GK Questions

Service mesh (Istio, Linkerd, Consul) deploys sidecar proxies to handle service-to-service communication: mTLS encryption, traffic splitting, retries, metrics, and distributed tracing. Decouples infrastructure concerns from application code. Critical for cloud-native architecture questions.

Identity federation attacks exploit trust between identity providers (IdP) and service providers (SP) in SSO setups. Attackers compromise IdP to gain access to multiple federated services. Mitigation: MFA, short-lived tokens, strict trust policies. Critical for cloud security architecture questions.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulates payment systems under Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007. Oversees UPI, cards, wallets, PPIs, and fintech innovations. Issues guidelines for security, interoperability, and consumer protection. Critical for banking and fintech policy questions.

CI/CD pipeline automates: Continuous Integration (code merge + testing), Continuous Delivery (release-ready artifacts), Continuous Deployment (auto-production release). Tools: Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions. Critical for agile software delivery and DevOps questions in technical exams.

Data lakes (S3, ADLS) store raw structured/unstructured data for flexible analysis; data warehouses (Snowflake, Redshift) store curated, schema-on-write data for BI. Modern architectures use lakehouse pattern combining both. Critical for understanding data platform design in analytics exams.

Circuit Breaker pattern prevents cascading failures by stopping requests to failing services temporarily, allowing recovery. Implemented in libraries like Resilience4j, Hystrix. Service mesh (Istio, Linkerd) provides infrastructure-level resilience. Critical for building fault-tolerant distributed systems.

Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) develops algorithms secure against quantum attacks (Shor's algorithm). NIST is standardizing PQC algorithms (CRYSTALS-Kyber, Dilithium). Critical for future-proofing sensitive systems. India's CERT-In and DRDO actively research PQC. Important for strategic cybersecurity questions.

Digital India Act (proposed) aims to replace IT Act 2000 with updated framework addressing: platform accountability, emerging tech governance, user rights, and cybercrime. Complements DPDP Act 2023. Critical for understanding India's evolving digital regulatory landscape in policy-focused exams.

IaC tools (Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible) define infrastructure in declarative code files, enabling version control, peer review, automated testing, and consistent deployments across environments. Reduces configuration drift and manual errors. Critical for cloud operations and DevOps questions in technical exams.

Stream Processing (Apache Kafka, Flink, Spark Streaming) processes data in real-time as it arrives, enabling instant insights for fraud detection, IoT monitoring, and live dashboards. Batch processing handles historical data; ETL transforms data for storage; data warehousing supports analytical queries. Critical for modern data architecture questions.

Kubernetes (K8s) is the de facto standard for container orchestration, providing automated deployment, scaling, load balancing, and self-healing for containerized applications. Originally developed by Google, now maintained by CNCF. Essential for cloud-native architecture questions in technical exams.

AI/ML-powered attacks can mutate malware code, generate polymorphic phishing content, and adapt evasion techniques in real-time to bypass signature-based defenses. Requires behavioral analytics, anomaly detection, and AI-powered defense systems. Critical for understanding next-generation threat landscape in cybersecurity exams.

Zero Trust Architecture assumes no implicit trust based on network location. Every access request is authenticated, authorized, and encrypted regardless of origin. Implements micro-segmentation, least-privilege access, and continuous monitoring. Critical for modern enterprise security and frequently tested in banking/UPSC exams.

Quantum accelerometers and gyroscopes use atom interferometry for drift-free navigation, critical for submarines, aircraft, and autonomous vehicles in GPS-denied environments. AI enhances sensor fusion and error correction. Research by DRDO, ISRO, and global labs. Critical for strategic technology questions.

Universal Design principles (equitable use, flexibility, simplicity, perceptible information) guide creation of inclusive products, buildings, and digital services. Adopted in Indian standards (GIGW, building codes). Critical for sustainable, inclusive development and rights-based approach questions.

Disaster response leverages: citizen reports via apps (NDMA, state SDMAs), social media monitoring for real-time intelligence, and GIS for visualizing crowd-sourced data. Enhances situational awareness and resource allocation. Critical for community resilience and participatory governance questions.

Partnership on AI, Linux Foundation AI & Data, and Hugging Face community promote open-source AI models, datasets, and tools. India contributes via AI4Bharat, Krutrim, and research institutes. Critical for collaborative innovation and avoiding vendor lock-in questions.

IndiaChain (proposed by MeitY) envisions a permissioned blockchain network for government services: land records, supply chain, identity, and certificates. Aims to enhance transparency, reduce fraud, and enable interoperability. Pilot projects underway in states. Critical for digital governance innovation questions.

Neuromorphic chips (Intel Loihi, IBM TrueNorth) use spiking neural networks and event-driven processing to achieve orders-of-magnitude better energy efficiency than conventional GPUs for AI tasks. Promising for edge AI, robotics, and sustainable computing. Research ongoing at IITs and global labs.

Bhashini (Digital India Bhashini) integrates: NMT for text translation, speech recognition/synthesis for voice interfaces, and OCR for document digitization across 22 scheduled languages. Enables inclusive access to e-governance, education, and commerce. Critical for linguistic diversity and digital empowerment questions.