How Secure are Mobile Networks?

PETALING JAYA: If you are surfing over mobile broadband, such as 3G or WiFi, always make sure have your security settings at the highest levels. Internet platform service Akamai Technologies Inc has reported an increasing amount of cyber attacks carried out over mobile networks. “When an attack is made over a mobile network, there is no clean attribution as to where the attack is coming from,” said Andy Ellis, Akamai’s chief security officer. Ellis was briefing the press on the findings of Akamai’s study on the state of the Internet in Asia-Pacific. The study was cover topics such as network security, data consumption, and the average Internet speed in the region. Ellis said the increase in these cyber attacks are due to the growing adoption of broadband and mobile devices in this part of the world. And because of the blitzkrieg increase, many users are not equipped or may be lax with the security of their devices and networks. “Some victims were not used to being online and didn’t have good security habits,” he said. “Sometimes, they don’t even notice that their system has been compromised.” Also, it’s more difficult to track down an attacker who is using mobile broadband than one who is on a permanent connection.

Be Safe: Surfing the Internet via mobile may be convenient but remember to put your security settings at the highest level.

“You will see that the attack is originating from an IP (Internet Protocol) address that is registered to a hotspot, or some mobile device like an iPhone,” Ellis explained. “Then, you have to figure out which person in that hotspot had made the attack.” Local security exprts who spoke to Bytz on condition of anonymity, said that this could be due to hackers using those networks in Malaysia as a conduit for their attacks. The attacks on mobile devices are also on the rise, according to security services provider Symantec Corp. David Hall, regional consumer product marketing manager for Symantec Asia Pacific, told Btyz in an email interview that cyber criminals are taking notice of the proliferation of mobile devices. According to him, cyber attackers are leveraging on such flaws to infect thousands of devices, making it difficult for businesses and other organisations to adequately manage such risks. “More than 45% of the organisations we spoke to, said that security concerns are one of the biggest obstacles to their using smart devices,” Hall said. He said that mobile threats have been very limited in the number of devices they have affected until now, but if the necessary steps are not taken to manage these risks, the impact is really likely to increase.

Sources: http://techcentral.my/news/story.aspx?file=/2011/7/15/it_news/20110715181740&sec=IT_News Editor by, Jo Timbuong

History with Tech Twist

IT is always important to know about one’s history and culture. But the perception is that history is boring and there are too many dates and names to remember. But what if there is an interactive way that allows one to immerse oneself in history through modern technology? Head over to Suffolk House in George Town, Penang, this weekend for the Digital Art + Culture Festival (DA+C) 2011, where heritage takes centre stage as artists-designers interpret the stories from history into animation, electronic music and virtual reality. According to festival director Suzy Suleiman, DA+C are an exploration of Southeast Asian cultures through new media art and design. The trans-disciplinary exhibitions and events use state-of-the-art technology to narrate different aspects of local history. She says, “In order for heritage values to continue to exist, they must be relevant to modern times. Suffolk House is historically significant because it is intimately connected to the founding of modern Penang. The garden mansion is built on Captain Francis Light’s vast pepper estate and is a prime example of an Anglo-Indian building inspired by Georgian architecture.

Suzy demonstrates the creative art works which will take place from July 15 to 17 at the Suffolk House in Penang Heritage takes centre stage in Penang this weekend at the Digital Art + Culture Festival (DA+C) 2011.

Culture, says Suzy, is the sources of creative innovation. “A person’s culture is what makes him or her different from the pack and this trait is crucial for survival as the world becomes increasingly borderless and homogenous. Culture values are reference points in this sea of electronic data as designers struggle to continuously be innovative. The culmination of the festival is a video projection mapping performance where the facade of Suffolk House will transform into an interactive stage with larger-than-life video animation. Visitors can also get a spherical, panoramic view of Suffolk House through High Dynamic Range Imaging (digital photographs taken at different exposures and stitched to create an aspace that gives an illusion of depth). There will be workshops and educational talks for those interested in learning more about digital art. The talks will give participants a chance to see the behind-the-scenes perspective from creative professional and artists. “Visitors will get a chance to play with and interact with Penang’s famous historical characters, watch animation of historical events or mix traditional sounds. The artworks are interactive and can be customized. This will appeal directly to the tech-savvy youths of today,” says Suzy. She adds that digital media enables history and culture speak the same ‘language’ as today’s youth.

