Techfastly-October

Octuber Issue | 2020 Inventing Tomorrow | Connecting Leaders | Simplifying Technology

21

What Systems and Software are Used by the Falcon 9? | Andrew Zola

31 11

Why is Cybersecurity so Important?

How to Prepare Your Business for Remote Work Effectively | Anjali Prabhanjanan

| Shahzaib Ali Khan

15

Small Business Banking in the US

| Claudio G. Giancaterino

1 | October | Techfastly | 2020

18

Dangers of Deep Fakes | Anmol Tanubhrt

www.techfastly.com Everything You May Have Wanted to Know About Ethical/ Whitehat Hackers -

Dangers of Deep Fakes

|Anmol Tanubhrt | 18

Optimizing Conversion Rates for Startups |Brijesh Wawdhane | 24

DeFi is booming - Banking to be a thing of the past? |Ashwin Kumar R | 08

Why is Cybersecurity so Important? |Shahzaib Ali Khan | 11

2 | October | Techfastly | 2020

TechfastlyTeam | 27

How to prepare your business for remote work effectively | Anjali Prabhanjanan | 31

|Shahzaib Ali Khan | 04

An ethical hackers’ primary job is to pinpoint such instances so these can be taken care of before a major cybersecurity event occurs.

10 Myths about Cloud Computing |

Small Business Banking in the US |Claudio G. Giancaterino | 15

Besides personal savings, the top sources of survival for small businesses are profits/assets, credit cards, and bank loans. Overall, small business banking plays a central role in the future growth of small businesses/startups.

Bitcoin 101 for Beginners | Raymart Mabag | 35

What Systems and Software are Used by the Falcon 9?

Andrew Zola | 21

|

Introduction to Techfastly’s October Issue I’m glad to present the October issue of Techfastly. We have covered a vast array of subjects for our articles. Our writers constantly challenge themselves to make sure that they are bringing you articles that are relevant and futuristic.

For example, we wrote an article on the systems and softwares used by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. We also cover the potential dangers, both present and future dangers, of deep fakes. For startups, we have featured a story about how conversion rates for startups can be optimized.

I’m also excited to announce that we will be interviewing entrepreneurs, CEOs, and influencers in the technology space from the next edition of the magazine. You will get to see their journeys, learnings, and advice. You will also see a peek into the future through their eyes.

We’re committed to providing with you content that matters and is thoughtful.

We’re going to make sure that we will bring you leaders and thoughts on the future and markets in the coming months.

I thank you for buying the magazine.

Happy reading.

Srikant Rawat Chief Operating Officer Techfastly 3 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Shahzaib Ali Khan “ Ethical hackers are seriously in demand, especially by organizations with extensive IT infrastructure for their operations “.

Everything You May Have Wanted to Know About Ethical/ Whitehat Hackers What is an ethical hacker?

As the term suggests, an ethical hacker is an information security expert, also known as a white-hat hacker who shares explicit knowledge about penetration testing, hacking computer systems, and cracking the security of the digital modes. These professionals perform vicious penetration testing and exploitation techniques on any computer-based resources. It is done to discover potential vulnerabilities in these IT 4 | October | Techfastly | 2020

resources that can be exploited by hackers or likely cybercriminals.

An ethical hackers’ primary job is to pinpoint such instances so these can be taken care of before a major cybersecurity event occurs.

Types of white hat hackers There are following types of white hat hackers;

Bug bounty program Many third-party organizations are working with HackerOne to award the white hat hackers for each vulnerability they discover. Many

organizations leave their bounty open or access them when a white hat hacker gets in touch. Bug bounty hackers only make their living by testing various security programs and detecting flaws in its code or overall working.

Penetration testers This is a somewhat more common type of ethical hackers. These professionals work by stresstesting the security interface of an organization by launching a controlled cyber-attack. After the attack has been launched, they will then test the response of the company’s cybersecurity practices, such as what processes kick in and stimulate a shielding response under the attack that has been commenced.

Back-Hacks These professionals come handy after a cybersecurity breach has happened. They work by retracting the attack path and then determining what specific path hackers took to commence the attack. Thus, tracing the attack back to its source while proving a big help to the cybersecurity professionals and incident response personnel on board.

Red team and blue team exercise This is similar to a military exercise where one team, such as red, would try to infiltrate a security infrastructure defense while the blue team is acting as the defense to nullify the attackers’ illicit tries.

This exercise works graciously well in building the professional expertise required by a cybersecurity professional or ethical hacker when a true cyber anomaly persists.

5 | October | Techfastly | 2020

How does one become an ethical hacker?

The journey to becoming an ethical hacker is determined by your current position in the IT field. If you are nowhere near an IT career or have any such skill, then it is recommended that you first start with enrolling yourself in studying IT and acquiring related skills. After this, when you think that you have the entry-level skills needed to become an ethical hacker, you must enroll yourself in a dedicated certification to become a white hat hacker. The following are the details that you must keep an eye on to become an ethical hacker.

Educational requirements Employers look for various competitive certifications such as Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Global Information Assurance Certification Penetration Tester (GIAC), and Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP). Other than that, a viable experience in the field is also appreciated. All these certifications cover different areas of expertise, such as manipulating secured networking systems, performing penetration testing to understand vulnerabilities, and testing potential security systems in an offensive way.

Although it is not necessary to have a master’s degree, it can increase the prospects of you landing a pretty decent job.

Must-have training and certifications To improve your chances of getting hired, you must have some general training or some decent certification to verify your skillset.

Many professionals, when starting with this career, obtain certified information systems security professional or CISSP. It can be acquired after completing your bachelor’s. Although if you want to become a severe professional, then obtaining a certified ethical hacker (CEH) certificate is a must-have.

It comes with a five-day intensive cybersecurity training period in which you will get around all the latest cybersecurity threats in an updated fashion.

Required skills for an ethical hacker

On a general note, a professional, ethical hacker must pay keen 6 | October | Techfastly | 2020

attention to the details to seek out any potential problem with the computer or data storage systems. Problem-solving skills and excellent analytical skills are also necessary to solve problems associated with the network’s security and for reviewing data from the hacking attempts on an IT-intensive system. Communication skills are also required, as you would often have to collaborate with multiple personnel on-board when trying to solve a technical problem.

Although, according to a statistic, in the year 2021 there will be approximately 3.5 million unfilled vacancies regarding cybersecurity. Previously this number was only halted at 1 million at the end of the year 2014. A significant number of vacancies can be seen in management-level jobs such as chief information security officers, security managers, and others. Various CISO believe that a skilled cybersecurity team’s availability would be limited due to insufficient skill set among new cybersecurity talent.

How common is it to hire ethical hackers?

Ethical hackers are seriously in demand, especially by organizations with extensive IT infrastructure for their operations. There is a need to manage these overstretched IT assets and find out any vulnerabilities that exist. Many organizations hire ethical hackers permanently and instate them as an active part of their cybersecurity team; this way, they can have 24/7 availability of such professionals to make sure that everything is running smoothly.

