ITV

Tag: demonetization

  • Indian online video to grow to US 1.6 bn at 35 percent CAGR by 2022

    MUMBAI: Media Partners Asia (MPA) estimates that the Indian online video industry generated approximately US$ 230 million in total sales in 2016, and is on course to reach approximately US$340 million in 2017. MPA projects a 35 percent CAGR to 2022 as total industry sales top US$1.6 billion.

    Further, the MPA report entitled Asia Pacific Online Video & Broadband Distribution, says that the Asia Pacific online video market will scale to US$ 46 billion by 2022, with China contributing more than 75 percent. MPA indicates that online video revenues, including net advertising and subscription fees, will grow at a 21 percent CAGR across the region between 2017 and 2022, climbing from US$17.6 billion in 2017 to US$46 billion by 2022.

    Said Mumbai-based MPA Vice President Mihir Shah: “In 2016, Jio’s 4G launch intensified competition slashing mobile data prices. The currency demonetization initiative by the government, implemented towards the end of 2016, also helped spur a significant improvement in the digital payments infrastructure in the country. Both these events have served as catalysts for online video consumption and monetization. By 2022, SVOD will account for 17 percent of the online video market in terms of revenues. Online video consumption will remain dominated by YouTube with domestic challengers Hotstar and Voot performing robustly but in a distant second and third place, respectively.”

    China will continue to contribute the lion’s share of customers and revenues to the online video industry in Asia Pacific, garnering 85 percent of SVOD customers and 78 percent of online video sector revenues by 2022. Such growth and scale reflects: (1) Wide-scale investment in original and acquired OTT content, including early and exclusive windows; (2) A weak market for traditional pay-TV, creating an opportunity for premium content distribution and monetization through online video; (3) Steady improvements in broadband reach and infrastructure, as well as increased adoption of smart TVs and set-top boxes; (4) Consumer adoption of seamless payment systems, developed by the owners of some of the most popular online video services, who are also leveraging data analytics and bundling to create new cohesive new ecosystems for content, commerce and communication. China’s online video market is largely ad-supported but with subscription’s share of revenue hitting 33 percent in 2017 (compared to 18 percent in 2015 and 26 percent in 2016), prospects for a demand-driven subscription model remain bright.

    Japan, Australia, India, Korea and Taiwan will emerge as the markets ex-China with the most scale in online video revenues and distribution. This reflects robust payment infrastructure, including in India, along with the growth of advertising-funded platforms and the steady rise of premium, subscription-based platforms. Piracy and under-developed payment infrastructure will continue to limit growth across much of Southeast Asia although increased broadband penetration (led by mobile connectivity) positions telcos as key partners to drive online video revenues. Online video advertising, in particular, remains a scalable and vital opportunity in Southeast Asia while SVOD revenues will grow rapidly from a very low base.

    Said MPA executive director Vivek Couto: “Advances in telecoms and payment infrastructure continue to point the way forward for the online video sector in Asia Pacific, although business models and regulations continue to evolve in a sector that’s still nascent in most territories. Key trends are emerging: (1) Services anchored to nimble, robust and sustainable business models – built around strong execution and scalable content consumption – are rising to the top; (2) Access to local and Asian content is increasingly essential in almost all markets, while demand for recent windows for franchise-based Hollywood product is also robust. Demand for original content along with movies, kids content and sports is also becoming more important; (3) Content curation, packaging and pricing remain critical, along with brand equity. Telecom operators, which have been focused on either paid conversion or mass reach to drive value, are increasingly moving to tighter payment per consumption models in pursuit of ROI across key video partnerships; (4) The value of branded destinations will increase rapidly within the online video ecosystem as platforms and operators forge partnerships with broadcasters and content players; (5) Leading local and regional players ex-China will start to capitalize on a massive online video advertising opportunity, hitherto dominated in the main by YouTube.”

    According to MPA, the online video advertising pie in Asia Pacific will grow from under US$12 billion in 2017 to more than US$25 billion by 2022. Ex-China, this opportunity equates to US$7 billion by 2022 versus US$3 billion in 2017. YouTube and to some extent Facebook will remain dominant, with an average 75 percent market share of online video advertising between them ex-China by 2022, versus 85 percent in 2017. Japan, India and Australia, followed by Korea, will be the biggest online video ad markets after China over this period. In SVOD, consumer spend ex-China will accelerate from a low base as revenues reach ~US$3.1 billion in 2022 versus US$1.5 billion in 2017. Japan and Australia will account for a combined 55 percent of value by 2022 versus 68 percent in 2017. Southeast Asia’s contribution will climb rapidly from a mere 9 percent in 2017 to 15 percent by 2022. Indirect SVOD revenues, which reflect wholesale fees paid by telcos to online video platforms as part of bundling and integration agreements, will remain important in the medium term but become less significant longer-term. Even in the short-to-medium term, telecom operators are recalibrating their approach to ROI with a greater focus on payment per consumption models. Ex-China, SVOD indirect fees will grow from only US$110 million in 2017 to US$213 million by 2022. Average SVOD subscriber penetration of the population will only reach 9.8 percent in 2017. This should increase to ~19 percent by 2022 as total SVOD subs, including direct and indirect connections, scale from 341 million in 2017 to 676 million by 2022 (from 58 million to 102 million ex-China).