Sources: http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/News_Historywithtechtwist/Article Editor by, Rozana Sani

International ICT Article

Third Generation Mobile Services – Bringing New Lifestyles

The world of telecommunications has changed rapidly over the last decade as we have entered the new era of convergence between mobile networks, broadband communication and the content sector. Consumers are demanding for a advanced services such as mobile TV, mobile broadband Internet and other value added applications; the demand has increased tremendously in recent years and is considered as a key driver for further growth of ICT industry. Speed and band width are two main support factors to supply the required wish list of mobile subscriber’s for attaining maximum value from mobile handset way beyond a simple voice call. In the growing scenario, where mobile voice services become uniform with increasing price competition, innovation data services made possible by 3^rd Generation (3G) networks are important for generating profit and growth. According to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) mobile network or service based n the International Mobile Telecommunication-2000 (IMT-2000) family of global standards is commonly referred to as “3G mobile”. These mobile systems provide higher transmission rates then possible in second generation (2G) wireless technologies, enabling many advanced applications such as mobile video conferencing, video phone/mail, mobile TV/Video player and digital audio/video delivery.

Thus, the true provision of communication, information and entertainment via the mobile platform will be impossible without the successful dissemination of 3G services. The unprecedented necessity of developing 3G mobile services has escorted operators globally; today there are approximately 1billion 3G subscribers in over 159 economies. From global perspective, the deployment of 3G mobile services is significantly more advanced in some countries than others. It would be important to explore the factors that contribute to deployment rates of 3G mobile services among countries. As important as these factors are in upsetting the next phase of mobile technology development, consumer access to advanced mobile broadband and eventual convergence. As 3G approaches in a society, the mobile phone becomes a life management tool for business, work and leisure. Consumer behaviour is driving the development of applications and services. The key to commercial success of 3G technologies lies in understanding consumers, their lifestyles and attitudes and delivering the winning applications. The mobile industry is reconfiguring itself to enter next stage of development, a better understanding of the ways along with associated factors to foster 3G diffusion is fundamental to the continuous growth of this market.

Sources: http://teletimesinternational.com/articles/4215/third-generation-mobile-services-%E2%80%93-bringing-new-lifestyles Editor by, Muhammad Amir Malik

Cloud Computing – Growing Scope for Public Sector

Cloud computing is a recent revolution in the world of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s) that enables a convenient way to share resources. It is model providing on-demand network access to configurable IT devices and services gathered together as a network of computing resources located anywhere, being shared among its users. Cloud computing deployment models cater the requirements of private entities, public organizations and general end-users. A private government cloud model is a deployment model is exclusively managed by public organizations where they may offer a number of services to general public or they may utilize the cloud for their own purpose by sharing the resources. The philosophy of cloud computing in public sector can be illustrated by going back in time when every household, town or village use to have its own water well; cloud computing for the public sector works in a similar way. Federal Government’s Information Technology (IT) environment is generally characterized by low asset utilization, duplicate resources, replication of systems and an environment which is difficult to manage. Cloud computing has the prospective to assist and play its role in reducing this lacking by improving government service delivery mechanism. The cloud computing model can significantly help public sector agencies struggling with the need to provide highly reliable innovative services quickly despite resources limitation.