Many organizations, such as US Air Force and even IRS (International Revenue Service), hire professional ethical hackers from time to time to test their security systems. IRS has even outsourced a $2 million contract to the Synack government to provide pentesting by their potential ethical hackers while giving no such activity to the IRS. Synack is also working with the Air Force on the same engagement to test their security systems and point out vulnerabilities where they exist. This will induce a higher ROI (return on investment) by disabling the need to change the Air Force’s security interface consistently.

Other than that, many ethical hackers work as freelancers, other than those who are employed as corporate employees. The main reason is that many organizations are a startup and can’t afford to have a permanent ethical hacker on board, and there are budget cuts. That is why they hire ethical hackers temporarily.

Common techniques used by ethical hackers Penetration testing It is the most common technique used by an ethical hacker to penetrate a potential security system. They can use any tools they have at their disposal to crack the security interface, bypass every firewall there is, and gain control of the system by acquiring authorized access.

Penetration testing is a technique that every cyber-security professional must know, and extensive training is required to master the art.

Social engineering Social engineering is a trait of black hat hackers, but ethical hackers should also have enough exposure to this technique.

At its heart, social engineering involves manipulating people in such a way that they become willing to share confidential information or credentials to the manipulator.

Hackers usually approach their target with a sense of great urgency with a critical trigger involved, so they can’t say “No” to them at all.

Sniffing Sniffing is the act of spying on the data packets leaving and entering a secured networking facility. This is how many illicit hackers keep an eye on the companies’ current operational and security-wise stats. Ethical hackers must also know how to do that to stay ahead in the game and unwinding the black hat hackers’ plots and treacherous schemes.

Bug Bounty Other than that, many ethical hackers can engage in bug bounty practices.

This specifically means that they can get compensation and recognition from various organizations and software developers by reporting bugs in their interface or programs.

These bugs could lead to a potential cybersecurity exploit and other vulnerabilities. By reporting such unprotected events, the ethical hackers will get validation in return, lending 7 | October | Techfastly | 2020

them greater projects in the upcoming years regarding cyber-security.

Bug bounty opportunities continue to persist where the companies and organizations continually hire ethical hackers to nullify their security interface of any known bugs and security errors.

Have ethical hackers gone rogue?

Many people use the term “cybersecurity bad actors” when initially their reference points towards the ethical hackers who, for some reason, chose the dark side. Being termed as a “Hacker” is a generic term that might include both black and white hat hackers, but the intentions of both can’t be predicted puling the analysis strings from behind the shadows.

According to stats from recent years, there are many examples of people turning to the bad side, and such notorious cyber-security bad actors are termed as follows; Hacktivists These have been more prominent in the past couple of years. A hacktivist is originally a hacker acting alone or in numbers such as Anonymous group or Wiki Leaks to spread terror and exploit serious information to accomplish their own political gains.

Insider threats This has become a more common cyber-attack narrative among various organizations in which rogue employees work with illicit attention in mind. They work by dismantling the organization’s security interface and allowing their fellow hackers to attack by exploiting the vulnerability created by the rogue insiders.

Ashwin Kumar R |

DeFi is booming Banking to be a thing of the past?

Imagine a future where cryptocurrency and decentralized finance become the norm, and banks become an option. Although this isn’t happening anytime soon, DeFi is catching like wildfire. The total value locked in DeFi increased five-fold in just six months and stands at over 4 billion dollars.

I agree that this is a drop in the ocean compared to the trilliondollar traditional banking industry. Still, given the pace at which DeFi is moving, it’ll engulf the banking industry.

But what exactly is DeFi? DeFi stands for Decentralized Finance and is often referred to as the Open Finance Movement.

Decentralized finance is built over smart contracts, protocols, digital assets and are accessed using a dApp (Decentralized application). Consider it a futuristic system of every traditional financial service you use today - loans, trading, insurance, and more. It runs on a trustless, permissionless, and open blockchain where the control is not under any individual entity. The majority 8 | October | Techfastly | 2020

of DeFi applications now are based on lending and borrowing with impressive interest rates that sometimes touch double-digit figures (Sounds way better than the negligible interest rates banks provide, doesn’t it?)

These applications run on smart contracts that are programs that execute when certain conditions are met. The code is written and released, and from then on, there is no central power handling your assets.

Everything is automated with almost no human intervention (although developers deploy upgrades or bug fixes). Most of the DeFi applications are run over the Ethereum network. Even though there is still a scalability problem, it is expected to improve vastly with the release of Ethereum 2.0 as it is moving to the Proof-of-Stake system from the current Proof-ofwork mechanism.

Traditional Finance vs.

Decentralized Finance

The most ‘in-your-face’ difference is that an organization runs banks, and they are responsible for the money you deposit in the bank. They lend it out as loans, or they charge you for their services. DeFi is fighting against this to bring about a decentralized 9 | October | Techfastly | 2020

system where people would no longer need to rely on a third party, like banks, for their financial needs. With DeFi, people can transfer money across countries (depends upon the regulations).

This is what DeFi is aiming at, a globalized peerto-peer financial system. People that aren’t in the crypto space often assume cryptocurrency is volatile and highly unstable, and it is not safe enough to use them as a global currency. This is where stablecoins step in. Stablecoins are a cryptocurrency too, but they are pegged to the value of the US dollar. Such coins are protected against the instability of the cryptocurrency market. Tether (USDT) and MakerDAO (DAI) coins are some of the critical stablecoins.

Customer data must be protected at all costs, and that is something legacy finance cannot entirely guarantee since it is prone to hacks due to its centralized nature. In a blockchain, all the data is encrypted and is publicly available to validation. This does not mean that your data is out in the wild. Unlike banks, DeFi does not require you to identify yourself.

The entire system supports anonymity and yet provides security as no one will be able to alter data. In 2019, Capital One fell prey to a hacking attack that exposed over 100 million customers’ personal information. Since DeFi is entirely transparent and anonymous, customers will feel much safer here. The anonymity might also open doors for money-laundering, so it will be challenging to come up with regulations.

The Venezuela Hyperinflation is something so devastating that it almost rendered the currency worthless. A steep drop in oil prices and poor government policies led to the mass printing of new currency, which destroyed the economy and shot up inflation to over 1,000,000%. This was entirely caused by humans. Blockchain came to the rescue when people from Venezuela started sending funds as cryptocurrency to their friends

and relatives in other countries.

Such a problem can never occur in DeFi since new coins are minted based on the protocol and not by choice.

wait until it can run. It might either overthrow traditional finance or coexist with it. The future where these two switch roles and traditional finance is looked upon as a mere option is inevitable.

MakerDAO is currently the darling of the DeFi world and has 1.09 billion dollars locked in its system.