    Exponential growth of mobile internet connectivity, combined with a slow but steady transition to next-generation fixed broadband, will provide a significant boost to online video consumption, reach and monetization. According to MPA, data revenues across fixed and mobile networks in Asia Pacific are sizable at US$236 billion in 2017. These will reach US$318 billion by 2022, with the ex-China market size at ~US$175 billion by 2022 versus US$126 billion in 2017. Average mobile broadband penetration will reach 73 percent per capita by 2022 versus 59 percent in 2017, with some of the biggest growth coming from India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Average fixed broadband penetration will grow steadily from 44 percent to 52 percent of households over 2017-22, with the focus increasingly on upgrading high-speed networks using fibre and next-generation cable technologies.

  • Jio freebies: TDSAT puts off Airtel-Idea hearing to May

    Jio freebies: TDSAT puts off Airtel-Idea hearing to May

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has put off to early next month the petitions by Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular challenging the decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to allow Reliance Jio to continue free offers beyond the stipulated ninety days.

    Both operators have alleged anti-competitive practices by Jio that has led to losses of several hundred million rupees. Reliance Jio had created a flurry when it appeared just two months before demonetization with free offers,

    The Tribunal will hear the petitions on 3 May, along with an interim application moved by Airtel objecting to the alleged delays by Jio while withdrawing its three-month complimentary ‘Summer Surprise Offer’. The inaugural free voice and data plans had been launched by Jio in September last year and extended in December till March 2017.

    Airtel and Idea moved the tribunal against the TRAI order that allowed Jio to provide free services beyond the stipulated period. Airtel also objected to the continuation of the scheme’s benefits for those who had already subscribed to the said offer before it was withdrawn. Jio had offered subscribers to continue with concessional rates if they had been on its rolls by 31 March.

    TRAI had on 31 January held that Jio’s free voice calls and data plan were not in violation of the regulatory guidelines. It held that the ‘Happy New Year Offer’ launched by Jio on 4 December 2016 offered different benefits and was therefore not the same as the earlier Offer. Earlier this month, Airtel moved the TDSAT on alleged delay by Jio in withdrawing its ‘Summer Surprise’ offer.

    The interim application pertains to the Summer Surprise plan of Reliance Jio under which it was giving three-month complimentary offer of unlimited data usage and free calls on payment of a minimum Rs 303, which was withdrawn after TRAI said that it was not in accordance with the regulatory framework.

  • FICCI-KPMG report: Rural India fuels digital consumption; FTA channels gain prominence

    MUMBAI: The ‘Bharat’ story strengthened with expansion of rural measurement in TV and 4G data price wars deepened digital consumption, which were spurred further by mobile Internet and smartphone penetration. While print and films segments were supported by growing demand from the regional markets, demonization affected advertising revenues even as consolidation in the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry gained momentum.

    These were amongst some of the key highlights of year 2016 as enumerated in the FICCI-KPMG Media & Entertainment Industry Report 2017 unveiled yesterday at FICCI Frames 2017.

    Amongst the other highlights were roll out of 4G services, government and private initiatives around public Wi-Fi, greater emphasis on broadband rollout by MSOs and wide ranging impact of government policies and initiatives that had inflicted some short-to-medium term damage (demonization and confusion over GST implementation) on the industry as growth in annual advertising spends got slashed by about 1.5-2.5 per cent. However the report said that the industry is expected to be a net beneficiary of GST, primarily due to availability of input credits across the board and subsuming of entertainment tax within the GST.

    According to the report, the Indian media and entertainment industry in 2016 was able to sustain a healthy growth on the back of strong economic fundamentals and steady growth in domestic consumption, coupled with growing contribution of rural markets across key segments.  These factors aided the industry to grow at 9.1 per cent on the back of advertising growth of 11.2 per cent, despite demonetization shaving off 150 to 250 basis points in terms of growth across all sub-segments at the end of the year.

    The big story in 2016 has been the evolution of FTA channels after expansion by BARC India of rural measurement in the television segment, coupled with the impact of the 4G rollout and the resulting price wars. Both these factors have resulted in media consumption penetrating deeper into India, resulting in a realignment of strategy by media companies and advertisers alike.

    Compared to 2016, the industry is projected to grow at a faster pace of 14 per cent over the period of 2017-21 with advertising revenues expected to increase at a CAGR of 15.3 per cent. The year 2017 is likely to witness a marginally slower rate of 13.1 per cent as the economy recovers from the lingering effects of demonetization and initial uncertainties arising from GST implementation.

