Cisco report: Asia Pacific companies seeing highest jump in cyber threat alerts globally
Organizations in Asia Pacific are seeing a big increase in the cybersecurity challenges they face amid the shift to mass remote working, a study by Cisco shows. .....»»
ICT spending in AsPac reaches $1.3 trillion in 2023
Information and communications technology spending in Asia and the Pacific reached the $1.3 trillion mark in 2023, as companies increased their investments on automation and cloud to survive and thrive in the digital era......»»
Digital ‘budol-budol’
Often for kicks, I open the “Spam” folder of my Email and entangle myself with what digital fraudsters are up to lately in messing up people’s lives. I precisely did that after apprising the big news about the potential personal data breach at GCash, the popular digital payments platform of Globe Telecom Inc. and immediately searched for fake GCash emails. Usually, for safety’s sake, I quickly delete such fakeries. But I took a conscious effort at scrutinizing a message I got last month which purportedly came from the “GCash Help Center.” The message urgently asked me to activate my account by clicking the provided link. Helpful missive that was, innocent-sounding even. Only it was a head-scratcher: I never applied for a GCash account nor have no intentions whatsoever of enrolling into one. I often wonder how these people could assume I wasn’t strictly a cold-cash-paying Luddite struggling with where to place in my all too-small billfold those new-fangled unfoldable one thousand peso bills. Anyway, since I was also often bombarded by National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) text alerts imploring me to be ever watchful with digital fraud, or in the more suitable and folksier digital “budol-budol,” I had become suspicious enough to spot dead giveaways showing fraud. By the way, all of us really have to keep up with fraudsters’ ways. In fact, in our digital era “face-to-face fraud doesn’t really happen anymore. It’s all digital,” says Louis Smith, credit card Visa’s chief risk officer for Southeast Asia. At any rate, in the case of those fake emails, technically known as “phishing” emails, the dead giveaways I learned were: a. the email usually has a generic greeting like “Hi”; the email says your account is on hold because of a billing problem; and the email invites you to click on a link to update your payment details by sending all your personal data. Those raise fakery alarms since legitimate companies, even if they might communicate with you by email, won’t ever email or text you with a link to update your payment information. So there. Still, the growing sophistication and sheer volume of digital “budol-budol” every day catches us off-guard. Nowadays, the risks of digital fraud are alarmingly high. In fact, Globe Telecoms, which owns GCash, reported that it has already blocked 4.07 million malicious bank-related messages in the first quarter of the year, 2.7 percent higher than the number of malicious messages from last year. Last year, too, Globe blocked 85 million bank-related spam and scam messages, part of the record-high 3 billion scam and spam messages filtered by the giant telecom firm between January 2022 and January 2023. In another report, TransUnion, an American credit reporting outfit, says the nation had the third-highest rate of suspected fraudulent digital transactions among all countries and regions analyzed in 2022, with as much as 8.7 percent of digital transactions suspected as fraudulent. TransUnion also reported that from a three-month survey, 71 percent of Filipinos had been targeted by digital fraud attempts through emails, phone calls, online messaging, or texts. Eleven percent of those surveyed admitted to falling victim to fraud. The common fraud schemes experienced by Filipinos were “phishing (fraudulent emails, social posts, websites and QR codes), “smishing” (fraudulent mobile text messages), third-party seller scams, and identity theft. Now if all these scams make it our personal responsibility not to be duped, companies and the government also have to do all they can not to make things worse than it already is. Companies really have to beef up their cybersecurity measures and the government can’t content themselves with launching useless probes after a digital disaster or with registering cellphone SIMs. Where, for instance, is a government-run digital facility where the public can quickly report text or email scams? The US, for example, has SPAM (7726), a sort of 911 where Americans can forward any “smishing” text message. Here, we’re still resorting to reporting digital fraud on social media. The post Digital ‘budol-budol’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Boracay, Palawan named among ‘Best Islands in Asia-Pacific’
Two island destinations in the Philippines were included in the 10 “Best Islands in Asia-Pacific” by a foreign travel magazine......»»
Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, March 25
JAKARTA -- One was killed and nine others, including children, went missing after a landslide struck a village in the Indonesian province of West Java on Sunday, a local official said Monday. The disaster took place in Cibenda village in West Bandung regency on Sunday after torrential rain reportedly poured over the area for around two hours. (Indonesia-Landslide) - - - - SYDNEY -- Local media repo.....»»
Australia s reputation among Pacific neighbours weakening
From carrying the Coalition's AUKUS pact to supporting Israel's self-defence initiative, Labor's reputation is souring among voters. Bilal Cleland reports.ASIA IS SENSITIVE to memories of the White Australia Policy, the f.....»»
Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, March 25
JAKARTA -- One was killed and nine others, including children, went missing after a landslide struck a village in the Indonesian province of West Java on Sunday, a local official said Monday. The disaster took place in Cibenda village in West Bandung regency on Sunday after torrential rain reportedly poured over the area for around two hours. (Indonesia-Landslide) - - - - SYDNEY -- Local media repo.....»»
