8 theSun | TUESDAY JUNE 30 2009

news without borders

Career and retirement

‘Internet crime rising but
not alarming’
by Tan Yi Liang
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: The incidence
of internet-based crime in Malaysia
is escalating but is no cause for
alarm as such an increase is “natu-
ral”, CyberSecurity Malaysia CEO
Husin Jazri said.
“The scale is not big enough to
affect the economy. It is increas-
ing as it naturally should increase
because the number of people using
the internet is increasing,” he said.
Husin, who spoke at a media
briefing on Friday to announce
the upcoming SecureAsia@Kuala
Lumpur Conference & Exhibition,
did not provide statistics but said
the incidence was low consider-
ing the increase in the number of
Malaysians using the net.
“We used to have three million
internet users, now statistics show
we have nine to 10 million users.
But if you compare the increase
in the number of users with that
of the incidence of crime, it is not
alarming as we have more net
users,” he said.
“You cannot deny its existence,
but there are measures as the
Malaysian government has taken
many steps to ensure safety. Bank
Negara (BNM) is always vigilant
against cyber threats.
“We have an Internet Banking
Task Force under BNM’s leader-
ship and they meet more than once
a month to discuss potential threats
to internet banking.”
Husin said BNM’s efforts were
also among the reasons for a lower
incidence of credit card cloning of
late.
“The number of credit card thefts
has gone down because Malaysia is
one of the few countries to use the
EMV smart chip and not the mem-
ory stripe. So with that as well as
the measures put in place by BNM,
there is a reduction in the data that
can be intercepted and copied.”
Asked about the main threats
faced by Malaysian internet
users, he said the main technical
threat was identity theft.
“There are many ‘main threats’
faced by the Malaysian public
online. There are technical threats,
of which the most apparent is iden-
tity theft in the form of phishing,
where people are trying to steal
your identity online to get your
money.”
Husin said intrusions were also
another key threat.
“This is one of our biggest
concerns because two factors
affect us. Ignorance as we are
not aware of these threats, such
as emails purporting to be from
banks but are set up by fraudulent
parties, and intrusions, which are
a threat affecting both individuals
and businesses.
“They go into computer sys-
tems to steal data and intellectual
property. Sometimes it is discov-
ered, and at others it continues
without people knowing it is hap-
pening.”
He cautioned that social net-
working sites such as Facebook
could also be dangerous to users.
“There are also privacy and safe-
ty issues. For example on Facebook,
we are trusting, so we like to share
a lot of things by putting them up
(From left) CyberSecurity
Malaysia director (CEO’s
office) Noor Iskandar
Hashim, Husin and business
development head Mohamed
Anwer Mohd Yusoff.
on
the website.
The intention is to share our hap-
piness, but this can be exploited
by a stalker or potential kidnapper
who uses it to analyse a (potential
victim).”
Husin said rumour mongering
was yet another threat.
“On top of these technical
attacks, there are other issues faced
by the public such as sedition, defa-
mation and rumour mongering via
emails,” he said, pointing out that
CyberSecurity should not be seen
as Malaysia’s “cybercops”.
“We are not cybercops, we are
just a help centre,” he said.
Asked about attacks on the
Malaysian internet infrastructure,
Husin said the worst attacks hap-
pened in 2002 but declined to com-
ment on any later incidents.
“The last major incidents in
Malaysia were the Code Red and
Nimda worms in 2002, where our
ATMs and emails were down as
our bandwidth was clogged. That
was the absolute worst.
“There are other attacks but
I don’t want to talk about them.
The more recent Conficker worm,
while causing problems, was not as
serious as the 2002 attacks.
“But over 50,000 computers are
still active, and it is still affecting
computers. The challenge now is
how to clean it up.”
Scientists
kill cancer
cells with
‘trojan
horse’
pg 10
over family
by Jonathan Mah
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: The AXA Life Out-
look survey found that Malaysians are
becoming more focused on career and
retirement over family.
It was conducted early this year to
gauge Asian consumers’ readiness to
cope with uncertainties and to provide
an industrial benchmark to identify
market needs.
The survey of 2,707 affluent consu-
mers from China, Hongkong, India, Indo-
nesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore
and Thailand, focused on four key aspects
– career, retirement, family and health.
A drop in life satisfaction across all
countries marked the effects of the
economic downturn in Asian markets.
Malaysia stood as the second most pes-
simistic market after Singapore, with an
index of 59.9, a 9.5% drop from 2007.
Malaysia also joined Singapore and
Hongkong as countries least satisfied
with career, at only 23% satisfaction,
compared to 36% in 2007. Affected by
job security in the downturn, Malaysians
have had their life priorities shaken, and
are now placing career and retirement
above family and health.
Following this, the unemployment
rate this year is predicted at 4.5%, up
from 3.1% last year.
Since Malaysians rely on their income
for retirement planning, 63% of respond-
ents said a successful career is crucial
to realising their retirement plans. Only
a quarter complained that career goals
conflicted with other life priorities.
On family, more than half of Malaysians
still see opportunities for the future and
are confident about their family condition.
88% of companies change
business model to keep up
by Meena L. Ramadas
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: The global recession
has forced nearly nine out of 10 com-
panies to change their operating model
to keep afloat or to maintain profits, a
survey by auditors Ernst and Young (E&Y)
has shown.
The survey, which sampled 570 ex-
ecutives from leading global corporations
with annual revenue of more than US$1
billion (RM3.53 billion), showed that 88%
switched business models in the past 18
months. Eighty-nine per cent changed
their risk management processes and
45% changed regulatory frameworks.
These changes will affect price sensi-
tivity, profitability, competitive sensitivity
and economic stability.
E&Y Malaysia country managing part-
ner See Huey Beng said: “Not only does
the survey show the permanent impact
of the change that has taken place in the
last 12 months, it also demonstrates how
rapid that change has been.”
Most companies were caught off
guard by the rapid changes from the
economic slowdown. More than three-
quarter of the respondents said they
The figure is lower than in 2007, probably
due to perceived changes in personal
income and heavier financial burdens.
Even so, 60% of Malaysians indicated
they still planned to raise children, up
10% from 2007. Those not planning to,
felt it was “too expensive”.
In line with this, 57% of Malaysian par-
ents surveyed said the only way forward
was a good education and were willing
to trade their current living standards
for a better education for their children.
However, many concurred that the costs
of education escalated too quickly (56%)
and they did not have enough savings
(52%), contributing to the growing
number of parents opposed to sending
their children abroad (24%).
“Increasing medical costs” evi-
dently impacted consumer confidence
in healthcare. Only 29% were confident
about maintaining health after retire-
ment. Malaysians largely believe they will
not have sufficient funds for healthcare
when they retire.
Another startling find was that 73%
said they planned for retirement alone
or with family members without profes-
sional advice.
AXA Affin Life Insurance Berhad chief
marketing officer Nicholas Kua said: “The
low awareness of professional advice
implies that many Malaysians are una-
ware of insurance as an effective tool to
provide long-term financial security.
“Financial planning is not something
consumers should do on their own.
Instead they should seek advice from
experts in the field. As financial planning
and protection is an important and life-
long journey, we have a role to educate
and build the trust of customers as their
financial solutions provider.”
were surprised by both the severity and
speed of the downturn.
The slowdown has also exacerbated
price competition. However, most com-
panies have implemented cost-reduction
strategies, some have increased revenue
and more than a third feel that condi-
tions have made it favourable to make
useful acquisitions.
Slightly more than half of respondents
reported a decrease in revenue and prof-
itability. Only 20% saw an improvement
in investor confidence and a similarly low
number saw improvement in accessing
affordable capital or credit.
The dismal outlook has caused 65%
of companies to have modest projec-
tions of surviving the downturn.
Raising cash is also an issue, with 82%
of companies saying cash management
is now more important than ever. As a
result, 86% sped up cost-cutting, 52%
quickly restructured business and 38%
reduced staff strength.
E&Y Malaysia partner Chow Sang Hoe
said as identified in an earlier report, the
slowdown had accelerated reshaping
trends. “We are seeing even more com-
panies with active plans to fundamentally
change their business.”