    Commenting on the industry’s performance and way forward, FICCI M&E Committee chairman and chairman & CEO of Star India Uday Shankar said, “The industry has gulped down the bitter pill of demonetization trusting its long-term benefits and yet is set to bounce back to a steady growth, thanks to strong fundamentals.”

    He added that building solid infrastructure and continued government support will help the industry reach the “tremendous potential” it holds for employment and creating socio-economic value for the country, while a commitment towards a “quick transition to digitization” will ensure growth for all stakeholders.

    Girish Menon, director, media and entertainment, KPMG India, stated that 2016 was a “mixed bag” for the industry with digital media making its way to the centre stage rapidly from being just an additional medium. While it is compelling existing players to rethink their business models, he added, “The long-term factors driving the future growth are expected to remain positive with growing rural demand, increasing digital access and consumption and the expected culmination of the digitisation process of television distribution over the next two to three years.”

    Some of the key highlights of the FICCI-KPMG report are as follows:

    Television

    The TV industry clocked a slower growth in 2016 at 8.5 per cent, attributed to tepid growth of 7 per cent in subscription revenues and a lower than estimated 11 per cent growth in advertising revenues.

    A key theme in 2016 was the emergence of FTA channels as a key focus area following the expansion in rural measurement by BARC India and the resultant increased interest by both broadcasters and advertisers. Additionally, strong performance of sports properties and increased spending for the launch of 4G by telecom operators helped alleviate some of the pressure. The industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.7 per cent over the next five years with advertising and subscription revenues projected to grow at 14.4 per cent and 14.8 per cent, respectively.

    The projections remain robust due to strong economic fundamentals, rising domestic consumption and growing contribution of rural markets, coupled with the delayed but eventual completion of digitization rollout.

    Digital advertising

    Continuing to ride on a high growth trajectory with a 28 per cent growth in 2016, digital advertising has captured 15 per cent share in the overall advertising revenues, with a minor hiccup due to demonetization. 4G rollouts and the resultant data price wars are providing further impetus to the growth as digital consumption and habits are becoming more mainstream. It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 31 per cent to reach INR 294.5 billion by 2021, contributing 27.3 per cent to the total advertising revenues. Advancement in infrastructure, evolving audience measurement technology, leading to better content and lowering data costs, will drive user habits towards greater digital consumption, driving tremendous growth for the industry.

    Animation and Visual Effects (VFX)

    The industry grew at 16.4 per cent, driven majorly by a 31 per cent growth in VFX due to increase in outsourcing work, growing use of VFX in domestic film productions and increase in demand for domestic animated content on television. The industry is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 17.2 per cent over 2017–21.

    Out of Home (OOH)

    The industry registered a slowdown in growth rate at 7 per cent majorly due to adverse impact of demonetization. OOH is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.8 per cent primarily driven by development of regional airports, privatisation of railway stations, growth in smart cities, setting up of business and industrial centers and growing focus on digital OOH.

    Radio

    Radio recorded a 14.6 per cent growth led by volume enhancements in smaller cities, partial roll out of batch 1 stations and a marginal increase in effective advertising rates. However, weak uptake in batch 2 auctions of FM radio Phase 3 and delays in the rollout of majority of batch 1 stations, coupled with adverse impact of demonetization, dampened the overall sentiment. Nevertheless, it is expected to be the fastest growing amongst the traditional mediums at a CAGR of 16.1 per cent, arising from operationalisation of new stations in both existing and new cities, introduction of new genres and radio transitioning into a reach medium.

    Print

    The revenue growth rates of print continued to witness a slowdown at 7 per cent in 2016, as English newspapers remained under pressure. Regional language papers demonstrated strong growth, but were adversely affected by demonetization given their high dependence on local advertisers. Print is expected to grow at 7.3 per cent, largely driven by continued growth in readership in Indian languages markets and advertisers’ confidence in the medium, especially in the tier II and tier-III cities. Rise in digital content consumption poses a long-term risk to the industry.

    Films

    Films grew at a crawling pace of 3 per cent in 2016. The segment was impacted by decline in core revenue streams of domestic theatricals and satellite rights, augmented by poor box-office performance of Bollywood and Tamil films. Expansion of overseas markets, increase of depth in regional content and rise in acquisitions of digital content by over-the-top platforms are expected to be the future growth drivers that would help the segment bounce back at a forecasted CAGR of 7.7 per cent. However, factors such as dwindling screen count and inconsistent content quality could prove to be limiting factors.

    ALSO READ:

    FICCI-KPMG report projects TV sector to reach Rs 1166 bn by 2021

  • FICCI-KPMG report projects TV sector to reach Rs 1166 bn by 2021

    MUMBAI: The year 2016 was a mixed bag for the Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry. The sector is projected to grow at a faster pace of 14 per cent over the period 2016–21 with advertising revenue expected to increase at a CAGR of 15.3 per cent, according to a report released today.

