Cybersecurity News in Asia

Launches the National Digital Trust Centre and co-creates the future of AI standards and governance with global partners through A.I. Verify

SINGAPORE, June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — At the ATxAI conference, a part of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG), Mrs. Josephine Teo, Singapore’s Minister for Communications and Information announced the launch of the Digital Trust Centre (DTC) to lead Singapore’s research and development efforts for trust technologies, and support talent development in this space. She highlighted that as technology evolves, new risks will emerge. Therefore, it is important to invest in trust technologies^[1] such as Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) that preserves data privacy while the data is being analysed, as well as trustworthy AI technologies which help verify and explain the expected performance of AI systems.

About the Digital Trust Centre

The Centre is funded by a S$50 million investment from the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2025 plan^[2]. Hosted by the Nanyang Technological University, the Centre is a national effort to focus on four key areas of trust technologies. To achieve this, DTC will embark on the following:

• Trust Tech Research – Enable Institutes of Higher Learning and Research Institutes to pursue research excellence in Trust Technologies and drive local and international collaborations.
• Trust Tech Innovations – Encourage academia and enterprises to co-develop and mature research ideas into market-ready solutions.
• New sandbox environment – Enable businesses to experiment with Trust Technologies to alleviate challenges with data sharing. 
• Deepen local capabilities – Nurture 100 R&D talents in digital trust.

Singapore stepping up its contribution to GPAI through the DTC

Singapore is a founding member of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), which is a multi-stakeholder initiative that fosters international cooperation to bridge the theory and practice in AI. Singapore contributes actively to GPAI through expert groups such as data governance and commercialisation. Singapore plans to step up its contributions to GPAI through the DTC.

To this end, IMDA and the International Centre of Expertise of Montreal for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (CEIMIA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding today for one of the world’s first cross-border collaboration on PETs. Under this, solutions will be developed to demonstrate how PETs can overcome privacy and compliance challenges for organisations building novel applications that leverage cross-organisation and cross-border data. The experience will guide future research and development, business adoption of PETs and contribute towards the development of international standards.

The DTC will be the implementation partner for this collaboration between the IMDA and CEIMIA, which is one of the two centres of expertise for GPAI.

Co-creating standards for Trustworthy AI with industry

A.I. Verify, the world’s first AI Governance Testing Framework and Toolkit, was launched at the recently concluded World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. A result of close collaboration with global industry partners, ten companies^[3] from different sectors were involved in the testing of its Minimum Viable Product and feedback process.

Minister Teo announced Singapore’s intention to work with an even wider group of stakeholders through an international pilot to enhance A.I. Verify, co-develop benchmarks and better methods of verifying trustworthy AI, and devise more effective ways to explain what factors affect the behaviour of AI applications to internal stakeholders, business partners and customers.

Singapore furthers regional cooperation

Singapore and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members won the top award at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes Ceremony 2022 in the category of “International and Regional Cooperation” for its ASEAN Data Management Framework (DMF) and Model Contractual Clauses for Cross Border Data Flows (MCCs).

This initiative was led by Singapore as Chair of the ASEAN Working Group on Digital Data Governance, and developed in consultation with ASEAN businesses. The toolkits will help businesses in ASEAN transact and collaborate in the digital economy with ease and confidence. DMF provides a step-by-step guide for SMEs to put in place a data management system with data governance structures and safeguards. MCCs are template contractual terms and conditions that may be included in the binding legal agreements between businesses transferring personal data to each other across borders. This reduces compliance costs and saves time required for lengthy contract negotiations, especially for SMEs while ensuring personal data protection when data is transferred across borders.

Minister Teo also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on digital cooperation with H.E. Abdul Mutalib Yusof, Brunei’s Minister of Transport and Information, as part of Singapore’s robust network of digital economy government-to-government MOUs in the Asia Pacific region and beyond, to advance collaboration in the digital economy and digital connectivity.

Highlights of ATxSummit Day 2 – Inspiring Women in Tech

At ATxInspire – SG Women in Tech, Minister Teo was joined by H.E. Bolor-Erdene Battsengel, Secretary of State, Ministry of Digital Development and Communications, Mongolia, H.E. Makishima Karen, Minister of Digital Agency. Japan and Ms. Jessica Tan, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Ping An Group. They spoke on the changing roles of women in tech as well as efforts to attract, retain and develop women to support the tech sector.