MakerDAO is a decentralized organization that allows the lending and borrowing of cryptocurrency and is built over the Ethereum network. It locks ETH as collateral in Collateralized Debt Position(CDP) and lends the DAI stablecoin with an attractive interest rate with complete security since a smart contract manages all this instead of a central authority. It is smart and also dangerous in a way that, in order to maintain the stable value of the DAI token, the collateral must always be at least equal to the amount of DAI borrowed. If the collateral value falls below 150%, a liquidation process is automatically initiated by the smart contract, and anyone in the network acquires the power to repay the debt. These people aren’t so kind as to repay someone else’s debt. They get 13% of the total debt taken from the initial borrower’s locked funds. All this can be avoided by the borrower controlling the loan amount and the regularity of repayments.

The liquidation is solely done to maintain the stable value of the DAI token. This way, it can remain a global currency that anyone can send and receive around the world. A lot of other players are catching up in this space, including Compound and Synthetix.

One of the significant challenges DeFi will face is regulation, and it’s interesting to see how it will tackle this problem. COVID has turned the world upside down, and DeFi has taken advantage of it. The past few months have seen a surge in the adoption of Decentralized Finance. Mainstream companies are paying attention to DeFi and are working hard to tackle it, but DeFi seems to be growing strong.

What’s next for DeFi? DeFi will not replace traditional finance overnight, it’s just taking its baby steps, and we have to 10 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Cryptocurrencies are already being accepted as forms of payment in various stores and organizations around the world. DeFi should earn the trust of users to enter mainstream adoption. The tech has developed significantly, and developers are working on providing a better user interface to allow even grandmas to use it. The crypto community has dubbed 2020 the year of the “DeFi Renaissance.” The topic of decentralization is, itself, pretty restricted to the tech community, and it has to cross that border for mass adoption.

DeFi isn’t going to take over the world in the next 4 or 5 years, but it’s taking one step at a time, and each step is a giant one.

| Shahzaib Ali Khan

Why is Cybersecurity so Important?

Why is it more important than ever?

Cybersecurity is the practice of securing data assets and other practical pieces of information from various attacks conducted by cybercriminals.

The applications of the cybersecurity extend to computer systems, networking as well as cloud computing systems.

The ultimate goal here is 11 | October | Techfastly | 2020

to protect the electronic data from being stolen, manipulated, or provided unauthorized access to stop its disruption at all costs.

Cybersecurity is an evolving discipline, and it is more important than ever now.

Why? Because the intensity at which cyberattacks unfold has doubled in magnitude.

Various researches conducted around the world settled on the issue that there is a cyber-attack every 39 seconds. Every 39 seconds, a hacker or a group of cybercriminals engage in this malicious activity of stealing corporate information and manipulating their systems for their personal or political gains.

Saturation of cyber-attacks The business and their has gone fully consistency mobile.

The only way to properly battle cybercrime is to protect internet devices such as mobiles, laptops, or even cloud systems from being manipulated by these potential hackers. In today’s world, the private cloud has provided the digital industry with the best possible arsenal to customize its business operations. It has left a big enough void in the security of such systems, where everything is mobile and connected to the internet, requiring more caution.

artificial intelligence and machine learning, new and improved systems are being designed to combat cybercriminals upfront. But at the same time, hackers and cybercriminals are also using these technologies to beat cyber-defenses using AI and ML against them. The impact of cybercrime is vicious and unnerving. Not only are jobs at stake, but economic growth and business industry are at risk. IoT is the common element. The world needs to understand that if they do not try to tackle the problem at its core and cybercrimes continue to occur without a check and balance, we will soon be returning to the dark ages.

The internet of things

With phishing, social engineering, and ransomware attacks dominating about 62% of the business community worldwide and the costs to counterfeit the circumstances reaching $3.9 million for small businesses, cyber-crimes are a real issue that needs to be taken seriously.

IoT is the most trending technology there is. Smart devices can sync with the internet in real-time and interact with each other at the same time. It makes these devices more and more vulnerable to cybercrimes, and it is their precious data at stake.

Increasing impact of cybercrime Businesses worldwide face almost 4000 different hacks every day, and most of these are ransomware attacks demanding money or ransom in exchange for the data being held. It is a complete cycle that is cybersecurity.

Professionals try to develop such systems and technologies that can strengthen their defense against consistent cyberattacks while cybercriminals simultaneously up their game and bring an even stronger and vicious strategy to hurt the organizations and defeating them at their own game. It is the cause and effect of cybersecurity and cybercrime embedded into the same fabric.

With certain advancements within the cybersecurity domain such as 12 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Protect your organization against cybercrime

According to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the cost of cybercrime was estimated at around $600 billion worldwide. And cybercrime has been on the rise ever since. According to a few CSIS professionals, “Cybercrime has become the new trend of the illegal business conducted across the worldwide web by hackers, and it is still on the rise. Why? Because it is just too rewarding, and the chances of being caught or punished are perceived too low.”

This means that organizations and businesses conducting their operations over the online forums are at a greater risk than ever. Swift action should be taken before it is too late. The following are a few precautions that you can take to protect your organization from cybercrime.

Expect attacks and prepare You can’t assume that it won’t happen to you because it is happening for other people and

businesses. Cybercrimes and breaches are real, these hurt businesses, jobs are lost, and significant losses are incurred. In the wake of this, you need to expect cyber-attacks for yourself and prepare against them.

Train and educate your staff about cybercrime The most driving force behind cybercrimes are the organizations; if your staff can’t differentiate between phishing emails or normal ones, you are at risk. To eradicate this fear, you must train and educate your staff. Make them go through intensive training and workshops so your internal defenses can’t be weakened with social engineering traps and phishing emails.

Regularly update your infrastructure.

Many organizations take severe hits by cyber-attacks as they don’t make updating their security systems and configurations a priority. This is why they are always at stake. Not updating your Antimalware and Antivirus systems means that you are willingly leaving your defenses unguarded and welcoming hackers.

Set your priorities straight and make updating your infrastructure a priority.

Future of cybersecurity 13 | October | Techfastly | 2020

It can be said without a doubt that the future of cybersecurity is bright. Over the past few years, cybersecurity has been evolving at a consistent pace. With advancements in technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning have become the new favorite trend among the digital markets.

Artificial intelligence provides a more direct approach to solving computingbased problems, providing agility, and the processing power businesses of the future require. It is not that far when it would become the core component of all cybersecurity systems and machine learning, as its subset will start to dominate areas where data processing and extracting insight from raw data are the most enticing factors.

Other than that, organizations making better use of cybersecurity-related resources would have to unite to face the ever-growing cyberwarfare threats. There would be a sudden shift of attention towards preventing data systems from digital intrusions. Finally, there would be more and more hackers required to develop systems and practices to keep the cybercriminals at bay.

14 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Claudio G. Giancaterino Despite the first quarter of 2020, the US small business index score has decreased by about ten points from the fourth quarter of 2019.

