Information Technology

Singapore still is seeing more cases of online crimes, with phishing and e-commerce scams amongst the top five most common tactics used. The country saw a 25.2% climb in scams and cybercrimes last year, hitting 33,669 in reported cases, up from 26,886 in 2021. Scams accounted for the bulk, cheating victims of SG$660.7 million ($501.9 million), a 4.5% increase from SG$632 million in 2021, according to the latest figures from the Singapore Police Force (SPF). Phishing, e-commerce, and investment scams were amongst the top five most common tactics used against victims, making up 82.5% of the top 10 types of scams last year. Phishing cases topped the list, with 7,097 reported cases in 2022, up 41.3% from 2021. In such incidents, scammers typically used email and text messages or phone calls to hoodwink their targets, during which they would impersonate officiates or trusted entities to persuade victims to divulge their personal details, such as credit card or bank account information. Scammers then would use the data to carry out unauthorised transactions. Messaging, social media, and online shopping platforms were the most popular channels scammers used to contact their victims. WhatsApp alone was tapped for 56% of scam cases in which scammers used messaging platforms, while 36.1% opted for Telegram. As for social media, Facebook was the most commonly used by scammers, accounting for 59.6% of incidents last year. Another 34.2% chose Instagram. With more consumers now spending online, it should come as no surprise that e-commerce scams saw a spike of 74.5% last year, where losses climbed a whopping 261% to SG$21.3 million. Such scams typically saw victims not receiving their goods and services after payments were made. Popular online marketplace Carousell accounted for 89% of e-commerce scam cases. According to the SPF, young adults were the most likely scam victims, with those aged 20 to 29 and 30 to 39 making up 26.7% and 26.8% of all victims, respectively. Scammers typically turned to social media, messaging, and online shopping platforms as modes of contact, where the majority of victims in these age groups falling prey to job and phishing scams. To better combat growing cases, Singapore last March set up the Anti-Scam Command (ASC) to unify key resources into a central unit, including scam investigation, incident response, intervention, and enforcement. It comprises the anti-scam centre and various investigative and enforcement branches within the Police. Last year, the ASC conducted more than 11,100 interventions, during which targeted victims were alerted to the scams. the SPF said. In May 2022, the ASC also worked with local bank DBS to recover $11.5 million, marking the largest amount recovered in a single scam. Victims in the incident were involved in a business email compromise, in which scammers claimed to be the victims’ clients. Victims were tricked into making transactions totalling $15.5 million to DBS accounts.Local mobile carriers also were roped in to stem scam cases, shutting down mobile lines the ASC had identified as those used by scammers. More than 6,500 mobile lines were terminated last year and more than 22,800 WhatsApp numbers were believed to be used for scams, according to SPF.It added that the ASC worked with social media and e-commerce platform operators to remove suspicious accounts and advertisements. Singapore this month began tagging SMS messages from organisations not registered with the local ID registry as spam. The move was the latest in ramped up efforts to combat online scams, with further measures being explored such as giving mobile users the option not to receive international SMS messages or calls.The government over the past year had urged the need for shared responsibility in preventing online scams, following a massive phishing scam involving OCBC Bank customers that resulted in losses totalling SG$13.7 million ($10.18 million). Several measures also were introduced to beef up local banking and communications infrastructures, including a “kill switch” banks must provide to enable customers to suspend their accounts in a suspected breach.RELATED COVERAGE More

Guido Mieth/Digital Vision via Getty Images Google on Tuesday announced it’s expanding Chrome’s “virtual credit card” safety feature to American Express customers. The update is one of several the tech giant is rolling out as part of Safer Internet Day.  Launched last year for Capital One cardholders, virtual cards create unique numbers for online transactions. […] More

Image: Getty Images/Morsa Images Hypervisor maker VMware has warned that attackers are using previously disclosed vulnerabilities in its ESXi hypervisor and components to deploy ransomware.  The company believes the vulnerabilities being exploited are not zero-day flaws, meaning the attackers are exploiting previously discovered bugs in the hypervisor. In other words, the attacks exploit instances of […] More