Similarly, for the public sector cloud computing holds incredible possibilities to deliver public value by increasing operational effectiveness and responding faster to critical growing requirements. Several Government on International arena have already started deploying clouds to avail the apparent opportunity to deliver public services and maximizing efficiency. Exploring the prospects of cloud computing in Pakistan, one of the most difficult challenges faced by the government has been effective sharing of information technology resources both at federal and provision level. There have been broad efforts of developing core e-government programs. Government has invested enormous effort and money into several programs with some notable success stories. Cloud computing offers an opportunity to be more efficient, agile and innovative through more effective use of IT investment. The upcoming era of staggering growth in IT-based communication and information sharing where every official task is likely to be performed over computers calls for implementation planning of cloud computing in public sector. The availability of a hosting platform over a cloud could be utilized by the local developers to supply their contribution to information-based society approach. The benefits of cloud are already a reality for government organization the world over. Government can gain, employ proven values that early adopters have already gained.

Sources: http://teletimesinternational.com/articles/3951/cloud-computing-%E2%80%93-growing-scope-for-public-sector Editor by, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen.

Kaspersky Reveals Changing Face of Cyber-Crime

Kaspersky has predicted that the option of targeting corporations will be the more appealing one for cyber-criminals, as by 2020, targeting individual users will also become very complex as biometric user identification and payments protection systems become the norm moving towards 2020. Cyber-criminals will have to evolve with the new operating systems, changing the way write malicious code as these systems develop. Cyber-crime landscape will be divided into two groups; one that targets business, sometimes on demand and one that targets services used in everyday life. Attacks such as commercial espionage, database theft and corporate reputation-smearing attacks will be high demand. Kaspersky predicts that hackers and IT specialists will go head-to-head in this cyber-war and that state anti-cyber-crime agencies will also be brought into that battle, primarily dealing with threats to Windows and Linux and Unix systems. The second group of cyber-criminals will target services such as transport payment card, that are in everyday use, to compromise these systems and make free use of them. This group will focus on hacking these systems, stealing funds from them, and altering user data for these services.

Kaspesky has predicted that the technologies used in that field of communications will begin to make communication close to real-life and by 2020, Kaspersky says, typing on the keyboards to access the Internet will be a thing of the past. This means that spammers will have to seek out new ways of sending solicitous communications to internet users. The company says that spammers will begin to change from desktop attacks to mobile attacks and spam volumes will skyrocket as the cost of communications shrinks. Kaspersky analysts have said that most significant trends of the last ten years, from 2001 to 2010 were: Mobility and miniaturisation, the transformation of virus writing into cyber-crime, Windows maintaining its leading position as a vendor of operating systems for personal computers, intense competition in the mobile platform market with no clear-cut leader, a boom in social networks and search engines and increased internet shopping.

Sources: http://teletimesinternational.com/articles/2907/kaspersky-reveals-changing-face-of-cyber-crime Editor by, Georgina Enzer

What Would You Do With Blindingly Fast Broadband?

What does 100Mbps mean for you? At nearly twenty times the average broadband speed in the most European countries, a 100Mbps connection would make it possible to download an entire music album in five seconds, a TV show in 30seconds and a high-definition movie in just seven minutes. A lucky 0.5% if internet users in Europe are currently able to access this kind of speed, according to figures publishes by the European Commission. But ultra-fast broadband over fibre to the home (FTTH) is about much, much more than just doing the same things faster. We already know that, with bandwidth, the only way is up. We can easily see that more bandwidth will be needed by extrapolating from current requirements. We know that fibre is the only transmission medium that can support this increase in demand. Historically, the demand for bandwidth has grown year to year, pushed by faster computers, higher-resolution displays and the trend towards downloading more images and videos. In fact, the increase in bandwidth is so predictable that internet usability.

Today all of its customers are behind DSL lines and the firm is frustrated by the restrictions that this imposes. It is only possible to upload two low quality video feeds from home to the control centre simultaneously; with FTTH they would have the upload capacity to monitor all the rooms in the patient’s home. With an ordinary DSL connection, it is very difficult to add rich media-video, sounds and maps. This is a tool that calls out for a fibre connection, directly linking the rich media to the pupil. As you can see, many different kinds of services are possible over fibre. Some next-generation services will always-on, running in the background while the homeowner gets on with other tasks. The modern family is a connected family, which means that different members of the same household will be accessing the Internet simultaneously. If you add in government=-backed services such as e-health and remote learning, it is easy to see how this will add up to significant consumption of bandwidth. The answer to the question: “What services will fill the pipe?” is simply “All of them “.