At the same time, the same index shows a growing uptrend from 2011 to 2020. There are more than 30 million small businesses (SBA statistics) in the United States, they take only six days to open, and around 33% get started with less than $ 50,000. Besides personal savings, the top sources of survival for small businesses are profits/ assets, credit cards, and bank loans. Overall, small business banking plays a central role in the future growth of small businesses/ startups.

What is business banking?

With business banking, also called commercial or corporate banking, banks provide financial and advisory services to small and medium businesses and larger corporations. These services are tailored to each business’s specific needs and include deposit accounts, loans, and credit card services. Banks may also offer asset management and securities underwriting to their corporate and business clients, cash management solutions, payroll services, and fraud protection. Demand for business banking is increasing in the United States, as the business field is on unstoppable growth.

15 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Small Business Banking in the US “ Banks’ traditional role in the economy has changed from the conventional intermediation approach to a financial shop, in which banks offer a wide range of financial services “.

the last position, there is M&T Bank. It’s What are the top In suitable if your business is on the East Coast, but strength is the business review to achieve the 5 Banks for Small its best small business success.

Businesses in the US? What will be the impact Coming in at first place is Chase, a traditional bank that offers everything of Artificial Intelligence that a small business might need, has in the future banking lots of locations, business checking with minimal fees, and it’s one of development? the best online banking and mobile banking available.

Navy Federal Credit Union occupies second place. It’s not technically a bank but offers services suitable for small businesses: business checking and savings, loans, credit cards, payment processing, and even retirement and insurance. To open a business bank account at Navy Federal, you’ll first need to join as a private individual because it’s not a profit bank. It charges lower fees and offers higher interest rates on savings than profit banks.

In third place, there is an online bank: Axos Bank. It’s the oldest online bank in the United States and stands out thanks to its interestbearing checking account. It gives good interests and excellent online and mobile banking options. The account includes up to 50 free items per month, so it is not suitable for businesses with many transactions.

Wells Fargo takes up fourth place and is the most popular bank in the United States. Because Wells Fargo is so big, it offers virtually any service you might need, several business checking accounts, payroll services, business tax services, etc. Wells Fargo is one of the best options if your small business uses a lot of cash.

16 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Banks’ traditional role in the economy has changed from the conventional intermediation approach to a financial shop, in which banks offer a wide range of financial services. Banks and financial markets have become more linked, integrated, and recently, Fintech has created other disruptive forces in the financial industry that have yet to be explored in the upcoming years.

There are three main channels where banks can exploit artificial intelligence to save on costs, and they are front office (conversational banking), middle office (anti-fraud), and back office (underwriting). The most significant savings opportunity comes from the front and middle office.

AI is leveraged on the front office for customer identification and authentication, deepens customer relationships, and provides personalized insights and recommendations with virtual assistants’ help. Moreover, AI works within middle-office functions to detect and prevent payment fraud and improve anti-money laundering (AML) processes and regulatory checks.

Big tech companies will move deeper into banking. Apple launched its Apple Card with Goldman Sachs for private consumers. Maybe it will be available for small businesses in the future. Stripe Capital has launched a debit card for businesses, and Amazon Lending offers loans to help small-medium companies grow.

Large tech companies are gaining a powerful scale, hoovering up data, building relationships, and brands with banks that are behind their

financial efforts.

Banks are finding additional ways to partner with Fintech, for instance, HSBC has launched a digital lending platform built with technology from the Fintech Amount. These partnerships will multiply as other banks look to enter into the digital lending space. Recent research confirms that digital lenders more than doubled their market share in the past four years, with consumers turning to digital-first providers.

Open banking will play a vital role in the future. It allows third-party providers to securely access and analyze a business’ historical banking data almost instantly.

Open Banking could help in tracking cash flow and avoid late payments. Runpath, part of Experian, is developing a cash flow management tool that uses Open Banking to provide a historical analysis of income, outgoings, and cash flow capacity. By analyzing and tracking real-time banking, the tool can understand when cash flow is crunching, allowing the business owners to access funding in advance to mitigate any negative impact.

Happy Small Business Banking growth!

17 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Anmol Tanubhrt

Dangers of Deep Fakes “ Ethical hackers are seriously in demand, especially by organizations with extensive IT infrastructure for their operations “.

P

rivacy is a myth in the world of the internet! We are sure you must have read some of the other forms of this quote, and there is no denying that this one is false!

With so many lawsuits being filed against either Google, Facebook, or other Internet companies, putting our data at risk has been a major concern.

What Is It? Going by the name, this is something deeply faked! Well, we won’t be joking with you on this, so let’s get into what exactly it is. Deep fake is a portmanteau of deep learning, a form of synthetic media in which part of the person in an existing image or video is replaced by someone else.

Deep fake involves generative neural network architectures such as autoencoders or generative adversarial networks.

18 | October | Techfastly | 2020

But, deep fakes are not just about deep learning, machine learning, or technology! They had existed for years before any of these technologies became part of our lives. What do you think made it possible for Fast and Furious to be completed after the death of Paul Walker? But, back in those days, it took days to achieve something like that. However, with the coming technology, this has become simpler than ever before.

How is it Done?

Deep fakes are made possible because of machine learning.

The creator first trains the neural network for long hours on

the real video to give the machine a realistic understanding of what the video looks like from different angles and lighting. This trained network is then combined with computer-graphic techniques to super-impose a copy of the person onto a different person. Although many believe that GANs play an important role in deep fakes, mostly artificial intelligence algorithms and other non-AI algorithms are used for building deep fakes.

The Real Danger

attacks. A whailing attack is a phishing attack where the target is being made to the CEO or the CFO within the organization to steal information from them. This is usually done by making calls to them from those that hold higher positions than them. One recent incident happened with the antimoney laundering officers of the US Credit office. Cybercriminals tend to spend significant money when profiling their targets because of the potentially high returns.

Pornography

The Measures

One of the deepest hit industries by deep fakes is the one we look around through shy eyes. With deep fake, it has become easier for revenge porn to float around. The creator only needs many photos of victims, which are often readily available in their social media account. It has been used to bully or harass individuals to spread hate and tarnish their image.

With the world often feeling gripped by deep fake, there have been many measures taken across countries to control deep fakes. Although challenging to enforce, California has recently made a law that makes it illegal to create or distribute deep fakes. Newsom also signed a bill AB 602, which allows California residents to sue if their image is being tarnished or sexually explicit.

February of 2020 brought us the unveiling Twitter’s plan to curb the spread of manipulated content, including “deep fake” videos. This was done as part of a move to fight information that might result in

Politics If there is one thing we all know about politicians and politics, there are often lies in its web. Deep fakes have overblown the threat to democracy.

Politicians across the world are using deep fakes to win new voters. Recently, an Indian politician’s video surfaced around the internet, where he is seen criticizing the opponent party in English. The video was created in Bhojpuri, but it was deep faked in English to reach the English listening audience. The more significant risk here is that people might get to the point where they stop trusting what they see or hear. It is not hard to imagine the corrosive impact that this might have on an already fragile political environment.

