Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Vishing meets AI: The changing nature of phishing threats

Vishing attacks are potentially more dangerous than ordinary phishing attacks because they make a personal connection with the target victim, making the scenario a whole lot more believable. — Image by freepik

The use or artificial intelligence in vishing scams is set to worsen as cybercriminals exploit advanced voice cloning to deceive victims.

There's been a profound shift in how phishing attacks are executed. Earlier forms of phishing focused primarily on email, but nowadays threat actors are increasingly weaponising phone and voice calls (aka vishing or voice phishing) to con or compromise users. In fourth quarter 2023, vishing attacks rose by 260% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.

What is vishing?

Vishing is a type of voice-based fraud or social engineering attack where threat actors contact potential victims using a phone or a voice call to win their trust and convince them to complete an action or give up sensitive information. Vishing attacks are potentially more dangerous than ordinary phishing attacks because they make a personal connection with the target victim, making the scenario a whole lot more believable.

How does vishing work?

Using a simple phone call, vishing attacks exploit human emotions such as greed, lust, fear, compassion, or urgency, and trick victims into giving up sensitive information or carrying out an action. For example, a fake charity requesting donations for a noble cause like disaster relief; a stranger impersonating an IRS official threatening the victim with fines or imprisonment unless they make an immediate tax payment; a romance scam where the perpetrator pleads for the victim to transfer funds for a family emergency; a fake caller informing someone about sweepstakes winnings where the victim must pay taxes and fees in advance; a random call from an alleged IT support person asking the employee to share their credentials to help troubleshoot an access or connectivity issue.

A new twist involving instances of hybrid vishing are being reported where attackers use a combination of email phishing and vishing to communicate with the victim. For example, an email message instructs the recipient that they have been charged with a service and how they must call a number immediately to cancel an expensive order. Some bad actors use a spoofed phone number (aka caller ID spoofing) to impersonate a legitimate person or an organisation.

Artificial intelligence meets vishing: A deadly combination

Thanks to the increased proliferation and sophistication of AI-based voice cloning technologies, anyone can clone someone else's voice using a simple 10-15 second audio clip. (Microsoft claims they can do it in three seconds.) Not surprisingly, threat actors have already begun exploiting these tools to create highly advanced and targeted vishing attacks.

The MGM Resorts cyberattack that caused about US$100mil (RM470mil) in losses was executed by a vishing call where the attacker impersonated a regular employee and called the MGM helpdesk to obtain access credentials. In South Korea, a doctor wired US$3mil (RM14mil) in cash, stock and cryptocurrencies to cybercriminals impersonating regional law-enforcement officials. In Hong Kong, an employee wired US$25mil (RM117mil) after interacting with a deepfake CFO over a Zoom call. A CEO of a UK-based energy company was scammed into transferring US$243,000 (RM1.1mil) thinking he was interacting with his German counterpart.

With AI technologies evolving rapidly, vishing attacks will be executed at a massive scale and with high precision. Conventional vishing attacks use automated voice recordings and robocalls while future attacks will use AI to converse live with victims. Adding insult to injury, a four-word phone scam is the latest threat. Scammers call and ask, "Can you hear me?" to which the victim replies, "Yes." Boom – the victim's voice gets cloned.

How can organisations mitigate the risk of vishing attacks?

Phishing attacks jumped 60% in the last year thanks to AI-based voice cloning technologies and deepfake phishing attacks. Below are some recommendations and best practices organizations can adopt to mitigate the threat of vishing attacks:

1. Improve vishing awareness among employees: Vishing prevention starts with continuous employee security awareness. Organisations must remind employees of vishing risks and reinforce the importance of being cautious and vigilant. Include vishing examples and scenarios in your security training and newsletters and other awareness materials.

2. Invest in employee training: Using phishing simulation exercises and hands-on training, employees must be taught to recognise and report vishing attacks. They must be taught to identify red flags – unfamiliar area codes, strange accents, or out-of-the-blue messages; sudden, unexpected or urgent requests for money transfers and the like.