    As per the KPMG-FICCI Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2017, themed Media for the Masses: The Promise Unfolds, the television industry in India stands at an estimated size of Rs 588 billion in 2016, a growth of 8.5 per cent over 2015, and is envisaged to register a CAGR of 14.7 to reach Rs 1166 billion by 2021.

    The Indian economy is expected to outperform major economies with a projected financial year FY17 GDP growth rate of 7.1 per cent despite the speed bump caused by demonetization, the report states, adding TV witnessed a slower growth in 2016 at 8.5 per cent primarily due to a lackluster year for subscription revenues and a slowdown in advertisement revenue growth. However, over the next five years as both advertisements and subscription revenues are projected to exhibit strong growth at 14.4 per cent and 14.68 per cent, respectively, the industry too will grow.

    According to the report, advertising revenues are expected to grow at marginally slower rate of 13.1 per cent due to the lingering effect of demonetization and initial volatility arising from GST implementation. Digital advertising is expected to grow at a CAGR of 31 per cent to reach Rs 294.5 billion by 2021,

  • Guest Column: As digital spreads wings, bolstering security is paramount

    Guest Column: As digital spreads wings, bolstering security is paramount

    The dream of moving towards a cashless society has never been closer than it is today in India. With the recent decision of demonetization, the public is being actively urged to move online for their transactions, big or small. Aiding the public in this move has been a slew of ads, demos, tutorials and YouTube videos galore, followed by a huge migration to online shopping, boosting the digital economy of the nation. However, as a landscape changes, so does how we navigate it. And, as the market rises to meet this new demand, new and relevant questions arise — questions about the security parameters and overall security strength of e-commerce platforms.

    Immediately after the demonetization announcement that caught the entire nation off-guard, there was a noticeable drop in sales on e-commerce portals. But now things are stabilizing and the stats are looking up. In the wake of demonetization, India’s mobile wallet industry is expected to soar from US$ 22.41 million in 2015-2016 to US$ 4.37 billion in 2022. This means a huge jump in the value of mobile wallet transactions from US$ 3 billion to US$ 800.35 billion during the same period, according to a July forecast by Assocham-RNCOS titled Indian M-wallet Market: Forecast 2022.  Every second, three more Indians experience the internet for the first time and by 2030, more than 1 billion of them will be online.

    Besides making this the most exciting time to be a part of the ecommerce sector, these advances are also expected to make businesses efficient in the long run. Digital payments are now seen as the future and are believed to be a way of life soon. However, with this clickable economy and with commerce involved, there is also a valid risk of cybercrimes.

    Security in OTT e-subscriptions

    In fact, let’s first look at the OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar and others, which are witnessing an increased demand for paid content. What it means is an increased set of security features to manage subscriptions and paid-content access.

    The three key areas of security for OTT content are authentication, geo-blocking and control of account sharing. Netflix as a provider uses message security layer instead of using HTTPS protocol. Being tied to SSL and TLS, HTTPS suffers from fundamental security issues unknown at the time of their design. Examples include padding attacks and the use of MAC-then-Encrypt, which is less secure than Encrypt-then-MAC.

    MSL is a modern cryptographic protocol that takes into account the latest cryptography technologies and knowledge. It supports the following basic security properties:

    -Integrity protection: Messages in transit are protected from tampering.

    -Encryption: Message data is protected from inspection.

    -Authentication:  Messages can be trusted to come from a specific device and user.

    -Non-replayable: Messages containing non-idempotent data can be non-replayable.

    MSL has pluggable authentication and may leverage any number of device- and user-authentication types for the initial message. The initial message will provide authentication, integrity protection, and encryption if the device authentication type supports it. Future messages will make use of session keys established as a result of the initial communication.

    With MSL Netflix has eliminated many of the problems they faced with HTTPS and platform integration. Its flexible and extensible design means it will be able to adapt as Netflix expands and as the cryptographic landscape changes.

    Securing trust in e-commerce 

    This demonetization era calls for the strengthening of cyber security mechanisms. Anyone with an email address and a social media account is at threat and can be a target. The most common kinds of cyber-crimes associated with e-commerce are to do with data privacy and protection, and include bogus deals and purchases, trademark and copyright infringement, payment frauds, disputes in B2B and B2C transactions, FEMA violations, issues of web content ownership, contract violation, hacking, phishing, cyber stalking and cyber-squatting.

    Nearly 45 per cent of transactions are done via mobile, giving scope for several cons. According to a joint study by Assocham and PwC released in August 2016, cyber-crimes in India have surged around 350 per cent between 2011 and 2014.