C-Level Fraud There is a rise in different types of C-level frauds, from early spear-fishing to the recent whailing 19 | October | Techfastly | 2020

deep fakes or other harm.

Along with the DARPA, the Pentagon is currently working with the largest research centers to get ahead of deep fake. Computers are now being fed with real videos, training them to detect the deep fakes. The major

challenge, however, is in detecting fake audios. Training computers to recognize visual inconsistencies is one way to see fake audio.

Conclusion We are already surrounded by fake news, with information creating deliberate falsehoods with deep fake worsening the situation. Many people even predict a cyberwar, and there is no denying of its possibility.

Deepfakes aren’t going away, posing the question of how to regulate them?

With more advanced technology being developed everyday, governments will have a harder time creating laws and regulations.

20 | October | Techfastly | 2020

| Andrew Zola

What Systems and Software are Used in the Falcon 9?

L

ast summer, SpaceX embarked on the first US-manned spaceflight in almost a decade. What made this event even more historic is that it successfully took NASA astronauts into orbit on a privately-manned spacecraft and delivered them to the International Space Station.

As rockets like the Falcon 9 follow the same ethos as missile technology, the US government treats information about its inner workings as classified information. So it’s a challenge to find specific details about the hardware and software used onboard the spacecraft.

But by scouring through the internet and Reddit, we can get a pretty good idea about what they rely on to achieve their objectives. For example, we know that SpaceX’s Falcon rockets leverage software packages closely related to programs running on your devices.

21 | October | Techfastly | 2020

What Kind of Computer Does SpaceX Use Onboard the Falcon 9?

In a recent session of Reddit’s Ask Me Anything (AMA), NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley stated that they used Google Chrome whenever they tapped on the touchscreens that controlled the Crew Dragon Capsule.

The computers used on rockets are custom built to withstand harsh conditions. These include intense heat and significant vibration. When the Falcon 9 enters the earth’s orbit, the hardware must cope with a tremendous amount of heat and cold that can be anywhere from 120°C to -150°C. However, temperatures alone don’t pose the most significant threat. Electronic equipment onboard the spacecraft must withstand the radiation like high energy particles ejected from the sun, particles from outside our solar system, and the earth’s magnetic field.

This scenario threatens to cause what’s known as a bit flip. This phenomenon occurs when high energy particles strike the memory or the processors onboard space computers. So if they hit the memory, for example, it creates a situation where a “0” becomes “1” and vice versa. This, in turn, corrupts the specific component of the memory.

As a result, you’d expect the company to deploy costly radiation-hardened components. Still, SpaceX has consistently used off-the-shelf parts because it isn’t necessary when you follow what’s known as a radiation-tolerant design.

22 | October | Techfastly | 2020

While we’re not sure about what kind of machines they have now, a few years ago, the Falcon 9 was equipped with three flight computers for each of its engines, and a triple redundancy computer equipped with 30 processors.

As these computers don’t leverage their multicore processor capabilities, they perform computations of two cores separately and compare results. This means that these three flight computers (with dualcore processors) operate as six independent computers that regularly verify each others’ calculations.

So if one of the spacecraft’s computers succumbs to radiation, it’ll put out a different value detected by the other computers. The malfunctioning processor is then rebooted automatically, preventing further errors.

Then in what’s known as a re-sync, it copies the other processors’ memory, executes the same programs, and matches other systems’ execution onboard. In the unlikely event that all three computers malfunction because of radiation, the other systems onboard that allow the triple redundancy model will kick in.

What Software Does SpaceX Use Onboard the Falcon 9?

Each of the company’s rockets and satellites use a variation of the Linux Operating System (OS). This is very similar to the OS that powers billions of Android mobile phones. The Linux OS runs on almost all of the company’s desktops and vehicles.

SpaceX has launched approximately 32,000 Linux computers into space to power the Starlink internet. The company also launches 60 internet-beaming Starlink satellites with a load of 4,000 stripped-back Linux computers every month.

This initiative aims to build a robust global constellation of spacecraft that delivers

high-speed broadband coverage from orbit.

Why is Linux the go-to choice for space travel?

SpaceX leverages Linux as it allows its engineers to use the robust applications that come with it and streamline the development process.

Programmers at the company are known to use C++, a popular coding language with a large C++ ecosystem.

When developers utilize existing tools like gcc (C and C++ compiler) and gdb (debugger), it negates the need to build new software. However, the company also uses a graphical programming tool that runs on Windows called LabView.

This allows the engineers on the ground to track critical metrics and better visualize the telemetry they receive from the Falcon 9 during its interstellar journey.

This approach makes it easy to build data analysis algorithms, integrate measurement hardware, and represent complex logic on diagrams. Finally, SpaceX also uses Matlab on base as an analysis tool.

The Dragon spacecraft, on the other hand, also runs Linux with custom software written in C++. However, the touchscreen interface is rendered leveraging Chromium and JavaScript.

With each successful launch, SpaceX accelerates development and embarks on multiple missions into outer space.

So it’s safe to say that this article will continue to be updated as more information is leaked from command central.

23 | October | Techfastly | 2020

| Brijesh Wawdhane

T

he success of a startup can be measured by its conversion rates.

Optimizing a website for better conversion rate is an uphill task, more so for a startup website.

Despite carefully planning your product to be affordable, fast, and intuitive, you do not receive the customer response you were hoping for.

Optimizing your startup site involves a few unconventional approaches.

There are a lot of anomalies in the startup ecosystem.

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Optimizing Conversion Rates for Startups

Never Assume Stuff Most startups make the grave mistake of “just assuming stuff,” sometimes your assumptions may be correct, but (don’t be offended by this) your opinion does not matter.

Yes, you built the product, but you have not made it for yourself. When you assume stuff with your website, you are just shooting yourself in the foot. You don’t want to be assuming anything. You want to have reliable data and test every idea that you

have. You may see some companies’ statistics, and what’s benefitted them, those changes can end up doing more harm than good for you. It may work for them, but that does not mean that it will work for you and vice versa.

Improve Page Load Time

If you get the right audience to your site, your site also needs to be fast. You may have heard this a million

times before, but managing to get your site to load in under 2 seconds is essential. Read more on page load time optimization here (https://moz.com/learn/ seo/page-speed). Improvement of your site’s load time by 1-second conversion rates will improve by 7%.

Your Copy Has to be Great Getting the right audience and the site being fast enough won’t help if your copy is not good enough. A poor copy can be harmful to your conversion, whereas a good copy can drastically improve your conversion rate. If your copy can hook your visitor’s interest long enough to guide them to CTA and explains why to use your product and not what your product is, then you are fine with your existing copy, else you need a new, better copy.

Using benefit-based bullet points can further improve readability. You’ll be amazed to know the number of startups that explain what and not why.

