UPSC Quiz – 2021 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 30th October 2021

Solution (d)

Agni-V successfully test-fired

India on Wednesday successfully test-fired its longest range surface-to-surface ballistic missile, Agni-V. “A successful launch of the surface-to-surface ballistic missile, Agni-5, was carried out from APJ Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha. The three-stage solid-fuelled engine missile is capable of striking targets at ranges up to 5,000 km.

It is an Indian nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. 

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/agni-v-successfully-test-fired-or-surface-to-surface-ballistic-missile-agni-v-successfully-test-fired/article37203796.ece

Solution (d)

The Education Ministry on Wednesday notified a four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP), offering dual-major Bachelor’s degrees which will become a mandatory requirement for recruitment of schoolteachers by 2030, according to the National Education Policy (NEP). As a pilot project in 2022-23, the integrated programme will initially be offered in 50 selected multidisciplinary institutions.

Admissions into the programme will be carried out by the National Testing Agency through the National Common Entrance Test (NET)

The curriculum, which has been designed by the National Council for Teacher Education, will enable student-teachers to get a degree in education and in a specialized discipline such as history, mathematics, science, arts, economics, or commerce. Students will walk out of the programme with a B.Ed. and a BA, B.Sc. or B.Com.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/dual-degree-for-teacher-education/article37203800.ece

Solution (c)

According to the ADB, for a vaccine to be eligible for financing, it must “be procured via COVAX [the global vaccine access initiative], prequalified by WHO, or authorised by a Stringent Regulatory Authority”, which, according to the WHO, does not include India’s health authorities.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines.

The highest policy-making body of the ADB is the Board of Governors, composed of one representative from each member state.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/india-seeks-vaccine-loans-from-adb-aiib/article37203805.ece

Solution (d)

The Human Capital Index (HCI)

The HCI provides a new definition of human capital and quantifies the contribution of health and education to the productivity of the next generation of workers. Countries can use it to assess how much income they are foregoing because of Human Capital gaps, and how much faster they can turn these losses into gains if they act now.

Human Capital Project (HCP), a global effort to accelerate more and better investments in people for greater equity and economic growth.

What is the Human Capital Index? How is it calculated?

The index is a summary measure of the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to acquire by age 18, given the risks of poor health and poor education that prevail in the country where she lives.

Ranging between 0 and 1, the index takes the value 1 only if a child born today can expect to achieve full health (defined as no stunting and survival up to at least age 60) and achieve her formal education potential (defined as 14 years of high-quality school by age 18).

Article Link:

https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/human-capital

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/world-bank-suspends-aid-to-sudan/article37203787.ece

Solution (d)

Malware

Malware is a term used to describe malicious software, including spyware, ransomware, viruses, and worms. Malware breaches a network through vulnerability, typically when a user clicks a dangerous link or email attachment that then installs risky software. Once inside the system, malware can do the following:

Phishing

Phishing is the practice of sending fraudulent communications that appear to come from a reputable source, usually through email. The goal is to steal sensitive data like credit card and login information or to install malware on the victim’s machine. Phishing is an increasingly common cyber threat.

Man-in-the-middle attack

Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, also known as eavesdropping attacks, occur when attackers insert themselves into a two-party transaction. Once the attackers interrupt the traffic, they can filter and steal data.

Two common points of entry for MitM attacks:

1. On unsecure public Wi-Fi, attackers can insert themselves between a visitor’s device and the network. Without knowing, the visitor passes all information through the attacker.
2. Once malware has breached a device, an attacker can install software to process all of the victim’s information.

Denial-of-service attack

A denial-of-service attack floods systems, servers, or networks with traffic to exhaust resources and bandwidth. As a result, the system is unable to fulfill legitimate requests. Attackers can also use multiple compromised devices to launch this attack. This is known as a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

SQL injection

A Structured Query Language (SQL) injection occurs when an attacker inserts malicious code into a server that uses SQL and forces the server to reveal information it normally would not. An attacker could carry out a SQL injection simply by submitting malicious code into a vulnerable website search box.

Zero-day exploit

A zero-day exploit hits after network vulnerability is announced but before a patch or solution is implemented. Attackers target the disclosed vulnerability during this window of time. Zero-day vulnerability threat detection requires constant awareness.

DNS Tunneling

DNS tunneling utilizes the DNS protocol to communicate non-DNS traffic over port 53. It sends HTTP and other protocol traffic over DNS. There are various, legitimate reasons to utilize DNS tunneling. However, there are also malicious reasons to use DNS Tunneling VPN services. They can be used to disguise outbound traffic as DNS, concealing data that is typically shared through an internet connection. For malicious use, DNS requests are manipulated to exfiltrate data from a compromised system to the attacker’s infrastructure. It can also be used for command and control callbacks from the attacker’s infrastructure to a compromised system.

Article Link:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en_in/products/security/common-cyberattacks.html#~types-of-cyber-attacks