Image: Getty/Erikona An experimental new version of a prolific form of ransomware has been seen targeting Linux systems for the first time.   Clop ransomware first appeared in 2019 and, despite being hit by arrests and takedowns in 2021, continues to operate today, with the discovery of a new variant indicating the group is still […] More

Singapore supports the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT in schools, but wants to ensure students do not become over-reliant on them and understand the limits of these technologies. As such tools emerge and become more pervasive over time, schools and institutes of higher learnings (IHLs) must be able to effectively harness them to enhance learning, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing. He said the ministry already was providing educators the “guidance and resource” to do so. “As with any tech, ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools present both opportunities and challenges to users,” Chan said in parliament Monday, in response to questions from Members of Parliament (MPs). “There are professional discussion groups amongst our educators to explore its use in the education setting. At the same time, our educators will still teach students to understand fundamental concepts and guide students against developing an over-reliance on technological tools.”He likened it to how calculators supported students’ capacity for learning mathematics, but did not replace the need for students to first master basic mathematical operations. “ChatGPT can be a useful tool for learning only when students have mastered basic concepts and thinking skills,” the minister said. “In a more uncertain world, we must also teach our students to embrace and learn to work with tools in the new normal that have a range of outcomes beyond a deterministic outcome, like [one produced by] a calculator.”Voicing concerns that ChatGPT could be exploited and used to help students cheat, MPs asked if there were safeguards to mitigate risks such as plagiarism. In response, Chan said students were made aware of the need for integrity and consequences of plagiarism. Schools also adopted various processes to detect the misuse of technology, such as assessing students’ proficiency and identifying uncharacteristic answers that could have been generated by AI, he noted. IHLs used different ways to assess their students’ competency, including presentations and examinations, making it more difficult to use AI to generate answers.AI-powered tools themselves also were used to help detect plagiarism in students’ work.Chan added that as technologies evolved over time, schools needed to ensure students understood how AI tools such as ChatGPT worked. For instance, the AI application could generate inaccurate or biased reports, depending on the data it analysed. Students, hence, should be discerning when reviewing results generated by ChatGPT, the minister said. The Singapore government often has emphasised the importance of building trust with the “responsible” use of AI, in order to sustain its adoption and extract the most benefits from the technology. In 2020, the AI Ethics & Governance Body of Knowledge was released to provide a reference guide for local businesses and IT professionals on the ethical aspects of the development and deployment of AI technologies. The guide was developed based on Singapore’s Model AI Governance Framework.A governance testing framework and toolkit, called A.I. Verify, also was launched last May to help organisations demonstrate their “objective and verifiable” use of AI. RELATED COVERAGE More

Getty Images/Sean Gladwell Creating and remembering a unique and complex password for each of your accounts is virtually impossible without some help. And these days, that help can best be found in a password manager.  Also: The 6 best password managers: Easily maintain all your logins A good password manager will create, store, and apply strong […] More

Image: Getty / Lucy Lambriex Cyber criminals are using uniquely crafted phishing emails to infect victims with malware — and they’re doing so by experimenting with a new method of delivering the malicious payload.  According to analysis by Proofpoint, there’s been a rise in cyberattackers attempting to deliver malware using OneNote documents, a digital notebook […] More

Out of the box, the Flipper Zero has a lot of capability.There’s a built-in infrared transceiver that can both capture and transmit IR codes to control things like TVs.There’s a sub-GHz wireless antenna that can again capture and transmit wireless codes to operate wireless devices and access control systems, such as garage door remotes, boom barriers, IoT sensors and even remote keyless systems. Also: 3 security gadgets I never leave home withoutIt can read, store, and emulate EM-4100 and HID Prox RFID cards.The Flipper Zero can also read, write, store, and emulate NFC tags.On the front, there’s a 1-Wire connector that can read and emulate iButton (aka DS1990A, CYFRAL, Touch Memory or Dallas key) contact keys.Finally, on the top there are GPIO connectors that allow the Flipper Zero to connect to other gadgets in the real world, such as the Wi-Fi development board. More