    India has germinated into a fertile ground for e-commerce, but consumers are exposed to security threats too. Fraud in the e-commerce sector leads not only to financial loss, but also a loss of reputation and simultaneously, a severe loss in business. Once a loyal customer, the individual switches to a competitor for his needs in case of breach of trust. Consumer trust in such a complex and interactive environment has become the need of the hour.

    Addressing the risk of fraud

    At HGS Interactive, our teams are proactive in addressing the risk of fraud that ecommerce companies can face by taking a hard look at their business models and vulnerability to fraud so that their customers can buy their products with confidence.

    We understand that effective fraud risk management is a continuous process of reviewing and addressing the significant risks of fraud. Network security, confidentiality and authentication are three essential components of an e-commerce website. Several companies such as PayTM use 128-bit encryption technologies for storing information, which makes it tough to crack a password. Front-end payment card validation wherein MOD 10 checks, BIN checks, authorization responses, customer profile checks, security questions, login analysis, basic site rules such as number of orders placed through one account, value of orders or back-end manual order reviews must  be put into place.

    Digital signatures and dynamic IP protection are exemplary methodologies and should be implemented on all ecommerce websites. A secure and reliable web hosting service is a prerequisite to guarantee optimum performance of an ecommerce website, all through the year.

    HGS Interactive recently worked for Nakshatra, which is one of India’s most reputed diamond jewelery brands and is from the pioneer Gitanjali Group. We ensured we hosted their web app on a safe hosted service provider to whom we mandated extremely strong privacy and data security policies enforced actively. Whether it is for a top jewelery brand or numerous other clients across sectors, high-end and world class web and digital security is of paramount importance. Financial information is typically stored by payment gateways primarily for small and medium businesses, while larger platforms prefer to have their own security parameters and store the data themselves, as it provides more control and security over this extremely sensitive data.

    Hosting providers like Amazon Web Services and DigitalOcean provide full access to their security profiles, but skill and expertise is required to manage and stay ahead of the curve and avoid being hacked. Credit data is stored in an encrypted format and never as pure text, so it is protected as long as the encryption is strong.

    Encryption equals protection

    I strongly believe that encryption of data equals protection. Encryption lets you scramble information using a mathematical formula, which is tough to break without a “key”. You can implement technologies like SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and SHTML (Secure-HTML), with web forms to secure your ecommerce website. Encryption can also be incorporated in your email package through a technology known as S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions). It is mandatory to have these in place during transactions to prevent vulnerable attacks from networks.

    Firewalls are another essential aspect in stopping attackers before they can breach your network and gain access to your critical information. Major certifications reaffirm credibility, while a full-featured secure environment is expected to boast security measures like virtual private cloud, encrypted data storage, identity and access management, and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to provide users with peace of mind.

    To summarize, customers expect a safe experience when shopping on any ecommerce website. And as a responsible business, protecting their personal and financial information is not only the paramount responsibility of any business, but it is also considerably easier and far less costly than recovering from a breach. It is crucial to ensure the security of the existing infrastructure and upgrade present systems and oversee the smooth transition to the more advanced digitization of India.

    Also Read

    Irdeto joins Frog by Wyplay community to offer integrated security solutions

    Jaitley, stakeholders discuss broadband speed & penetration, wi-fi, digitisation, open Net & cyber security

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/sites/drupal7.indiantelevision.co.in/files/styles/large/public/sachin-karweer.jpg?itok=sSyD4McyThe author, Sachin Karweer, is Business Head, HGS Interactive, a Hinduja Group company that creates new paradigms for digital consumer experience. The views expressed here are personal and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them
  • Guest Column: As digital spreads wings, bolstering security is paramount

    Guest Column: As digital spreads wings, bolstering security is paramount

    The dream of moving towards a cashless society has never been closer than it is today in India. With the recent decision of demonetization, the public is being actively urged to move online for their transactions, big or small. Aiding the public in this move has been a slew of ads, demos, tutorials and YouTube videos galore, followed by a huge migration to online shopping, boosting the digital economy of the nation. However, as a landscape changes, so does how we navigate it. And, as the market rises to meet this new demand, new and relevant questions arise — questions about the security parameters and overall security strength of e-commerce platforms.

    Immediately after the demonetization announcement that caught the entire nation off-guard, there was a noticeable drop in sales on e-commerce portals. But now things are stabilizing and the stats are looking up. In the wake of demonetization, India’s mobile wallet industry is expected to soar from US$ 22.41 million in 2015-2016 to US$ 4.37 billion in 2022. This means a huge jump in the value of mobile wallet transactions from US$ 3 billion to US$ 800.35 billion during the same period, according to a July forecast by Assocham-RNCOS titled Indian M-wallet Market: Forecast 2022.  Every second, three more Indians experience the internet for the first time and by 2030, more than 1 billion of them will be online.