About the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) leads Singapore’s digital transformation by developing a vibrant digital economy and an inclusive digital society. As Architects of Singapore’s Digital Future, we foster growth in Infocomm Technology and Media sectors in concert with progressive regulations, harness frontier technologies, and develop local talent and digital infrastructure ecosystems to establish Singapore as a digital metropolis.

For media queries, please reach out to:

Sangeetha Kannan, OPRG for IMDA

Tel: +65 8769 5324 | Email: sangeetha.kannan@omnicomprgroup.com

HANGZHOU, China, May 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — On May 16th, 2022, LDBC-SNB released the newest audit test performance record set by Galaxybase, a high performance distributed graph database developed by CreateLink Technology. Galaxybase scored a soaring 70% improvement in throughput, and over 600% increase in average query performance over the previous record, along with rigid tests on system stability, availability, result correctness, transactional support, and recoverability.

The test was performed by an independent and impartial third-party auditor appointed by LDBC on standard cloud environment. The preparation of the test environment, data generation, data loading, test execution, and the correctness verification of test results all strictly complied with LDBC-SNB specifications. To further ensure the credibility and validity of the test results, LDBC conducted a detailed audit of the test code, the entire test environment, and test process. A full disclosure report is publicly available for download on the LDBC homepage.

Dr. Chen ZHANG, Founder and CEO of CreateLink Technology, will give a keynote speech titled “New LDBC SNB benchmark record by Galaxybase: More than 6 times faster and 70% higher throughput” to share the audit details at 2022 ACM SIGMOD/PODS International Conference on Management of Data on June 17 2022, 11 am EDT, 23 pm BST. (click to view online)

About LDBC and SNB test

Linked Data Benchmark Council (LDBC) is a globally recognized organization for graph database  benchmark standards and audit test. It brings together the world’s leading industrial hardware and software giants such as Intel, Oracle, as well as experts and scholars from higher education institutions. LDBC aims to develop fair, honest, and comparable methods and mechanisms to measure graph database management systems and promote the development of this cutting-edge technology across the globe, together with its member organizations.

Social Network Benchmark (SNB) is one of the benchmark suites developed by LDBC. The benchmark suite consists of two distinct workloads on common data set– Interactive workload and Business Intelligence (BI) workload, corresponding to test sets that measure the performance of graph data in interactive queries and business intelligence queries respectively. Compared with standalone test cases with simple metrics, LDBC-SNB is not only more similar with complex real-world business query scenarios, but also imposes higher requirements on the concurrent execution and transaction processing capability of graph database systems.

About the test details

The competed audit test was LDBC_SNB Interactive workload. Galaxybase successfully completed the audit test with verified system configuration conformance to the description of the benchmark and its strict requirements involving result correctness, transaction support, system recoverability, zero-timeouts, high throughput, and low response time, etc. In particular, Galaxybase ACID test has researched serializable isolation level, which is stricter than the read committed isolation level required by the SNB Interactive specification. Additionally, Galaxybase passed the recoverability and durability validation test, in which the system was shut down and rebooted when the continuous benchmark test execution has reached 2 hours, and the data of the last successfully inserted record in the LDBC log remained intact and durable in the graph database.

In the performance test, Galaxybase used 48 clients to send out concurrent queries to stress test the system. The result showed zero timeout which is far below LDBC-SNB’s no-more-than-5% timeout requirement. With all official audit requirements fulfilled, Galaxybase outperformed LDBC’s previous record (held by TuGraph) for all three datasets, namely 30G (80 million vertices, 500 million edges), 100G (270 million vertices, 1.7 billion edges), and 300G (800 million vertices, 5.3 billion edges), with 70% higher throughput and on average more than 6 times faster query performance. The mean response time, the P50, P90, P95, and P99 response time of Galaxybase all shows better results than the previous record-holder. In particular, the best mean response time is more than 41 times faster, and the best P90 response time is more than 72 times faster.

No matter on queries of different data scale factors under the same test tasks or on queries of different complexity for different test tasks, Galaxybase all performed better. The larger the size of the datasets, the higher the differentiation, which fully demonstrates the excellent capability of Galaxybase to support large-scale data processing tasks.

Remarks: SF-30, SF-100 and SF-300 correspond to the original dataset size of 30 G, 100 G and 300 G respectively.