You need to understand the visitors don’t care what your product is as long as it solves their problem.

However good your copy may be, people do not have the time to read, they only skim through. So, it needs to be concise to be effective.

If you’ve got more to say than you can fit in your copy without making it lengthy, do so in a visual format. You can have an image showing some statistics rather than writing it in text, or you can make an introductory video explaining what your product is and how 25 | October | Techfastly | 2020

it’s beneficial to the visitor. Visual formats (especially video) are significantly more effective than regular text.

Pro-tip: Wistia (a popular video hosting service) offers a turnstile feature allowing you to insert a form inside a video player. If you plan to use this feature, make sure to put your form in the first 10-20%. That is when they are found to be most effective.

Design Matters If you’ve got the right audience, your site is fast, and it has a good copy, but you lack good custom design, chances are your potential customer will choose your competition over you. Cliche look of your site won’t make a good impression in the visitor’s mind.

A/B testing can be of great help if you want to see how different designs perform to help you make the right design decisions. A good design for your site is responsive, clearly state your strong points where you outperform your competition, uses the right colors but most importantly, clearly direct towards your CTA, and is easy to navigate. Don’t assume people know what to do on your site.

While you are redesigning, make sure you multiple landing pages. You do not want to show people coming from an ad campaign of how you are eco-friendly the same page you show to people coming from another ad telling how fast your product is. People got attracted to the ad and hence clicked on it. Don’t generalize everything after you have got their attention for something specific.

Social and Authority Proof Social and Authority Proof is important for your

Survey your existing customers. Ask your existing customers if they think there is a chance for improvement, and if you start to see a pattern, it is a clear indication you need to upgrade your offering. Ask them how they like your product. Also, ask them why they bought from you, do not assume why they purchased from you; it may be opposite from your assumption. Again, if you see a pattern here, change your ad campaigns and adjust your landing pages to be more optimized.

conversion. But when you abuse it, it will have a negative effect on your visitors.

Testimonials can be of great help; if you don’t already have testimonials add them to your site. Ask your customers for videos offering something in exchange for that video. No one wants to take the risk of spending money on something new in the market. Show the number of customers you already have; this builds authority. If you’d like to read more building social and authority proof, read this article here, which talks in more detail about Authority Principle

by Therese Fessenden.

Pro Tip: Buy a toll-free number and mention it clearly on your site. For some reason, people, especially the 40+ age group, love the phone, and this works great for building authority as well. Even if you do not have someone to answer, all you have to do is get a toll free forward it to a voice mail where it says, “Hey, thank you for contacting XYZ, we are receiving a high amount of calls, please contact us at (your contact address)” Survey Your Customers

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This subject was a little bit hard to talk about because CRO is based on data, and it differs for every company, so bear in mind that not all suggestions are perfect for everyone. The needs of your company vary depending on which phase it is going through.

Needless to say, no amount of CRO will ever fix your product and keep getting new customers. You may get a few conversions initially, but eventually, your company’s fate is decided by your product. to protect the electronic data from being stolen, manipulated, or provided unauthorized access to stop its disruption at all costs. Cybersecurity is an evolving discipline, and it is more important than ever now. Why? Because the intensity at which cyberattacks unfold has doubled in magnitude.

Techfastly Team |

10 Myths about

Cloud Computing Cloud is the virtual storage that is used by almost all internet users.

And the fantastic part is that most of them are unaware of it.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud is a combination of hardware and software that stores your data virtually and gives you access to the desired software and application whenever you need it.

Cloud computing is not your traditional computing that bounds and restricts the apps and data to a single device.

Instead, it makes your data available to you anywhere at any time and on any device.

Cloud computing services have a massive collection of apps and software that you can rent for a time and pay as per utilization.

Cloud Infrastructure-as-aService (IaaS) is one example of cloud computing. It saves you the upfront cost of buying and maintaining software with the ease of availability on any device.

27 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Is Cloud Computing for Me? If you think that you have never used cloud computing, then you are probably wrong. Wondering why? Here you go.

If you have a Gmail account, have access to Dropbox and Google Drive, or are a fan of Spotify, you are using cloud computing.

Google Drive and Photos save your files and pictures and allows you to access it wherever you want. They are using cloud computing and storing your data on the cloud.

Similarly, music collections and online libraries are using cloud computing and giving you access to the desired service with just a click.

There are other specialized cloud services, like Rackspace, that are designed specifically for businesses.

Popular Myths About Cloud Computing Many people are not aware of cloud computing and are misled by myths.

Some common myths about cloud computing are as follows:

‘Cloud Services are Automated’ Most people believe that cloud computing completely runs on its own and does not need human expertise.

This is a myth. Cloud computing is just 28 | October | Techfastly | 2020

a collection of tools, and you will needs experts to manage them.

‘Cloud is Insecure’ People believe that cloud computing is insecure, and in-house IT infrastructures are safer than cloud computing.

Though its a reality that Cloud Computing is prone to a data breach, so is the case of in-house IT infrastructures. Even in-house infrastructures are more vulnerable to security threats than cloud computing. The credit goes to the multi-layer security of the cloud by both the cloud service provider and the data owner.

‘Cloud Computing Saves Money’ The biggest attraction of cloud computing seems to be saving money on buying software and apps.

This is a myth, as cloud computing does not always save money. You can get financial relief from privately buying and managing software, but you have to pay a fee for every use. If you are a big enterprise, cloud computing might cost you higher than your in-house IT infrastructure.

‘Transition to Cloud is Easy’ Cloud computing is appealing, and many people jump on it, assuming that the transition to the cloud is smooth.

This is not true, as every transition needs planning and have some prerequisites, and so is the case of cloud. You will need a skilled workforce to operate and manage tools on the cloud, research about different services offered by the cloud, and must have a proper security plan in hand, to make a smooth and risk-free transition to the cloud.

‘All Cloud Computing Services are the Same’ With little knowledge about cloud computing, many people believe that all cloud computing services are the same and offer the same security level.

This is not true. Different service providers offer a diverse range of software and apps, with varying levels of data security. Even the security measures taken by a single service provider might be different for its different services.

‘Cloud Will Handle All My Data Security Concerns’ As cloud service providers offer a security layer for data, many assume that the cloud will handle all their data security concerns.

This is a myth. You have the sole responsibility of securing your data while handling it to and from the organization. Cloud only provides an added layer of security, and your account security is still your liability.

‘Cloud Reduces Human Workforce’ Cloud computing aims to replace the in-house IT infrastructure, and many IT jobs will be obsolete in the future.

This leads to the assumption that the 29 | October | Techfastly | 2020

cloud reduces the human workforce.

This is partially true, as opting for cloud computing will diminish the need for some IT jobs, but at the same time, it will open more opportunities for skilled employees. Cloud alone cannot handle all the workload and needs a human workforce to manage and operate its tools.

‘Auditing Cloud is Difficult’ It is a popular belief that auditing data on the cloud is complicated.