3. Update policies to reflect vishing risks: Company policies, documentation, and processes must be updated with vishing guidance so that employees are clear on the standard code of conduct, especially when it involves voice calls. If you're worried the caller is a scammer, hang up; think before you speak. Never share personal information or credentials with random callers, when in doubt, double check the caller's identity.

Studies show that two-thirds of enterprises are not prepared to deal with vishing attacks and more than three-quarters do not invest resources in voice fraud protection.

While governments, telcos and industry bodies might be attempting to crack down on vishing through tools like deepfake audio detectors and voice biometrics, it's incumbent on organisations to educate and train employees so they have an additional layer of protection against such crafty and insidious kinds of cyberattacks and social engineering threats. – Inc./Tribune News Service

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China makes history as it nails second landing on Moon’s far side

Video: https://x.com/i/status/1797082273982132735

HISTORY MADE: Chang’e-6 lands on far side of the moon to collect unique ... https://youtu.be/r0YqKP-Eyhs?si=H8VQRIgeH1XLVB4K via @YouTube

This image taken from video animation at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on June 2, 2024 shows the lander-ascender combination of Chang'e 6 probe touches down on the far side of the moon. Photo: VCG

China has successfully landed its second spacecraft - the Chang'e-6 unmanned probe - on the Moon's far side on Sunday, when no other country has done it once. The feat marks a key milestone in achieving its mission to bring home, for the first time in human history, samples from an unexplored region from Earth's natural satellite, as stargazers around the world hold their breaths for this epic moment.

Sunday's historic moment was also hailed by Western media. Chinese experts said while the US is setting unrealistic, grand goals but giving it a tight schedule in order to outpace China, China is steadily moving forward step by step, achieving concrete and rich results.

The lander-ascender combination of the Chang'e-6 probe, after traveling in orbit for some 30 days since its May 3 launch, touched down at the designated landing area at 6:23 am (Beijing Time) in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.

The powered descent began at 6:09 am. The main engine with variable thrust was ignited, and the combination quickly adjusted its attitude and gradually approached the lunar surface.

Soft landing on the Moon has always been a key hurdle for countries around the world in their lunar explorations. Last August, India became the fourth country following the US, the former Soviet Union and China to conquer the feat with its Chandrayaan-3 probe, after its first such attempt failed in 2019.

Japan also made it to the Moon in January this year, but its SLIM lander overturned during the process of landing, arriving upside-down on the lunar surface which put the solar panels in shadow and soon resulting in battery shortage for the lander.

Landing on the far side of the Moon is even more challenging, or as some have described it, the moment where the chance of failure is the highest. This is because the far side is always facing away from the Earth and is marked by numerous deep and shadowy craters, making it difficult to have direct communications and posing high demand for robotic landing operations, experts said.

"It's just like landing a small truck in the midst of towering mountains and ridges, where every step must be taken seriously," Xinhua News Agency said in a report on Sunday.

Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times that the smooth soft landing signaled China's competent lunar landing techniques, with the Queqiao-2 relay satellite providing sufficient communication efficiency and transmission rates, managing to bridge the communication link when ground control cannot directly observe the status of the lunar rover.

Despite having communication relays on the far side, however, the transmission signals still had time delays, which required the Chang'e-6 probe adjusting its position and making obstacle avoidances all by itself. Such real-time responses need a highly intelligent and automated system, Wang said.

Within 48 hours after landing, a robotic arm will be extended to scoop rocks and soil from the lunar surface, and a drill will bore into the ground.

Due to the moon's obstruction, the Earth-moon communication window period on the far side of the moon, even with the help of the Queqiao-2 relay satellite service, is still shorter than that on the near side. Therefore, the sampling time of Chang'e-6 will be reduced to only 14 hours, compared with the 22 hours used by its predecessor Chang'e-5, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Steady progress

The historic moment made by the Chang'e-6 mission has made headlines in multiple mainstream Western media outlets.

The AP said the Chnag'e-6 could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side.

The AP described the moon program as "part of a growing rivalry with the US - still the leader in space exploration - and others."

Reuters, on Sunday, also reported that "the landing elevates China's space power status in a global rush to the moon," where countries including the US are hoping to exploit lunar minerals to sustain long-term astronaut missions and moon bases within the next decade.

