beat out 200 businesses and nabbed the seat reserved for a customer of Isaacman's company. An independent panel of judges chose her space art website dubbed Space2inspire. "It was like when Harry Potter found out he was a wizard, a little bit of shock and awe," Proctor told The Associated Press last week. "It's like, 'I'm the winner?'" Sembroski, 41, donated and entered the lottery but wasn't picked in the random drawing earlier this month — his friend was. His friend declined to fly for personal reasons and offered the spot to Sembroski, who worked as a Space Camp counselor in college and volunteered for space advocacy groups. "Just finding out that I'm going to space was an incredible, strange, surreal event," he said. Proctor, who studied geology, applied three times to NASA's astronaut corps, coming close in 2009, and took part in simulated Mars missions in Hawaii. She was born in Guam, where her late father — a "Hidden Figure" in her mind — worked at NASA's tracking station for the Apollo moonshots, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's. She plans to teach from space and create art up there, too. "To me, everything that I've done ... has brought me to this moment."