This is certainly a myth, as cloud offers more tools to manage logs and data than your inhouse IT infrastructures. This makes auditing on the cloud much more efficient and easier than on physical servers.

‘Cloud Computing is for all Kinds of Data’ Many people think that cloud computing is ideal for them regardless of their data size.

This is not true, as many cloud services have restrictions regarding the amount of data and workload. For more substantial data, the chances of mishandling are much higher on the cloud.

However, this does not mean that you cannot opt for cloud computing if you have larger data.

You will need to opt for a combination of cloud services and must have a proper strategy for shifting your bulk data on the cloud.

‘One Cloud Service is Enough for Me’ Cloud services vary from one another, based on their provided services and facilities. Most people believe that opting for a single cloud service is enough for their business.

This is a myth. A single cloud service will let you explore and benefit from a restricted number of software and tools only. If you want to have a better cloud experience, then go for a hybrid combination of different services offered by different vendors.

Cloud computing is a newer thing in the business, so there are many misconceptions about it. If you still have reservations about cloud computing, it is better to do some research based on ground realities instead of relying on myths.

Final Thoughts Cloud computing has quite a few myths and misconceptions, but with a little research, you can identify if it will be the right fit for your business.

From the cost to the transition to cloud, there are a lot of things to consider. Hopefully, this article helped clear the air about some common misconceptions and myths you may have heard.

30 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Anjali Prabhanjanan

T

ens and thousands of workers around the world have been told to work from home as governments take action to prevent the spread of COVID-19, aka Coronavirus. This means most office-based employees are now remote working for the foreseeable future. It is up to the organizations and companies to ensure that their employees feel supported during this unprecedented situation.

Remote working has now taken over approximately all employees by enabling them with the technology and flexibility to do their best work from home. As quoted by the Head of Digital Transformation for Public Health England, Mr. Harvey Neve, ‘Remote working is an opportunity for people to embrace the way life is nowadays. There isn’t just work and life; there is life, and the outcomes you’re on the hook for at work are part of your life as well.’

However, if you are planning to prepare your business for remote working effectively, a lifetime of sharing memes isn’t enough to qualify your employees are ready to embrace the change. Let us now discuss how to prepare your business for remote working effectively.

Changes in the Workplace Due to Coronavirus Each day we all learn ways to adapt 31 | October | Techfastly | 2020

How to Prepare Your Business for Remote Work Effectively

to the work from home culture, as we are practicing social distance and selfisolation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here in the US, while most of us are speculating on the length of this shutdown and when we return to everyday work lives, the reality is that the virus has changed how we work by forcing us to adapt to working from home.

This pandemic has shown more employees working from home by relying on chats, emails, videoconferencing, and phone calls to communicate with colleagues quickly, instead of meeting faceto-face physically at the workplace.

Being online all the time has changed the typical workday of eight-hours with employees setting up clear boundaries, apportioning their leisure time, family time, and sleeping hours.

Otherwise, they risk a tiring day and spending reduced quality of life.

Changes at Workplace Due to Coronavirus Kevin Roose, a work-from-home evangelist, told everyone within earshot about the benefits of avoiding the office- no commute, no futile meetings every day, and no distracting co-workers. While researching the pros and cons of remote work for his upcoming book about human survival in this age of automation and artificial intelligence, he has now come to a very different conclusion: ‘Most people should work in an office, or near other people, and at any cost avoid solitary work-fromhome arrangements. Except for new parents, people who aren’t wellserved by the traditional office set-up, and those with disabilities for whom remote working is a good option.’ [1] Now we should abide by the health guidelines and not force our employees to work at the office during 32 | October | Techfastly | 2020

this pandemic. We should also remember that there are millions of professionals for whom remote working is never a viable option.

Working from home offers creative ways to form work communities and build friendlier relationships with colleagues. The comfortable one-on-one video meetings, virtual happy hours, and blurred work versus personal identities increase the employees’ ability to be authentic and bring them together virtually while everyone is practicing social distancing.

With the changes in the employees’ work lives brought by the pandemic, companies and organizations have been shown how to operate their business more effectively through remote working.

Are These Changes Permanent or Temporary?

As per the world leaders across many countries fighting with Coronavirus, we have to learn to live with this virus. Lockdown forever isn’t an option as economies of many countries are reeling under the current pandemic situation. However, work from home is not always a feasible option for some businesses and organizations that need physically present employees to get their manufacturing and construction work up and running. Many fields of work lack their workers to continue with the unfinished work, which has been stalled due to the government’s order of implementing a nation-wide lockdown across many countries worldwide.

Also, employees who are currently working from home, fully wired on their smartphones, laptops, and other devices, seem to have jumbled up their schedule altogether.

This happens as they have to take up the responsibility of both their home and work while working from home. It involves juggling between scheduling a virtual meeting with their colleagues, booking groceries online, doing household chores, and spending quality

time with their family. Moreover, some of them are complaining of fatigue and tiredness due to increased screen time with binge-watching and irregular sleep hours during their selfisolation time at home. [2] Adam Grant, American Psychologist, Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and the best-selling author and host of the podcast, WorkLife, studied how to make work better. In a recent interview for the Podcast of ‘World Versus Virus’ with the World Economic Forum, he said that owing to the current pandemic environment redesigning the jobs seems a necessary step to be taken as a change in the workplace.[3] Now that means you have to make the workplace more motivating, try to build cultures of creativity and generosity in teams, or even try to make the entire organization

more productive.

As leaders in the industry, you should grab this opportunity to give your employees more control over their jobs and hopefully discover that you can trust them to manage their schedules. You may want to become more hands-on in learning about your employees’ strengths, interests, values, and motivations.

The enforced work from home culture due to COVID-19 has made most organizations worldwide embrace it and continue to experiment with new ways of working postcrisis.

Though it may seem like some employees won’t return to their workplace even after the pandemic gets under control, it is too early to come to any conclusion regarding whether these changes are permanent or temporary.

How Can A Company Help Its Employees with Remote Working?

As the workforce is now more distributed than ever, teams and workers become more flexible and agile. As per the statistics, about 50% of the US population works remotely. Also, around 80% of remote workers have reported experiencing less work-related stress. So, you should ensure to help your employees with remote working using the right tools and imparting proper training to support your team during such hard times.

There are video conferencing tools that bring close to an in-person experience with excellent video and audio quality that’s user friendly.

Some video conferencing tools include Zoom, Google Meet, Appear.in, Google Hangouts, and Join.me. The number of online chatting applications has revolutionized today’s companies’ working standards, as these have created an enormous shift in their internal communication. Some of the best chat apps include Slack, Chanty, Yammer, and Workplace,

33 | October | Techfastly | 2020

by Facebook.

The most critical areas you should consider when looking to invest heavily in remote working solutions include the file storage tools while making sure it reduces the onboarding time with the software.