Sources: http://teletimesinternational.com/articles/4623/what-would-you-do-with-blindingly-fast-broadband Editor by, Nadia Babaali

ICT and development in Latin America

In order to discuss the impact Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has on development in Latin America, it is important to first note its importance in the region. As illustration in the case of the rural school in Argentina or anywhere in the region, ICT offers greater access to information, education and employment opportunities, increased earning and purchasing power, as well as long-term economic gains, making it an indispensable catalyst for real progress. In the globalization era, ICT represent rapid economic growth, and improvement of production processes for small-scale farmers and agro-enterprises, as well as businesses of all sizes. It is safe to say that organization is expected to continue increasing and its effects are going to be felt more and more, even in the remotest of areas. To survive in this rapidly globalizing world, it is imperative that ICT become a policy priority for the government in the region, so their people and respective countries can compete in the global economy. The private sector too has a role to fulfil. It has been an important player in the expansion of ICT, but like government, it needs to become more of a driving force if it wants to expand into markets to sell its goods and services. The internet and emerging technologies have become the key in today’s society for the efficient transportation of goods, dissemination of information and provision of services; hence of utmost important in helping bring down economic barriers and providing access to the latest advancements in all areas of life. All the United Nations member states and more than 20 international organisations approved eight international development goals, to be achieved by the year 2015. To achieve these Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), as they are called, a number of target activities and indicators were defined. One critical target states: “In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.” This target focuses especially upon disadvantaged communities, in an effort to help reduce extreme poverty by 2015.

Sources: http://www.connect-world.com/index.php/component/k2/item/10800-ict-and-development-in-latin-america Editor by, Hector R. Alonso

LOCAL ICT ARTICLES

ICT Empowering Citizens of Malaysia

Malaysia, an upper-middle economic state in south East Asia, found its connectivity with the world with the installation of the first telephone line in 1874. The country developed its first computer system in 1966 and since then several initiatives to facilitate the integration of ICT in different areas have been introduced. The privatization of the telecom sector in 1987, and the formulation of the NTP (National Telecom Policy) in 1944, led to the full liberalisation of the market. The enactment of the Communications and Multimedia Act in 1998 establish the Malaysia Communication and Multimedia Commission (regulator) in support of national policy objective. The regulator provides for economic, technical, consumer and social regulation ensuring competitiveness, licensing, frequency allocation, affordability and availability if ICT technologies and services. Framework for development (fid) is a five year rolling plan for ICT development. The country now faces the dilemma of ensuring global competitiveness as well as access to all.

E-Readiness of Malaysia

The economy of the country has been robust even in the wake of the economic setbacks in the South East Asian economies in 2000 and a SARS outbreak in 2003. The GDP of the country was reported as RM394 billion (2003) (RM3.8 = US $1), with a growth of 5.2% over 2002. ICT has grown substantially in Malaysia contributing a (gross) revenue of RM19 billion to the economy. The total telephone penetration rates have reached a combined telephone penetration of 61.99 telephones per 100 people (2003). The tele-density (fixed) has climbed to 20, with the mobile phone connections overtaking fixed lines. Deployments for 3G and edge mobile networks have also been good. The country’s Internet development started in 1998 and by the end of 2003 the total dial-up penetration rate was 11.4%. Broadband Internet services started in 2001 and are still in their infancy. The absence of regulatory mechanisms allowing for local loop unbundling, the slow paces of the incumbent, and issues with last-mile connectivity have resulted in wireless broadband being preferred by operators. The mobile segments though have been deployed around cities and urban areas. Malaysia has embarked upon various measures to ensure the ICT’s play an important role in the society. For ICT development the MSC – Multimedia Super Corridor (for global competitiveness) has been developed. The government has invested highly in its infrastructure. The MSC contains a high speed 10GB/s network connecting MSC to Japan, ASEAN, EU and US. It supports public administration, education and business applications. Malaysia was ranked 26^th in the world for E-Readiness. The telephone penetration rates rose by 7% while for the rural sector there was a rise of 6% (2000).

