Medium Level – GK Questions

SMS-based OTP is vulnerable to SIM swapping, SS7 attacks, and phishing. More secure MFA methods include: authenticator apps (TOTP), hardware tokens (YubiKey), biometrics, and FIDO2/WebAuthn. NIST guidelines recommend moving away from SMS OTP for high-security applications. Layered security approach is essential.

Private Cloud is dedicated infrastructure for a single organization, offering maximum control, security, and customization. Can be on-premises or hosted by third party. Suitable for regulated industries (banking, defense) with strict compliance needs. Higher cost than public cloud but better data sovereignty and performance isolation.

e-NAM (Electronic National Agriculture Market) is a pan-India electronic trading portal connecting existing APMC mandis. Provides real-time price discovery, online bidding, quality assaying, and payment settlement. Aims to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities, reducing intermediation and improving farmer incomes.

DROP TABLE removes the entire table structure and all data permanently; cannot be rolled back in most systems. DELETE removes rows (can use WHERE, can be rolled back). TRUNCATE removes all rows quickly but keeps table structure. DROP is a DDL command; DELETE/TRUNCATE are DML commands.

EOS (Earth Observation Satellite) series includes satellites like EOS-01, EOS-03, EOS-04 for climate monitoring, agriculture, forestry, disaster management, and ocean studies. These satellites carry advanced sensors for multispectral, hyperspectral, and radar imaging to support sustainable development and environmental protection.

OCEN (Open Credit Enablement Network) is a protocol that standardizes interactions between Lenders, Loan Service Providers (LSPs), and Account Aggregators. It enables MSMEs and individuals to access credit using digital footprints (cash flow, GST, UPI) instead of traditional collateral, promoting financial inclusion.

Clustered index physically sorts table data rows based on index key values. Since data can be sorted in only one order, a table can have only one clustered index (usually on primary key). Non-clustered indexes store logical order separately with pointers to data rows; multiple non-clustered indexes are allowed.

CERT-In Direction 20 (April 2022) mandates service providers, intermediaries, and data centers to report cyber incidents within 6 hours of noticing. Also requires maintaining logs for 180 days, KYC for VPN users, and time synchronization. Aimed at improving incident response and threat intelligence sharing.

MeghRaj (GI Cloud) is India's government cloud initiative launched by MeitY to optimize ICT spending, ensure data sovereignty, and provide secure, scalable cloud services to government entities. It empanels certified cloud service providers and defines standards for security, interoperability, and portability.

Aditya-L1 orbits the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point (~1.5 million km from Earth), where gravitational forces balance, allowing uninterrupted solar observation. This position avoids Earth's shadow, enabling 24/7 monitoring of solar activities, coronal mass ejections, and space weather forecasting.

ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) is a government-backed initiative to create an open, interoperable network for e-commerce. It allows buyers and sellers to transact across platforms without being locked into a single app, promoting competition, inclusion, and democratization of digital commerce.

The shared responsibility model states: Cloud provider is responsible for security 'OF' the cloud (infrastructure, hardware, physical security). Customer is responsible for security 'IN' the cloud (data, applications, access management, OS patching in IaaS). Responsibilities vary by service model (IaaS/PaaS/SaaS).

B-Tree indexes maintain sorted data and allow efficient range queries, equality searches, and ordered retrieval. Hash indexes are optimal only for exact match lookups. Bitmap indexes work well for low-cardinality columns. Inverted indexes are used in full-text search engines.

Offline mode enables transactions without internet, synchronizing when online.

Urban air quality combines IoT, satellites, AI for source attribution.

Carbon footprint measures total GHG emissions from IT operations.

Carbon credits traded in compliance and voluntary markets.

NISAR is joint Earth-observation satellite using dual-frequency radar.

Ground station diversity hands off between stations as satellites move.

Artemis Accords signed by India in 2023 for cooperative exploration.