Free Wi-fi users warned, Cyber Criminals maybe lurking nearby and steal your important datas

As reported by The Star Online, Malaysia.

Sipping latte at your favourite cafe, you suddenly remember that you have not paid your credit card bills and decide to make use of the free Wi-fi to make payment using online banking.

However, before you log on to your bank account using your smartphone or any other mobile device, stop - a cyber criminal may be lurking nearby, waiting to tap into your transaction and steal important data.

Cybersecurity Malaysia has advised mobile device users against using public Wi-fi to conduct their e-banking, online shopping or important company or personal transactions to avoid courting danger.

“Cyber criminals can easily sniff out important information such as credit card numbers, e-banking username and password via public Wi-fi,” said Cybersecurity CEO Lt-Col (R) Prof Datuk Husin Jazri.

“Mobile devices today carry confidential information such as company e-mail messages, product pictures and customer contact details. Like personal computers, they are vulnerable to spam, viruses, spyware, theft, loss and even phishing attacks.

“The confidentiality and availability of company data will be compromised if a mobile device is misplaced, stolen or hacked into,” he added.

According to Cybersecurity, Malaysia recorded RM2.75bil in losses due to cyber crimes between 2005 and 2010 with the financial sector being the worst hit.

Security technology company Symantec Corporation (Malaysia) said with mobile devices being a part of daily lives, it was easy to forget risks related to personal and corporate data.

Symantec's State of Mobility Survey this year revealed that 67% of enterprises were already using or planning to use custom mobile applications in their daily operation and transactions.

However, the survey indicated that while one in five agreed that the risks of mobile computing were extremely high, 66% felt that the benefits were worth the dangers.

The survey also showed that organisations here had been impacted by mobile incidents, such as data loss, damage to the brand, productivity loss and loss of customer trust, amounting to an average loss of RM561,305 in Malaysia last year.

“We have reached a tipping point in business' use of mobile devices. The trend is here to stay as companies find them (the benefits) extending expectations,” said Symantec Enterprise Director for Risk and Compliance (Asia Pacific and Japan) Eric Lam.

He advised both consumers and corporations on the need to take responsibility for the security of their mobile devices .

“For consumers, one way to stay safe is to avoid insecure environment for important transactions. If you can't find a secure environment, save important transmissions until you can connect to a secure environment,” he said.

So folks, beware. Sometimes free stuffs are dangerous.

What happened in the Internet in 60 seconds

The Daily Mail in United Kingdom recently published an amazing figures on what happened in the internet in just 60 seconds.

Among the highlights are :

- 600 new videos uploaded on You Tube
- 13,000 hours music streaming via Pandora
- 98,000 Tweets via Twitter
- 370,000 minutes voice call on Skype
- 13,000 iphone applications downloaded
- 510,040 comments on Facebook

plus many many more amazing figures that we don't know.

Now imagine what happened in the internet in 60 minutes, 60 days, 60 months and 60 years from now..

Justin Bieber - roadmap to success!!!

Justin Bieber is only 16 years old... Yet he is a rocketman in the music industry.. His meteoric progress in the music industry is even faster than the late Michael Jackson and even faster than the speed of light.

Few months back, nobody knows who Justin Bieber is.... But now even people in remote places in the Far East of Asia, the jungles of Africa and deserts of Arab as well as the wilderness of Alaska knows him.

Thanks to the immense power of the Internet, Justin Bieber is now a global sensation.



Justin Bieber's album My World 2.0 debuted at No. 1 on Billboard and has sold nearly 850,000 copies in just five weeks...!!! .

Wow, what an achievement..

Bieber is something else entirely. He is the first real teen idol of the digital age, a star whose fame can be attributed entirely to the awesome power of the Internet, something unthinkable in the 1980s when Michael Jackson was rising to fame!!!

What will happen if the Internet technology is already availabe in the 1970s or 1980s - well i think Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Cindy Lauper, Whitney Houtson and Metallica will achieve fame and Megastars status in shorter period of time and selling 100% more albums and charting more Billboard no. 1. Period. Numero Uno.

In 2007 he was 12 years old and living in Stratford, Ontario, Canada with his single mother, Pattie Mallette. Mallette began posting videos of her son's musical performances on YouTube so that relatives could see him in action.

Bieber sang pop and R&B songs: Matchbox Twenty, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and others. And he was good, really good.

So good that strangers started watching his videos. Within months, his Internet following numbered in the thousands.

Late one night in 2007, Scooter Braun, an Atlanta-based promoter and music manager, was in bed surfing the Internet when he stumbled upon a grainy home video of Bieber belting out Aretha Franklin's "Respect.".

"It was such raw talent, my gut just went wild..Maybe I shouldn't tell people I watched videos of Justin Bieber in the middle of the night."



Two weeks later, he flew Bieber and his mother to Atlanta and became his manager.

Braun and Bieber spent the next six months strategically building a fan base. Bieber would post new songs on YouTube, respond to messages from fans and interact with them.

He was accessible, he addressed his fans by name and talked to them as if they were friends. Even now, with 2.2 million Twitter followers, he frequently responds to fans' questions and retweets their greetings. "I also try to read all of my fan mail," he says. "A lot of them send me candy, which I'm not allowed to eat 'cause my mom says it might be poisonous."

Now, more than 100 million people watched his music videos on YouTube.



He even sang in front of President Barack Obama and the first lady - Michelle.

Prior to performing in front of the US President, Bieber - the YouTube singing sensation wrote on his Twitter "In DC preparing to sing for President OBAMA!!..Yeah im nervous. if i mess up he might deport me back to Canada. Lol." !!!!

Hahahahaaaa!! He has got very good sense of humour too..

Justin delivered a Christmas tune called "Someday at Christmas" during the gig. Host George Lopez introduced his performance saying, "Like you, Mr. President, this young man has many fans trying to shake his hand without permission."!!!




The Obamas even took pictures with him.



However, record labels don't like to take chances, especially an untested teenage act. "They kept telling me, He's not backed by Disney. He doesn't have a TV show. He's a nobody," says Braun.

But among other artists, Bieber's sheer talent quickly spread. Justin Timberlake wanted to work with him. So did Usher. "He sang and played the guitar for me, and I was like, Wow, this kid has even more talent than I did at that age," he says.