Sources: http://issuu.com/i4d_magazine/docs/i4d_january_2007_issue Editor by, Ravi Gupta

National ICT Conference 2009

This conference aims at providing a platform for the public and private sectors solutions and strategies in formulating a Connected Government. It is thus hoped that the services delivery systems are strengthened through services that transcends boundaries, ubiquitous, reliable, trusted, consistent and hassle free. This conference will gather Chief Executive Officers (CEO's), Chief Information Officers (CIO's) and IT Managers from the public and private sectors. The theme of the conference is “Connected Government for 1 Malaysia”. The theme is chosen in line government continuous efforts to enhance the effectiveness of the service delivery systems across all agencies. The event is jointly organised by National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) with the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and in collaboration with the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU).

Sources: http://www.mscmalaysia.my/article/NICT/NICT+2009 Editor by, MSC Malaysia.

Using ICT to complete in the global economy

KUALA LUMPUR: Local businesses must make use of the latest information and communication technology (ICT) solutions to enhance their productivity and to compete in the global economy, said SME CorpMalaysia CEO Datuk Hafsah Hashim. She said one of the criteria for developed countries was that small and medium enterprise (SME’s) should contribute to at least 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP), but local SME’s currently contributed 31% to GDP. “This means that SME’s have to grow 1% or more per annum to reach the desired 40% by 2020 (the year Malaysia aims to achieve a developed-nation status). We need a leapfrog growth driven by innovation and productivity,” she said at the launch of Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud computing service. The launch marked the beginning of a private-public partnership between SME Corp and Microsoft Malaysia to enhance the take-up of cloud computing among Malaysian businesses. Office 365 is Microsoft’s newest ICT solution that utilises cloud computing to integrate business function over primary products – office, sharepoint, online, exchange online and lync online. “SME’s Corp and Microsoft will also promote the cloud service through joint roadshows as well as a Microsoft booth in SME Corp’s new one-step referral centre in KL Sentral,” Microsoft Malaysia managing director Ananth Lazarus told StarBiz. Hafsah also said SME Corp would use the SME Competitiveness Rating for Enhancement (Score) programme to evaluate the ICT effectiveness of SME’s. SME Corp will take the lead in adopting cloud computing by using Office 365 in their KL Sentral office.

Sources: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.aspsec=business&file=/2011/7/8/business/9058913

Editor by, John Loh.

New Group Promises Better ICT Customer Support

The newly formed Penang Information Communication Technology Association (PICTA) plans to overcome Penangites’ negative perception that no proper after sales services were offered at ICT fairs. PICTA president, Irene Saw said that over the years, many exhibitors at ICT fairs had failed to provide after- sales services and this had generated unhappiness among many consumers. To overcome the problem, Saw said the association would now ensure that the most items purchased at ICT fairs in Penang would be original makes and that after sales services would now be provided for the various products on sale. Apart from that, the association would also look after the interest of its members such as retailers, wholesalers, technopreneurs, computer system designers and software experts.

Important sector: Customers making enquiries at the booth during the IT fair at D’Piazza Mall, Penang.

PICTA was registered on April 13rd and it was launched by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary Ng Wei Aik on Friday in conjunction with an ICT fair at D’Piazza Mall in Bayan Baru. In his speech, Ng said ICT was an important industry now was as it helped create job opportunities for the young. “Nowadays, it is easy to start up an (ICT) enterprise because one does not need a shop to operate, one can actually start an office from the comforts of one’s home,” Ng said.

Sources: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2011/7/4/north/9016334&sec=north