Saturday 29 December 2012

Be very careful: 7 mil Malaysian smartphone users exposed to cyber hacks

Seven million users! That's a lot of smartphone users exposed to cyber hacking.

Next thing you know, people steal money from your handphone and not your wallet. Scary, isn't it? Check out the statistics below.

Between January - September 2012, losses incurred from cyber crime is as follow (according to Bukit Aman director of Commercial Crime Investigation Department):-

Illegally intercepted online purchases   - 1,298 cases
Text messaging service or phone calls - 412 cases
Hacking                                                     - 24 cases
Internet and phone banking                  - 74 cases

Total : RM21.8 million

The case of illegally intercepted online purchases recorede the highest in lost money, i.e. RM14.5 million.


Seven Million Smartphone Users Exposed To Threat From Cyber Hackers

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2,2012): About seven million smartphone users nationwide are exposed to threats from cyber hackers who use smartphones as mediums through which to carry out fraudulent activities like stealing money.

Bukit Aman director of Commercial Crime Investigation Department, Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said a lack of awareness about smartphone security made smartphone users easy victims.

"The hackers' modus operandi is to send a malicious Trojan application disguised as a text message to consumers.

"They are unknowingly charged when they reply to the fake message. "Consumers only realise this after receiving costly phone bills although they did not subscribe to the phony services," he said.

The hackers' activities were executed via downloaded applications such as "type on" that caused the victims to bear the hidden expenses even when they had uninstalled the application.

Lookout Mobile Security was quoted as saying that worldwide users lost millions of dollars last year via malware and toll fraud that attacked smartphone users who had accessed applications from suspicious sources rather than trusted ones such as Apple and Google.

Ismail said police statistics records showed that from January to September this year, losses incurred from cyber crime via text or phone call totalled RM21.8 million. The cyber hackers targeted users of Internet and phone banking services, hacking into and abusing these networks.

Cases of illegally intercepted online purchases recorded the highest losses at RM14.5 million (1,298 cases) followed by text messaging service or phone calls at RM3.4 million (412 cases), hacking at RM3.3 million (24 cases) and Internet and phone banking at RM590,000 (74 cases).


Source

Beautiful tree that can charge your Handphone: The Electree+

Yes, it is a tree with solar photovoltaic leaves. No wonder is can harness the sun energy and channel it to yur mobile phones and other gadgets.

A bit pricey for a start, but nevertheless this is interesting. You can bring it to your remote hut.


Nice and neat?


Put alongside with your other plants


Inside the vase of the Electree+


It is perfect for a year-end gift. But mind you it cost an equivalent of RM1,387.00. Wow, so expensive I may just buy a different kind of solar powered charger.

Source: Electree - the Eco-friendly solar powered charger

ASB pays unitholders 8.9 sen dividend and bonus in 2012

ASB (Amanah Saham Bumiputera) is very generous when giving out dividend and bonus. No doubt it is always above the average payout by other Unit Trust funds. Let's see past performance of the fund:

2007 - 8.00 + 1.00 = 9.00
2008 - 7.00 + 1.75 = 8.75
2009 - 7.30 + 1.25 = 8.55
2010 - 7.50 + 1.25 = 8.75
2011 - 7.65 + 1.15 = 8.80
2012 - 7.75 + 1.15 = 8.90

Maybe it will touch 9.00 in 2013, let's hope (it's not wrong to dream sometimes).


Press clipping from Bernama:

KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), has announced an income distribution of 7.75 sen per unit and a bonus of 1.15 sen per unit for the Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) scheme this year.

The 7.75 sen dividend is its highest since 2008 and is 0.1 sen more than last year's 7.65 sen.

The income distribution will involve a total payout of RM8.13 billion, 17.5 per cent higher than the RM6.92 billion paid out last year. The bonus payout is RM712.2 million compared with RM600.4 million last year.

PNB chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said the payment would benefit 7.82 million unit holders, who hold 110.2 billion units.

"Considering the market conditions, which have not been up to expectations, PNB did a fairly good job," he said yesterday.

PNB president and chief executive officer Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman said the country's biggest fund manager expected next year to be challenging.

Up to Dec 19, ASB recorded a gross income of RM8.54 billion. Income from companies contributed RM4.80 billion, or 56.21 per cent of the gross income. Profit from the sale of shares contributed RM2.68 billion, or 31.38 per cent, and the balance of RM1.06 billion was derived from other incomes.

The dividend and bonus will be credited into unit holders' accounts and they will be able to update their books from Jan 2.

Source