    Besides making this the most exciting time to be a part of the ecommerce sector, these advances are also expected to make businesses efficient in the long run. Digital payments are now seen as the future and are believed to be a way of life soon. However, with this clickable economy and with commerce involved, there is also a valid risk of cybercrimes.

    Security in OTT e-subscriptions

    In fact, let’s first look at the OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar and others, which are witnessing an increased demand for paid content. What it means is an increased set of security features to manage subscriptions and paid-content access.

    The three key areas of security for OTT content are authentication, geo-blocking and control of account sharing. Netflix as a provider uses message security layer instead of using HTTPS protocol. Being tied to SSL and TLS, HTTPS suffers from fundamental security issues unknown at the time of their design. Examples include padding attacks and the use of MAC-then-Encrypt, which is less secure than Encrypt-then-MAC.

    MSL is a modern cryptographic protocol that takes into account the latest cryptography technologies and knowledge. It supports the following basic security properties:

    -Integrity protection: Messages in transit are protected from tampering.

    -Encryption: Message data is protected from inspection.

    -Authentication:  Messages can be trusted to come from a specific device and user.

    -Non-replayable: Messages containing non-idempotent data can be non-replayable.

    MSL has pluggable authentication and may leverage any number of device- and user-authentication types for the initial message. The initial message will provide authentication, integrity protection, and encryption if the device authentication type supports it. Future messages will make use of session keys established as a result of the initial communication.

    With MSL Netflix has eliminated many of the problems they faced with HTTPS and platform integration. Its flexible and extensible design means it will be able to adapt as Netflix expands and as the cryptographic landscape changes.

    Securing trust in e-commerce 

    This demonetization era calls for the strengthening of cyber security mechanisms. Anyone with an email address and a social media account is at threat and can be a target. The most common kinds of cyber-crimes associated with e-commerce are to do with data privacy and protection, and include bogus deals and purchases, trademark and copyright infringement, payment frauds, disputes in B2B and B2C transactions, FEMA violations, issues of web content ownership, contract violation, hacking, phishing, cyber stalking and cyber-squatting.

    Nearly 45 per cent of transactions are done via mobile, giving scope for several cons. According to a joint study by Assocham and PwC released in August 2016, cyber-crimes in India have surged around 350 per cent between 2011 and 2014.

    India has germinated into a fertile ground for e-commerce, but consumers are exposed to security threats too. Fraud in the e-commerce sector leads not only to financial loss, but also a loss of reputation and simultaneously, a severe loss in business. Once a loyal customer, the individual switches to a competitor for his needs in case of breach of trust. Consumer trust in such a complex and interactive environment has become the need of the hour.

    Addressing the risk of fraud

    At HGS Interactive, our teams are proactive in addressing the risk of fraud that ecommerce companies can face by taking a hard look at their business models and vulnerability to fraud so that their customers can buy their products with confidence.

    We understand that effective fraud risk management is a continuous process of reviewing and addressing the significant risks of fraud. Network security, confidentiality and authentication are three essential components of an e-commerce website. Several companies such as PayTM use 128-bit encryption technologies for storing information, which makes it tough to crack a password. Front-end payment card validation wherein MOD 10 checks, BIN checks, authorization responses, customer profile checks, security questions, login analysis, basic site rules such as number of orders placed through one account, value of orders or back-end manual order reviews must  be put into place.

    Digital signatures and dynamic IP protection are exemplary methodologies and should be implemented on all ecommerce websites. A secure and reliable web hosting service is a prerequisite to guarantee optimum performance of an ecommerce website, all through the year.

    HGS Interactive recently worked for Nakshatra, which is one of India’s most reputed diamond jewelery brands and is from the pioneer Gitanjali Group. We ensured we hosted their web app on a safe hosted service provider to whom we mandated extremely strong privacy and data security policies enforced actively. Whether it is for a top jewelery brand or numerous other clients across sectors, high-end and world class web and digital security is of paramount importance. Financial information is typically stored by payment gateways primarily for small and medium businesses, while larger platforms prefer to have their own security parameters and store the data themselves, as it provides more control and security over this extremely sensitive data.

    Hosting providers like Amazon Web Services and DigitalOcean provide full access to their security profiles, but skill and expertise is required to manage and stay ahead of the curve and avoid being hacked. Credit data is stored in an encrypted format and never as pure text, so it is protected as long as the encryption is strong.

    Encryption equals protection

    I strongly believe that encryption of data equals protection. Encryption lets you scramble information using a mathematical formula, which is tough to break without a “key”. You can implement technologies like SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and SHTML (Secure-HTML), with web forms to secure your ecommerce website. Encryption can also be incorporated in your email package through a technology known as S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions). It is mandatory to have these in place during transactions to prevent vulnerable attacks from networks.

    Firewalls are another essential aspect in stopping attackers before they can breach your network and gain access to your critical information. Major certifications reaffirm credibility, while a full-featured secure environment is expected to boast security measures like virtual private cloud, encrypted data storage, identity and access management, and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to provide users with peace of mind.

