Malaysia is conducting the second part of a series of cybersecurity workshops in Rabat, in collaboration with Morocco’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and New Technologies and supported by the Islamic Development Bank.

The workshop with the theme Enhancing Capability for Better Security is for Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) member countries in the African region.

CyberSecurity Malaysia said about 60 participants from 16 OIC member countries in the African region are attending the workshop, which was officiated by Morocco’s Minister of Industry, Trade and New Technologies, Ahmed Reda Chami.Other than panel discussions and hands-on training, the workshop features a focus group discussion on potential projects to be conducted among the OIC-Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) member countries in mitigating cyberthreats.

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Malaysian cops have busted an alleged text message spam scam ring thought to have fleeced locals for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Would-be marks were told they had won prizes from major corporations such as Petronas, Shell and Maxis. The messages said that victims needed to make payments into local bank accounts before they would be able to collect their supposed winnings, which never materialised.

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The country wants to be a major player in the lucrative software-testing market as it seeks to develop a sustainable ecosystem for software testing and certification services.

At the launching of the Q-Lab, Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Fadillah Yusof said the advanced software testing laboratory is one of the key elements identified as enablers for the creation of a sustainable ecosystem of Malaysia’s software testing industry.

Fadillah said concerted efforts are being carried out with the aim of developing the nation’s capability in software testing and certification services and will ultimately establish Malaysia as a regional hub and global destination for outsourced software-testing services.

“This is a strategic move because software testing is poised to become the next thrust of the national economy,” he said.

Located in Puchong, Selangor, the RM11mil Q-Lab is equipped with the latest testing tools, methodologies and infrastructure that support high-end testing activities.

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A 47-year-old housewife lost all her savings and money borrowed from her family and friends, totalling RM1.2mil, to a conman she befriended on the Internet.

The sum also included her mother’s lifetime savings, husband’s investments, and the savings of her sister and niece.

The woman, who wanted to be known only as Madam Lee, said the man, claiming to be a British offshore engineer named Jeff Brian Manik, had added her as friend on an Internet chat room last year.

Lee said the man told her he was sending her Easter gifts that included a designer wristwatch, perfume, Louis Vuitton bag, jewellery, laptop and camera, and his latest picture, through courier in April.

“He called and wanted me to pay RM16,500 as a deposit to claim those gifts, which I did by banking the money into two local bank accounts, but I did not see those gifts at all,” she told a press conference held by MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong Thursday.More on TheStar

Losses due to software piracy in Malaysia continue to increase, said antipiracy watchdog the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

The losses were recorded at RM1.4bil last year, compared to RM1.2bil previously. The local software market is growing, the BSA pointed out, but the illegal-software industry is keeping pace.

Jeffrey Hardee, vice-president and regional director of BSA Asia Pacific, said that while efforts to bring down piracy levels are enjoying some success, the losses are still “enormous and rising.”

“This is deeply concerning,” he said. “Clearly there is much to be done to engage governments, businesses and consumers on the risks and impacts of software piracy.”

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Starting May 17, 2010 those who order from Domino’s Pizza can monitor their pizza’s delivery status using Domino’s new online GPS Tracking service. Interesting right?More details will be revealed later.

Via TheStar Intech

Putrajaya, Malaysia: The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry seized RM17.3mil worth of pirated items in 346,718 enforcement actions throughout the country during the first quarter this year.

Its Director-General of Enforcement Mohd Roslan Mahayudin 18 of the enforcement actions involved suspected use or sale of pirated software – five in Selangor, four in Kuala Lumpur, two each in Melaka, Penang, Sarawak and Perak and one in Johor.

“Overall, an estimated RM1.3mil worth of suspected pirated software, computer equipment and peripherals were seized, including 124 computers with estimated value of RM350,000 and 297 copies of suspected pirated business software worth RM984,945 in retail value,” he told reporters here on Friday.

Full article on TheStar

Picture credit: Thenutgraph

The event began at 11am with Techlane Resources Customer Services Manager, Rick Low giving a powerful presentation on the threats of the cyber world. He spoke about the types of malware and viruses that exist and how they can affect users. He also explained how we can protect ourselves from the online threats by equipping ourselves with good antivirus software.

Talking about how malware can affect the quality of our cyber life, he handed out free gifts to all the active participants who asked questions during his speech. The ICT officials present at the talk were more than happy to receive the premiums and continued asking many technical questions about issues they did not understand.

Rick also spoke about online banking and social networking sites as well as how to stay safe while using such websites. Next, Mr.Mok of Antivirus365 introduced the online user forum at http://antivirus365.net to all those present at the talk. He spoke about the benefits of participating in the forum and showed them how to register an account for free!

Benefits of being a member of the Antivirus365 forum include getting up-to-date information about the latest news in cyber security as well as getting any technical or non-technical questions answered when you post it at the forum. After registering, you can post comments or news about any topic within the rules of the forum not only about cyber security but also other categories such as movies, sports, hobbies and jokes.

You can join our forum too. Everyone is invited!

The Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) has announced that it will be holding only two PC Fairs this year, instead of the usual three.

“The PC Fairs lead to spikes in sales over the year and troughs for the rest of the time. In between the events, there is very little sales done by our members. Our members prefer more consistent sales because some are listed on stock exchanges and are judged on their quarterly performance,” Ang said.

He said Pikom members hope that the holding of one less PC Fair (each year) will help stabilise their sales volumes.

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BarCamp is coming to the town again. This time it will be held at Segi College in USJ Subang Jaya(Malaysia) on the 24 & 25 April 2010.

If you don’t know what is Barcamp, check out this page.

Here’s some pictures from the previous Barcamps in Malaysia.

Basically, BarCamp is all about sharing, so if you not willing to participate and share, BarCamp is not for you.

Register here for FREE- See you there!