The US also has its own ambitious moon program called the Artemis. The program envisions a crewed moon landing by late 2026, relying heavily on private companies. However, the program has met several major delays that put a question mark on whether it could meet its grand goals.

Following a successful uncrewed test flight in late 2022, NASA had planned to launch a crewed lunar flyby mission called Artemis II in November 2024. In a press briefing in January, NASA officials revealed that the mission would be delayed until September 2025. Artemis III - the program's first crewed lunar landing - has slipped as well, pushed back to September 2026, according to publications.

The US' moon program is featured by is its grandiose goals, Wang said. The expert took an example of the Gateway Space Station around the moon by NASA and using it as a base for manned lunar exploration, "possibly even venturing into deeper space from this point."

However, it seems contradictory that while pursuing such grandiose goals, the US has set a tight schedule for its technical research and development, as the US government is determined to "being faster than China," Wang noted.

The expert further noted that while the US' manned lunar landing aims to make a revolutionary leap from the Apollo program decades ago, it set an ambitious deadline around 2026, which will inevitably pose significant technical risks, highlighting the uncertainty in the current US lunar exploration efforts.

In contrast, China's lunar exploration project has been built step by step, relying on the footsteps of previous missions. It would be a natural outcome if China could land its taikonauts on the moon by 2030, Wang believes.

Wang noted that China is steadily moving forward, leaving clear footprints and achieving fruitful results. "If Chang'e-6 successfully returns with samples from the moon's far side, these samples will provide key information for understanding the moon's origins, geological changes, and even some information about the early formation of the universe."

With China's continuous success in deep space exploration, the prospects for international cooperation are expanding, observers said. China's high success rate in deep space exploration, particularly lunar missions, demonstrates its reliability and safety in operating unmanned spacecraft, making it an ideal partner for collaboration.

In the current era of increased geopolitical tensions, the Chang'e 6 mission is "a rare example of constructive international collaboration," Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University in Australia was quoted as saying in The Conversation.

The Chang'e-6 mission has brought up four international payloads to the Moon, including the European Space Agency's lunar surface ion composition analyzer, France's radon detection instrument, Italy's laser corner reflector, and a CubeSat from Pakistan, the CNSA revealed to the Global Times. Now the payloads will begin conducting scientific research as planned, the administration said.

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Sunday, June 2, 2024

Ties that bind Malaysia and China

Bustling metropolis: China has transformed tremendously since it began to open and reform its economy in 1978. Now more than 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the country. — Reuters

Let’s dispense with the Western narrative and embrace our centuries’ old friendship.

It’s mindboggling how quickly the Chinese government has successfully turned the country into an economic powerhouse with huge leaps into technological and digital realms including artificial intelligence.

TWO months following Malaysia Airlines’ maiden voyage to Beijing on March 31, 1991, I had my first trip to China.

I was invited by our national carrier as part of the media and government official team to experience its new route.

By then, Beijing had already become a big city with tall buildings and highways, but the streets were still filled with bicycles.

Over the last three decades, I have repeatedly returned to Beijing and other cities. Like many regular visitors, I can’t help but marvel at the pace of the economic transformation.

It’s mind-boggling how quickly the Chinese government has successfully turned the country into an economic powerhouse with huge leaps into technological and digital realms including artificial intelligence.

Their infrastructure, especially their super rail connections, are certainly the best in the world now. None of the European and American links can hold a candle to the Chinese rails.

As of 2024, it’s reported that China has more than 159,000km of railways, the second longest network in the world, and 45,000km of high-speed rail, the longest HSR in the world.

Of course, Western rail networks began much earlier while China played catch up, but with new facilities, they are more sophisticated since they can avoid the mistakes and poor maintenance practices of those in the West.

They’re certainly the envy of the world as they whizz between cities at speeds of about 320km per hour.

Those who’ve never been to China can’t ever fathom how far the republic has overtaken the Western world.

On my travels, I’ve had the misfortune of meeting many Americans and Europeans who still have flawed, if not archaic, views of China and many other parts of Asia.