Galaxybase can support both online transaction processing (OLTP) and online analytical processing (OLAP), according to Yan ZHOU, CTO of CreateLink. Compared with other graph databases, Galaxybase demonstrates lower response time, higher throughput, and higher horizontal scalability, making it the ideal choice for high performance graph database on large dataset, under the increasing demand for real-time analytics over massively connected enterprise data,.

Galaxybase is written with Java and C++. It takes full advantage of the runtime performance and memory control with C++ and the coding efficiency and easiness of troubleshooting with Java in the development of complex and reliable systems. In terms of storage system design, Galaxybase uses an innovative proprietary native graph datastore with customized optimization for index-free adjacency of graph data, enabling vertex-edge queries to be completed in an extremely efficient manner. The core datastore engine does not rely on any third-party open-source components, allowing the system to better optimizes graph queries and graph computation in concert with the underlying storage layer. In the query execution layer, Galaxybase is able to efficiently organize memory data through its proprietary memory allocation and management mechanism, while significantly reducing the JVM’s GC time by using off-heap memory. Galaxybase provides a parallel iterative graph traversal approach, that uses multi-version control to reduce lock contention. This approach adaptively allocates the number of threads for parallel iterations based on the number of neighbours during neighbour iteration to achieve best utilization of system resources.

Galaxybase provides a rich set of query interfaces and programming APIs, such as Java, Python, Golang, etc.. It also has full support for the descriptive OpenCypher query language. For the audit test, Galaxybase completed the durability test using OpenCypher. For scenarios that require high system resource consumption and execution performance, Galaxybase also provides PAR (Parameterized Algorithm Routine) API that allows users to implement customized procedures and functions running on the server-side through Java code to gain better control over the query execution process and pursue extreme performance.

About CreateLink

Founded in 2016, CreateLink Technology has become the leading graph database software vendor in China. Its product Galaxybase is a native distributed parallel graph platform that has superior performance on complex graph queries and algorithms. Earlier this year, together with a team of experts from Sun Yat-sen University, Galaxybase nailed the intelligent graph mining challenge of 5 trillion relationship graph while maintaining security, performance, availability, and data integrity, easily breaking the once-challenging scale barrier with trillion+ relationship graph.

CreateLink is actively promoting graph technology across different industries with a diversity of application scenarios. Up to now, Galaxybase has served many leading customers in finance, energy, and Internet sectors, with successful applications in AML, fraud detection, power grid optimization, IT operation monitoring and maintenance as well as other complex real-time decision-making scenarios, empowering its customers to release the value of big data by connecting the dots.

To check LDBC-SNB test report and get more details of the report, please visit the Galaxybase website.

 Firm’s ongoing transformation includes digital upskilling for employees as a building block towards a future-ready workforce  

SINGAPORE, June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Certis will boost its technology (tech) workforce hiring to develop more innovative, smart security solutions incorporating internet of things, robotics and artificial intelligence to support the increased digitalisation amongst existing and potential customers following the pandemic. 

Asia’s leading smart security and integrated services firm will launch a recruitment campaign in Singapore from 1 June 2022, targeted at hiring tech professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET) roles. As part of its transformation into a tech-led security solutions firm, the campaign aims to attract more tech individuals to design and create Certis’ next generation of technological offerings – from operations-tech to enterprise software – so as to achieve greater operational efficiencies and business outcomes for its customers. Interested job candidates can apply for vacancies at join.certisgroup.com

Available roles range from data engineers, software architects, cybersecurity specialists, cloud engineers and data analysts.

Mr Robin Goh, Certis’ Senior Vice President and Head of Group Communications and Marketing, said: “Our globally talented tech workforce has been instrumental in supporting Certis’ strategic evolution into a technology company in the last four years. As we continue to expand our suite of innovative enterprise ops-tech solutions and products across our large global customer footprint in diverse sectors, our tech workforce must grow in tandem – to fulfil our purpose to secure a safer, smarter, better future for generations ahead.”

Since 2018, Certis’ tech workforce has supported the development of industry-leading smart integrated solutions such as Security+ and BPRO^® to drive business outcomes in increased productivity, efficiency and enhanced experience for its customers in the government, retail, property and education sectors. In addition, the tech teams have also developed in-house ops-tech applications for staff members, such as Allegro, e-LMS (on-demand learning management system) and its back-to-office app, in transforming how employees work and interact – while at the same time driving productivity and efficiency within the organisation.