ABASS accepts Selangor govt’s

offer but three others say ‘no’
KUALA LUMPUR: The board of directors of ABASS
and its holding company, Titisan Modal (M) Sdn
Bhd, have in principle accepted the offer from
the Selangor state government of RM946 million
to acquire Konsortium ABASS Sdn Bhd’s water
assets and operations.
The offer includes the liabilities to be assumed
by the state government and/or retained at ABASS
of RM779 million (inclusive of Titisan borrowing)
and equity value of RM167 million, said Kumpulan
Perangsang Selangor Bhd (KPS) in an announce-
ment on Bursa Malaysia.
It said the directors of ABASS also wanted
confirmation from the state government on the
structure of the proposed takeover.
KPS owns 5% stake in Titisan, which in turns
owns 100% of ABASS.
Meanwhile, the RM2.975 billion offer made by
the state government for the water assets and op-
erations of Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor
Sdn Bhd (SPLASH) has been rejected by SPLASH,
said Gamuda Bhd. Gamuda is a major shareholder
in SPLASH with 40% interest.
Meanwhile, Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd said the
RM1.94 billion offer to Puncak Niaga (M) Sdn Bhd
(PNSB) as well as an offer of RM3.361 billion for
the water assets of Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor
Sdn Bhd (Syabas) was rejected by both PNSB and
Syabas. Puncak Niaga holds 100% interest in PNSB
and 70% stake in Syabas. – Bernama