Australia s reputation among Pacific neighbours weakening
From carrying the Coalition's AUKUS pact to supporting Israel's self-defence initiative, Labor's reputation is souring among voters. Bilal Cleland reports.ASIA IS SENSITIVE to memories of the White Australia Policy, the f.....»»
Diageo taps K-pop star Suho to promote responsible drinking
Diageo Philippines announced the launch of a new regional responsible drinking campaign in Asia Pacific with Suho of K-Pop boy group EXO, to promote responsible and moderate alcohol consumption......»»
Japan policy paper to focus on US, Philippines to counter China
Tokyo [Japan], March 23 (ANI): Japan released a draft of its annual foreign policy report stating that it will pay attention to the importance of boosting collaboration with the United States and the Philippines to counter China's assertive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region, Kyodo news reported on Thursday. The Diplomatic Bluebook for 2024 will also underscore that Tokyo "cannot afford to waste even a moment" to solve.....»»
Japan policy paper to focus on US, Philippines to counter China
Tokyo [Japan], March 23 (ANI): Japan released a draft of its annual foreign policy report stating that it will pay attention to the importance of boosting collaboration with the United States and the Philippines to counter China's assertive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region, Kyodo news reported on Thursday. The Diplomatic Bluebook for 2024 will also underscore that Tokyo "cannot afford to waste even a moment" to solve.....»»
UPS expands Clark operations
Logistics giant UPS is expanding operations at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga as part of its $250-million commitment to scale up its Asia-Pacific business......»»
Over $1 billion investment to Philippines from US, says Raimondo
MANILA, The Philippines: During an official visit to Manila, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has said that U.S. companies have announced investments totaling more than US$1 billion in the Philippines.In a first of its kind for the Philippines, Raimondo headed a two-day trade and investment mission that included executives from 22 companies, such as United Airlines, Alphabet's Google, Visa, KKR Asia Pacific.....»»
Philippine firms want workers to return to the office
The Philippines has the second highest number of employers in Asia-Pacific requiring a full return to the office in the pandemic aftermath, according to tech giant Cisco,.....»»
Experts expect AI to replace marketing tasks
Generative artificial intelligence will take over three in 10 jobs in the marketing industry in Asia-Pacific by 2027 due to efforts by companies to automate their operations......»»
Southeast Asian Scam Hubs Drawing Global Scrutiny as Reach Grows
BANGKOK - Southeast Asia's online scam hubs are drawing growing attention from governments and law enforcement agencies well beyond the region as the criminal syndicates behind them search further afield for victims of their cons and human trafficking.On December 8, the United Kingdom announced sanctions against nine people and five companies accused of trafficking people into Southeast Asia's 'scam farms.' The.....»»
Southeast Asian Scam Hubs Drawing Global Scrutiny as Reach Grows
BANGKOK - Southeast Asia's online scam hubs are drawing growing attention from governments and law enforcement agencies well beyond the region as the criminal syndicates behind them search further afield for victims of their cons and human trafficking.On December 8, the United Kingdom announced sanctions against nine people and five companies accused of trafficking people into Southeast Asia's 'scam farms.' The.....»»
Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, Dec. 17
TOKYO -- Corporate bankruptcies in Japan rose in November for the 19th consecutive month, according to a recent survey by a credit research company. A total of 773 Japanese companies began legal liquidation proceedings in November, marking the second consecutive month of year-on-year growth of at least 30 percent, Japan's Teikoku Databank said in its latest online report. The total number of bankruptcies.....»»
Pacific Trustees to host masterclass in Manila, pitches Labuan IBFC for business growth
Labuan IBFC, Asia’s premier international financial hub, is a duty-free island located off the coast of East Malaysia. Labuan IBFC provides a safe and holistic ecosystem for businesses, acting as a gateway for companies to Southeast Asia while implementing an efficient and flexible tax system. .....»»
Japan: Yokohama intends to grow its tourist influx; make city more sustainable, smart
Tokyo [Japan], December 9 (ANI): Yokohama city of Japan is a popular tourist destination and further intends to grow its tourist influx by making the city more sustainable and smart. To realize this vision, Yokohama City organized the Y-Ship global event. It aimed to establish an innovative and smart city with collaborations with start-ups from across the world and companies from Asia-Africa's emerging countries. Mayor Ta.....»»
Japan: Yokohama intends to grow its tourist influx; make city more sustainable, smart
Tokyo [Japan], December 9 (ANI): Yokohama city of Japan is a popular tourist destination and further intends to grow its tourist influx by making the city more sustainable and smart. To realize this vision, Yokohama City organized the Y-Ship global event. It aimed to establish an innovative and smart city with collaborations with start-ups from across the world and companies from Asia-Africa's emerging countries. Mayor Ta.....»»