Continuous Upskilling for a Future-Ready Workforce

As Certis continues to grow, it remains committed to upskilling the knowledge and skill-sets of its tech workforce. In the last year, 77% of its global tech workforce have upgraded their skills in data analytics, ops-tech and development, enterprise systems and project management. These tech courses were conducted online through Certis’ e-LMS system established by Certis Corporate University (CCU), as well as in partnership with various global technology partners.

To instil tech-savviness across its business, Certis has also extended tech development courses to its employees in non-tech roles. Immersive technology and methods have also been introduced by CCU to enhance the applied learning experience. These include incorporating virtual and augmented reality into training programmes that enable employees to learn more effectively through multiple scenario-based immersive learning. Over 50% of its office-based workforce have taken courses to build core digital literacy skills in data analytics, power platforms and rapid applications development.

Additionally, Certis has also focused on tech upskilling for its frontline team members. In the past year alone, some 87% of its 11,000-strong frontliners in Singapore had completed at least one digital and technology programme. 

Notes to Editors:

• Appended link to employer brand video
• Stills from the video
• Certis Spokespersons will be available for interviews

Follow Certis on social media:

Facebook: facebook.com/certisworld
Instagram: instagram.com/certis_group
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/certisgroup
Hashtag posts with: #Certis #CertisTech #SecurityPlus

About Certis (www.certisgroup.com)

Certis is a leading outsourced services partner that designs, builds and operates multi-disciplinary smart security and integrated services. Our multi-service offerings leverage our strong heritage in security, and are augmented by applied AI solutions. These solutions are part of our comprehensive technology development and systems integration capabilities that are fully cyber-secure by design. We are committed to building a safer, smarter, better, and more sustainable business. Certis is headquartered in Singapore, with an international presence that extends to Australia, Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China and Qatar. We are a trusted partner committed to our clients’ successes, delivered through our 27,000-strong global team which includes 16,000 in Singapore.

For video, photos and media glossary: tinyurl.com/certisdigitalcampaign

HANGZHOU, China, May 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Sunyard Technology, the leading global payment solution provider, is collaborating with the Guizhou branch, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (“ICBC Guizhou”) on the electronic cash register(“ECR”) equipment project, to help drive the future of financial services in areas, unlock the potential of merchants acquiring, and create more personalized customer engagements. The shortlisting of ECR products fully emphasizes the high level of customer recognition and shows the reputation and strength of Sunyard in the domestic payment market.

The seven smart ECRs, covering both Windows and Android systems, are used to help navigate these challenges of different scenarios in MIS merchant cashiers. It promotes the bank to expand its MIS acquiring services and play a positive role in realizing future business models and new revenue streams, like stabilizing customer deposits and intermediate business income.

With the dual stunning tablet-like display, Sunyard’s ECR is a richly equipped and highly compatible retail tool that enables fantastic phenomenal viewing experiences from any tilt angle. Powerful performance efficiently fulfills diverse demands with omnichannel payment and easy connectivity. Through the intelligent management platform, it’s also simple to manage, track and control the payment terminals remotely wherever located, whatever the types and whatever the operating systems.

For the self-service ECR, it integrates a super-large touch screen, intelligent operating system, high-speed barcode recognition module, receipt printer, and an assistant shelf. During the shopping rush, customers only need to scan the product barcode, open the payment code, and finally take out the receipt. Designed for the most demanding retail environment, the self-service payment terminal is simple and fast, which greatly improves the customer settlement efficiency, reduces the queuing time, and releases the cashier pressure. 

Boasting a line of great POS products, including Android mobile POS i80, Android miniPOS i50, mPOS Vi218, and Pinpad P90, Sunyard enjoys a good reputation in the total worldwide markets, including Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America. Our team is committed to creating payment terminal solutions that are more in tandem with the needs of the local market. With the No.1 market share in China’s financial industry, Sunyard is one of the financial IT companies with the most comprehensive user and network coverage in China and has established a corresponding service system in 36 branches nationwide, advocating localized, efficient, and guaranteed services.

At Sunyard, we’re constantly expanding and evolving our portfolio of products to help you grow your business. Everything we do is backed by the expertise, support, and commitment that you already trust us for.

Our culture of care means we invest time, energy, and resources to develop products you can count on. We care about quality as much as you do. Whether you need advice, more information or to make an order, we’re here to help.

