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As Ankit Fadia, 28, works on his laptop, his fingers furiously tapping away, there is silence in the packed auditorium in central Delhi.  His projector throws images of codes and symbols onto a white wall, and then suddenly, the crowd bursts into spontaneous applause. Another website has been successfully hacked and unlocked. But rather than doing something illegal, Mr Fadia, who describes himself as an ethical hacker, says he is trying to protect people and businesses from a rising wave of cyber crime. "The difficulty about tackling cyber crime is that it's increasing all the time," says Mr Fadia. "If we control one set of attacks there are hundreds more the next minute. That's why we need our systems, policing, the law, prepared for this kind of cyber onslaught." Spam manager Continue reading the main story " Start Quote Though India has laws aimed at tackling cyber crime, it isn't used effectively" Ankit Fadia Ethical hacker According to a recent report by global research and accounting firm Ernst and Young, data or information theft was the most committed fraud in India last year. That data can be anything from personal details, to bank accounts, to company contacts and secrets. Ernst and Young warns that it could cost companies as much as 5% of their profits if they are targeted by cyber criminals. At the same time, there has been an increase in nuisance internet issues such as spamming, with India recently overtaking the US to become the top global contributor of junk messages. The BBC's Shilpa Kannan reports on what companies are doing to protect themselves from cyber attacks And while this jams an inbox and is a headache for the consumer, for the government there are also more serious issues, such as national security and trying to avoid a potential cyber attack by a terrorist group. According to the Minister of State for Communications and IT, Sachin Pilot, more than 100 Indian government websites were hacked in the first three months of

Skechers USA has agreed to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission for USD 40 million due to its claims that Shape-up shoes could help people tone muscles and lose weight. However, state and federal officials discovered that Shape-ups and other Skechers' toning shoes are not living up to all the marketing hype.   "Skechers' unfounded claims went beyond stronger and more toned muscles.  The company even made claims about weight loss and cardiovascular health," said the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.   According to Norton Scientific Reviews report, aside from the Shape-ups line, Skechers have also made deceptive claims on its Tone-ups, Toners and Resistance Runner shoes.   The shape-up ads declaring that the shoes are made to tone muscles and promote weight loss, claims that the FTC says are unsupported. FTC further alleges that Skechers cherry-picked results from the study that they cited and also failed to substantiate anything.   Skechers were defiant, however, and strongly denied the charges. According to them, they only agreed to the settlement in order to avoid "exorbitant cost and endless distraction of several years spent defending multiple lawsuits in multiple courts across the country".   Its president Michael Greenberg said, "The Company has received overwhelmingly enthusiastic feedback from literally thousands of customers who have tried our toning shoes for themselves and have written unsolicited testimonials about their positive experiences."   However, instead of defending itself against the lawsuit, Skechers opted for a settlement, which also means that it could avoid admitting anything. On Wednesday, it has agreed to settle the USD 50 million false advertising charges by the FTC and the lawyers of 44 states. Also included in the settlement is the barring of Skechers from misrepresenting any studies, research or studies related to toning shoes.   This settlement marks the FTC's continuous efforts

British Columbians are worried about cybersecurity but they're also more likely than other Canadians to share their debit card personal identification numbers with others and take other risks that could leave them open to identity theft and other fraud. These are among the findings of a survey released today by TD Canada Trust in conjunction with Fraud Prevention Month in Canada. Visa Canada released its own survey, this one conducted by Ipsos Reid that found young Canadians, those aged 18 to 30 are the most likely to share too much personal information on social networking sites - information such as birthdates, home addresses and phone numbers that provide lucrative pickings for identity thieves, phishing expeditions and other online fraud. Today's releases come the week after Norton, the security company, released its top riskiest Canadian cities for cybercrime risk rankings. The polls and rankings all add up to a lot of scary headlines and ones Simon Fraser University communication professor Peter Chow-White suggest may be designed more for advertising and brand awareness than for research. "I think it is to put a discourse of anxiety and fear into the public sphere," he said. "They are all framed around risk, not safety."

This is an advanced-level class that takes an in-depth examination of severe noncompliance, clinical data fabrication and falsification, scientific misconduct and fraud cases. The course focus is on developing skills for preventing fraud and misconduct and preparing clinical research professionals to better handle severe noncompliance.