    To summarize, customers expect a safe experience when shopping on any ecommerce website. And as a responsible business, protecting their personal and financial information is not only the paramount responsibility of any business, but it is also considerably easier and far less costly than recovering from a breach. It is crucial to ensure the security of the existing infrastructure and upgrade present systems and oversee the smooth transition to the more advanced digitization of India.

    Also Read

    Irdeto joins Frog by Wyplay community to offer integrated security solutions

    Jaitley, stakeholders discuss broadband speed & penetration, wi-fi, digitisation, open Net & cyber security

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/sites/drupal7.indiantelevision.co.in/files/styles/large/public/sachin-karweer.jpg?itok=sSyD4McyThe author, Sachin Karweer, is Business Head, HGS Interactive, a Hinduja Group company that creates new paradigms for digital consumer experience. The views expressed here are personal and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them
  • Guest Column: The new gods of digital newsrooms

    Guest Column: The new gods of digital newsrooms

    Modern journalism began in the early 1600s, triggered, as any new vocation or market usually is, by technology, ie, the invention of the printing press. At first, a very crude community narrow-sheet was born, which was circulated to a few households in the vicinity. It took almost a hundred years of slow evolution for today’s broadsheet daily to acquire shape, with a large distribution footprint, photographs and advertising. It took another century for the next innovation in news journalism, the birth of radio broadcasting. But evolution was quicker after that, with television news appearing just a few decades after radio.

    Nearly 400 years later, around 1990, internet news disrupted the whole landscape. And that was a seminal turning point for mainstream journalism.

    Technology only changes the practices, never the principles of any established vocation – this was the irrefutable wisdom until the Internet turned a million axioms on their heads. Simply put, the principles of journalism – who, what, why, where, when, how, integrity of facts, stringent adherence to the truth, always giving the right of response to the accused/aggrieved – remained inviolable, even as the dissemination medium changed from ink on paper to sound on analogue waves to sound with moving pictures on electronic satellite signals. Technology could never change the principles, only the methods and practices, of telling a news story.

    But the Internet did the unthinkable, forcing mainstream journalism to modify its principles. I like to describe the pre-digital era of news as “the voice of God journalism” – the Gods, of course, were the all powerful editors. Since I won my editorial spurs in that bygone era, I too belong to that Tribe of Gods, where every morning, a bunch of stiff guys would troop into the conference room, with pencils and notepads, and decide the order of news stories for the day. It was such a unilateral exercise! “Let’s lead with Gandhi, then do that parliament debate … and just stuff a bit of sports and movies towards the end”. Done. The viewer was a complete “outsider”, her interests were peripheral, because “Gods” had the divine right to mandate the run order of news stories.    

    I grope for the correct adjective here. Archaic? Anathema? Anachronistic? Absurd? Perhaps all four of these, and a billion more, could be justifiably used if “the voice of God journalism” were to invade and dominate a digital newsroom today. Why? Because a digital newsroom is not a unilateral, linear, one way transmission of stories. In the nanosecond after you publish anything, readers and viewers pounce at it with their likes, hates, shares, comments, denials, corrections, updates, meme tweaks on WhatsApp, cartoon caricatures on Instagram, vociferous protests, loud applause etc etc etc … an intelligent or distasteful cacophony gets lit, and you have to respond to it, agree with it, deny it, debunk it, decorate it, ie do something, anything with it or to it, but you simply can’t ignore it. Because if you choose to be the unmoved, stoic, non-responsive “Godly” editor of the early 90s, you will be out of a job. Pronto.

    Let me illustrate with a simple choice that we had to make the other day. We were dealing with two big “demonetization stories” – one was a rather complex unraveling of the tax rules enshrined in the new Income Disclosure Scheme, wherein you would have to pay X% tax/penalty if illegal cash was deposited by Y date; and if you failed to do that, you would be liable for Z additional penalties. The other was a heart rending story of a 75-year old woman, the youngest sister of five brothers.

    For the last 50 years, she had kept 250 precious envelopes in her safe, containing cash given to her on bhai dooj. In her world view, that cash was a sacred gift from her brothers, not to be ever spent. Her heart was broken when her son forced her to open each envelope, take out nearly Rs 1.50 lac in notes of various denominations, and deposit them in banks. Her faith was rattled, shaken. What an astonishing human story, capturing the unusual pathos that demonetization has inflicted on ordinary people. In the unilateral, Godly days of yore, the tax rules would have played upfront, while the human interest story would be tucked towards the end, to be soon forgotten. But in today’s digital newsrooms, the story of this rudely disenfranchised 75-year-old woman would gain unrelenting velocity on social media, would whiz around cyber space, getting Facebooked, WhatsApped and Instagrammed, touching the hearts of a million people, instigating thousands of comments/shares/likes.