The best file storage tools include Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox. Productivity or Project Management tools will provide you with stats that prove your employees are more productive when working remotely. Todoist and Trello are the best project management tools out there. [4]

Learning from The Best

How Can Employees Set Themselves Up for Success in A Remote Working Environment?

Setting up a calendar and scheduling management can help your employees set themselves up for success in a remote working environment. Collaborating with others while working remotely through project management tools and software is another way to keep track of the work completed bs 34 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Though we have been provided numerous benefits of remote working that help get back on the hours lost in transit, the real challenges involve making this option a viable solution for all kinds of business, especially during a pandemic. On the upside, work from home makes the employee feel happier and thus more productive.

But the downsides include your employees not having fewer distractions but a different one, it can negatively impact their worklife balance. Though they could feel liberating, they’ll find themselves lonely and isolated.

| Raymart Mabag

D

iving into crypto space and owning your first Bitcoin is not as complicated as you may think. With the growing Bitcoin community’s help, there are many useful guides and articles like this to learn and start your crypto journey.

In this article, we will discuss everything to get you started on your crypto journey, and we will also discuss what Bitcoin is, cryptocurrency wallets, where you can buy Bitcoin, and what you can buy with Bitcoin.

35 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Bitcoin 101 for Beginners What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency and can be sent from a user to another through the peer-to-peer Bitcoin blockchain network without intermediaries like a broker or agent. Bitcoin is also the first implementation of blockchain technology conceptualized by the group known as Satoshi Nakamoto, back in January 2009.

Bitcoin Network is secured by a consensus

mechanism called Proof of Work. Independent individuals or a company, also known as Miners, can throw computing power to the Bitcoin Network and validate transactions.

In return, the Bitcoin network itself will award miners -> depends on the contribution.

Bitcoin mining is the process of generating a new Bitcoin and release it into circulation. However, mining requires a lot of computing power to solve a complicated math puzzle to generate new Blockchain blocks. There are 21 million

Bitcoins that can be mined in total.

Currently, around 18.5 million Bitcoins have been mined and released to the circulation. The last Bitcoin will mine probably around the year 2041.

What is a Bitcoin or Cryptocurrency Wallet?

A Bitcoin wallet or a cryptocurrency wallet is a software program that Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies are stored in.

Bitcoin wallet facilitates sending and receiving Bitcoins. Bitcoin wallets also hold private keys that will prove your ownership of the corresponding Bitcoin address. You can use that to carry out transactions within the Bitcoin network, and this method is used by almost all cryptocurrency out there.

There are different types of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency wallets available to use that include security, convenience, accessibility, paper wallet, desktop, mobile, web, and hardware wallet.

Types of Bitcoin Wallets: Paper wallet - is a paper that contains your private key and your public address, which allows you to spend or transfer a cryptocurrency stored in the given address. Paper wallets are printed in the form of QR-codes to quickly scan it to initiate transactions and use it to access your wallet via a software wallet.

To generate your paper wallet, you can use the popular paper wallet generator service in the crypto space, BitAddress. org. A paper wallet’s advantage is that the private key stored offline is immune to hackers, especially a key logger malware.

Desktop wallet - desktop wallets are downloaded and installed to your 36 | October | Techfastly | 2020

computer. Storing your private keys in your hard drive makes it more secure than the other wallet, especially the mobile wallets and web wallets. The disadvantage of using a desktop wallet is that it is prone to attacks as a key logger malware. A desktop wallet is still connected to the internet, so that’s why it makes them less secure.

The best Bitcoin desktop wallets that you can use are Electrum, Exodus, Atomic Wallet, Bitcoin Core, and Armory.

Mobile wallets - is a Bitcoin wallet software installed on your mobile phone that allows you to send and receive Bitcoin more conveniently. Mobile Bitcoin wallets take advantage of simplified payment verification technology that you didn’t need to download the entire blockchain ledger to access the Bitcoin network.

However, mobile Bitcoin wallets are less secured than the desktop wallet because they’re often online, and you may not control your wallet’s private keys. The most commonly used mobile Bitcoin wallets that available on IOS and Android are Mycelium, Coinomi, Trust wallet, Edge, and Freewallet.

Web wallets - are wallets run in your browser, just like a website that you are visiting right now.

Like a mobile wallet, you don’t need to download the blockchain to enable you to make a transaction in the

37 | October | Techfastly | 2020

Bitcoin network. However, some of the web wallet providers are holding your private key and public keys; that’s why it raises a serious issue of “not your keys, not your coins”. The most recommended Web wallets that you can use are Coinbase, Lumi wallet, Blockchain.com wallet, and Xapo.

Hardware wallets - are wallets using a secure hardware device to store your private key and receive and send Bitcoin.

Some hardware wallets have a little screen to display important details, such as generating recovery phrases and verify the transaction you will make. Hardware wallets are the more secure wallet for now in the crypto space. However, you need to buy it from the hardware wallet manufacturers. The most popular manufacturers of the hardware wallet you can buy are Ledger, Trezor, and KeepKey.

where you can buy Bitcoin. Okex is available in 100 countries and one of the top crypto exchanges based on volume.

To buy Bitcoin in Okex, you need to create an account, do the KYC procedure, and then you can buy Bitcoin using your MasterCard or Visa

EToro is a regulated social trading

platform that is available globally to trade stock holdings and also cryptocurrency.

To buy Bitcoin in EToro, you need to create an account, fund your account by connecting your bank account, and then buy Bitcoin.

LocalBitcoin is a leading P2P

Bitcoin trading platform that is available in 100 countries. LocalBitcoin is a favored over the counter (OTC) platform to buy Bitcoin and protected by an escrow service.

Where can you buy Bitcoin?

What can you buy with Bitcoin?

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are welcome in some parts of the world. Still, some countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bolivia, Bangladesh, The Republic of Macedonia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Vietnam banned Bitcoin because of its decentralized nature. Buying a Bitcoin depends on the country you’re currently living in, so before you buy, check if your country has regulations on it.

With the growing community and influence, Bitcoin is accepted as a payment method in some establishments and big companies worldwide. One of the great examples of this is buying domains in Namecheap.com that are accepting Bitcoin as a payment method. Expedia, one of the world’s largest online travel booking agencies, accepts Bitcoin as a payment method on its hotel bookings.

Also, Virgin Galactic, owned by Richard Branson, accepts Bitcoin as a payment.

And the best way to buy Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is in reputable exchanges by using your MasterCard or your Visa, or you can do it over-the-counter.

CoinBase is a reputable and regulated

crypto exchange platform where you can buy Bitcoin, especially in the United States.

By creating an account in Coinbase and connecting your bank account, you can buy Bitcoin and store it to their wallet.

Okex is also a regulated crypto exchange 38 | October | Techfastly | 2020

If you are looking for more, use the aggregator platform to search what you can buy with Bitcoin; wheretospendBitcoins.co.uk, useBitcoins. info, and spendabit.co