Get in touch:
info@sunyard.com
www.sydtech.com.cn/www.sunyard.com

About Sunyard

Sunyard Technology Co., Ltd, the leading global payment solution provider, is offering cost-effective, superior quality payment terminals and financial software products including payment password system, same-city liquidation system, corporate e-bank system, risk alarm system, etc. As the earliest listed financial IT company in China (SSE Code: 600571), Sunyard has achieved the leading position in the field of financial industry with more than two decades of professional experience. Based on the solid foundation in the domestic market, Sunyard is committed to expanding the international market according to its development strategy.

HONG KONG, May 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — As the economy is returning to growth mode, HKBN Enterprise Solutions (“HKBN”) has launched Enterprise Grow & Save: from 1 June to 31 August, 2022, enterprise customers who successfully subscribe to any HKBNES solution and meet the designated service fee amount can enjoy two-out-of-six  value-added free-of-charge offers. Eligible subscriptions include Business Broadband, Mobile Services, System Integration, Cybersecurity, Cloud Service and more! Both new and existing customers can “earn more” whilst they “spend less”!

Mikron NG HKBN Co-Owner and Chief Commercial Officer – Business Market & China Business, Enterprise Solutions said, “Our LUCA (Legal Unfair Competitive Advantage) is our broad customer base and versatile platforms. Together, we empower enterprises in their digital transformation through our collaborative efforts. Our new campaign lets customers enjoy HKBNES’s trusted services, and at the same time it brings them extensive customer reach with less promotion expenses. Customers can then focus on expanding and growing their businesses for multiple wins!”

Once subscribed to an HKBNES solution at the designated requirement, customers can pick two offers, one from each column respectively:

Terms and conditions apply. For more details of the offer, please visit www.hkbnes.net/en/sme-growandsave or call 128-1111.

Appendix：Examples for reference

The examples below show how different industries can benefit from the Enterprise Grow & Save Value-Added Offer

1)    Online shop For online shops to stand out from the competition, brand and product awareness is key. Business customers interested in e-Commerce can pick “Free My HKBN App launch offer” from the Grow section. With ~1 million users on My HKBN App, this solution can help boost your company’s brand presence by connecting 1 million potential customers with your brand. Together with the “Free 1000Mbps Residential Broadband Service for 2 years” from the Save section, you can easily manage your business from home while business is booming.

2)    Local travel agency Hong Kongers are famous for their love of travelling. With international travel yet to be fully reopened, local tours have become a popular alternative. Local travel agencies can pick “Free HOME+ product listing and banner ad” from the Grow section. Listing the local tours and activities details on HOME+, and the banner ad can bring you a reach of more than 400,000 times per week. Furthermore, you can pick “5G 30GB Mobile Service 7-month monthly fee rebate” from the Save session, and with that, you can enjoy high-speed mobile Internet and stay connected with colleagues and clients, anytime, anywhere. 

3)    Tutoring centre
Cashless payments are the trend in Hong Kong. More and more parents are now opting for e-payments when settling tutoring fees for their kids. HKBNES’s ePayment solution supports 12 payment options, satisfying the needs of all customers. To minimise the costs and stay scalable for business growth, tutoring centre clients can pick “Free e-payment solution device rental offer for 2 months” from the grow section and “Enterprise Solutions Service Total rebate up to HK$3000” from the Save section.

About HKBN Enterprise Solutions

HKBN Enterprise Solutions (“HKBNES”) is the enterprise solutions arm of HKBN Group (“HKBN” or the “Group”). Headquartered in Hong Kong with operations spanning across Asian markets including Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia, the Group is a leading integrated telecommunications and technology services provider. The Group provides a full range of one-stop, high-quality information and communication technology (ICT) solutions and an unlimited services portfolio. HKBN’s extensive tri-carrier fibre infrastructure covers around 2.5 million residential homes and around 8,000 commercial buildings and facilities across Hong Kong. Committed to creating a lasting positive impact to wherever it operates, HKBN embraces a core purpose to “Make our Home a Better Place to Live” and has received a rating of AA in MSCI’s 2021 ESG Ratings assessment in environment, society and governance. Since 2016, HKBN has been a Constituent Member of the Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Benchmark Index, with AA ratings for the past two consecutive years (2020 and 2021) – the highest in its industry. The Group is managed by hundreds of Co-Owners (supervisory and management level Talents in the Group) who invested their savings to buy shares of HKBN Ltd. (SEHK Stock Code: 1310). For more information about HKBN Enterprise Solutions, please visit www.hkbnes.net/en.