    No God could stem the viral force of this venerable lady’s touching story, which would simply obliterate the dry prose of tax rules, and reign supreme in the world of digital news.   

    public://unnamed_2.jpg The author is the co-founder and chairman of Quintillion Media, including BloombergQuint. He is the author of two books, viz ‘Superpower?: The Amazing Race Between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise’, and ‘Super Economies: America, India, China & The Future Of The World’. The views expressed are personal and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them

     

  • Guest Column: The new gods of digital newsrooms

    Guest Column: The new gods of digital newsrooms

    Modern journalism began in the early 1600s, triggered, as any new vocation or market usually is, by technology, ie, the invention of the printing press. At first, a very crude community narrow-sheet was born, which was circulated to a few households in the vicinity. It took almost a hundred years of slow evolution for today’s broadsheet daily to acquire shape, with a large distribution footprint, photographs and advertising. It took another century for the next innovation in news journalism, the birth of radio broadcasting. But evolution was quicker after that, with television news appearing just a few decades after radio.

    Nearly 400 years later, around 1990, internet news disrupted the whole landscape. And that was a seminal turning point for mainstream journalism.

    Technology only changes the practices, never the principles of any established vocation – this was the irrefutable wisdom until the Internet turned a million axioms on their heads. Simply put, the principles of journalism – who, what, why, where, when, how, integrity of facts, stringent adherence to the truth, always giving the right of response to the accused/aggrieved – remained inviolable, even as the dissemination medium changed from ink on paper to sound on analogue waves to sound with moving pictures on electronic satellite signals. Technology could never change the principles, only the methods and practices, of telling a news story.

    But the Internet did the unthinkable, forcing mainstream journalism to modify its principles. I like to describe the pre-digital era of news as “the voice of God journalism” – the Gods, of course, were the all powerful editors. Since I won my editorial spurs in that bygone era, I too belong to that Tribe of Gods, where every morning, a bunch of stiff guys would troop into the conference room, with pencils and notepads, and decide the order of news stories for the day. It was such a unilateral exercise! “Let’s lead with Gandhi, then do that parliament debate … and just stuff a bit of sports and movies towards the end”. Done. The viewer was a complete “outsider”, her interests were peripheral, because “Gods” had the divine right to mandate the run order of news stories.    

    I grope for the correct adjective here. Archaic? Anathema? Anachronistic? Absurd? Perhaps all four of these, and a billion more, could be justifiably used if “the voice of God journalism” were to invade and dominate a digital newsroom today. Why? Because a digital newsroom is not a unilateral, linear, one way transmission of stories. In the nanosecond after you publish anything, readers and viewers pounce at it with their likes, hates, shares, comments, denials, corrections, updates, meme tweaks on WhatsApp, cartoon caricatures on Instagram, vociferous protests, loud applause etc etc etc … an intelligent or distasteful cacophony gets lit, and you have to respond to it, agree with it, deny it, debunk it, decorate it, ie do something, anything with it or to it, but you simply can’t ignore it. Because if you choose to be the unmoved, stoic, non-responsive “Godly” editor of the early 90s, you will be out of a job. Pronto.

    Let me illustrate with a simple choice that we had to make the other day. We were dealing with two big “demonetization stories” – one was a rather complex unraveling of the tax rules enshrined in the new Income Disclosure Scheme, wherein you would have to pay X% tax/penalty if illegal cash was deposited by Y date; and if you failed to do that, you would be liable for Z additional penalties. The other was a heart rending story of a 75-year old woman, the youngest sister of five brothers.

    For the last 50 years, she had kept 250 precious envelopes in her safe, containing cash given to her on bhai dooj. In her world view, that cash was a sacred gift from her brothers, not to be ever spent. Her heart was broken when her son forced her to open each envelope, take out nearly Rs 1.50 lac in notes of various denominations, and deposit them in banks. Her faith was rattled, shaken. What an astonishing human story, capturing the unusual pathos that demonetization has inflicted on ordinary people. In the unilateral, Godly days of yore, the tax rules would have played upfront, while the human interest story would be tucked towards the end, to be soon forgotten. But in today’s digital newsrooms, the story of this rudely disenfranchised 75-year-old woman would gain unrelenting velocity on social media, would whiz around cyber space, getting Facebooked, WhatsApped and Instagrammed, touching the hearts of a million people, instigating thousands of comments/shares/likes.

    No God could stem the viral force of this venerable lady’s touching story, which would simply obliterate the dry prose of tax rules, and reign supreme in the world of digital news.   

    public://unnamed_2.jpg The author is the co-founder and chairman of Quintillion Media, including BloombergQuint. He is the author of two books, viz ‘Superpower?: The Amazing Race Between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise’, and ‘Super Economies: America, India, China & The Future Of The World’. The views expressed are personal and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them