In Depth

It seems the idiom “the best defense is a good offense” is the best way to describe the principle behind the bloc’s creeping eastward expansion. NATO’s recent military deployments to the Baltic states, right on Russia’s doorstep, were hidden behind a smokescreen of media campaigns, which blamed Russia for increased tensions and “war preparations”.

As eLearning technologies take the world by storm, BRICS members such as Brazil are taking full advantage of the trend, and are prepared to share their experience with the other bloc members – Russia, China, South Africa and India.

America’s military presence has been the cause of protests in many countries where US troops are stationed – among them Japan, South Korea and Germany. But besides problems with the allies, maintaining military infrastructure overseas is a heavy burden for US taxpayers, costing them billions of dollars annually.

Some 300,000 American soldiers are currently serving Uncle Sam in nearly 150 countries around the world. And while officially they have to stick to a strict code of ethics, in reality the US servicemen are often the ones making it into the headlines in other countries for being involved in drunken fights, sexual assaults and other crimes.

In the 1990s Russia opened its doors to foreign fast-food chains, most of them being US brands. Now the country wants to export its own cuisine and culture abroad, and considers the BRICS countries as a promising market for fast-food franchise sales.

Even though it represents the last letter in the BRICS acronym, and it was the last country to join the association in 2010, South Africa has instantly become an equal partner for Brazil, Russia, India and China. Along with other member states, the country is now taking steps to develop its small and medium enterprises.

While the Russian economy relies heavily on big companies, India is well-known for its micro, small and medium enterprises. Indian entrepreneurs see a lot of potential in working with Russia, especially when it comes to doing business in the country’s regions.

A simple navigation assistance app and a car accessory produced by the Russian-born company HUDWAY grabbed the headlines in many countries, including the US, several years ago. With its new product currently entering mass production stage, the tech startup is aiming at even wider distribution, including sales in four BRICS member states.

Forget about keeping one job throughout your life: it’s likely that in our digital world, you’ll be constantly learning new skills and adapting to new workplace environments. The way you acquire your professional skills may change as well, with adaptive learning becoming more common.

While some traditional jobs, including full-time positions in the engineering and construction fields, are likely to remain popular in the future, a "gig economy" will continue to emerge in the coming years, introducing new methods of communication between employers and employees.

While car manufacturing jobs were big in the 1950s, by the turn of the century humans have been replaced by robots, leaving thousands of people jobless. So, according to many experts, flexibility, self-improvement, and constant learning are becoming key abilities for those who would like to make a successful career in the 21st century.

Computers and the Internet already play an important role in most industries – from medicine to agriculture, and from the legal world to manufacturing. However, it's expected that thanks to artificial intelligence, computers will become even more powerful in the coming years, changing the very way people learn their professional skills.

Artificial intelligence, big data and computers are quickly changing the global job market. Many jobs may cease to exist within the next decade, as humans are replaced by robots and software. So finding your way in a world of “outdated” and totally new careers is not an easy task.

People have been using different authentication methods to gain access to different systems, including online ones, for decades. However, thanks to a new technology there will be no need to use keycards or your body parts, let alone memorize passwords to gain access to your devices, or to online accounts.

Last year, antivirus provider Kaspersky Lab announced that some 323,000 new samples of malware are discovered each day. The Internet is becoming a jungle, and even with proper protection measures being taken, it’s very hard for the average user to stay safe online.

In the early days of the computer era, most hacking was done by curious students who used "playful cleverness" to manipulate electronics. Later, the term "hacker" took on a negative connotation. But besides criminals and rogue actors, the modern hacking scene is also populated with hackers who work for the government.

The term “hacker” was coined by members of a small tight-knit student community at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But the word’s meaning has changed drastically since it first appeared in the 1960s.

In the early days of the Internet there were only a few forms of malicious software – mostly viruses and trojans. The mass distribution of malware was also typical for that era. Nowadays hackers use a variety of new tools, including programs, which are fine-tuned to hunt down a specific victim.