The Americans are the worst because many have never travelled beyond the United States. I have given up explaining to them where Malaysia is.

On a trip to Antarctica in January, as my fellow Malaysian traveller Yusof Hashim and I held our Jalur Gemilang proudly, a passing American expedition member asked my wife if we were holding the Taiwan flag!

But of course, the Brits are familiar with most of us from the Commonwealth countries, obviously because they colonised us, and don’t parade such ignorance.

In any case, the Western narrative against China has been such a resounding success that many Western tourists have kept away from “communist” and “dictatorial” China.

Accusations of unfair dealings, falsified data and purported persecution of Uighurs in Xinjiang, and Tibetans, are also entrenched in their minds although most can’t pinpoint these places on a world map.

From my anecdotal engagements with my Western friends, it’s obvious they swallow what their politicians tell them and steadfastly refuse to have anything to do with China, which is a shame.

I’ve always told them that they need to see for themselves how China has advanced.

But what is conspicuously downplayed is Western politicians viewing China as the biggest challenge of any nationstate in the world against the US and its allies.

The US wants a big share of China’s consumer market, which has embraced Western products, but the image of the republic seeking leadership roles in many multilateral platforms remains unpalatable.

An article by Dr Zuliu Hu and

Mohsin Khan from the International Monetary Fund titled “Why Is China Growing So Fast” attributes the progress to capital investment, which has made the country more productive.

Basically, new machinery, better technology, and more investment in infrastructure have helped to raise output, they wrote.

Its economy may have once been in the doldrums, but since opening to foreign trade and investment in 1979, China has been among the world’s fastest growing economies and among the highest in terms of purchasing power parity.

After all, it had a growth rate averaging 10% for over 30 years.

Since it began to open and reform its economy in 1978, more than 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty. Across China, and especially its cities, you don’t see slums like in India, or colonies of vagrants, like in the US.

Basically, there have been significant improvements in access to health, education and other services.

Emphasis is given to schools, and even in the most remote areas where I’ve seen and been thoroughly impressed by the kinds of facilities available to school children.

In Guangzhou, I saw robotics, 3D printing and coding already being taught in a secondary school during a trip in 2017.

No doubt, as the economy grows, there will be disparity, especially in a country of 1.4 billion people.

There are the upper middle class as well as those struggling to earn a living in the big cities, where at least 40% of their income goes to rental fees.

Fast forward to 2024, and as I continue my journeys in China, I have begun to feel that as Malaysians, we are poorer.

The depreciating ringgit hasn’t helped in our declining purchasing power.

As most countries direct factory outlets away from the cities, which makes travelling unnecessary, I still visited one which was right smack in three building blocks in Beijing.

Looking at the wide range of products from the West and China, I wondered how the Chinese can afford such expensive items, and where their money comes from!

In Shanghai, where many of the city folks are often welldressed, I felt even smaller.

This doesn’t bode well for me as a third-generation Chinese.

My grandfather left Guangdong in China because they were almost trapped in famine and needed to come to Malaya to escape poverty.

And now, many of my friends who have relatives in Fujian and Guangdong, speak about how financially secure their relatives have become.

For Malaysia, as we celebrate 50 years of friendship with China, it’s imperative we leverage on the ties which bind both nations.

The special bond began in the 1400s when Admiral Zheng He visited Melaka several times, marking the state’s significance.

I tip my hat to Malaysia and China!

By Wong Chun Wai

Related post:

China extends a TVET helping hand to Malaysia

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DPM's visit deepens bilateral ties

Warm send-off: Ahmad Zahid (second left) bidding farewell to staff from the Malaysian Embassy in China before leaving for Malaysia. With him is Malaysian Ambassador to China Datuk Norman Muhamad (left). — Bernama

THE 11-day official visit of Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to China has not only helped bolster Malaysia-China diplomatic relations but also fostered meaningful collaborations for businesses and the people back home.

Despite a tight schedule that took him through Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, the Deputy Prime Minister always maintained a warm smile, especially during his numerous courtesy meetings with Chinese leaders and officials.

His joy and pride of being on the trip was palpable as he had on more than one occasion expressed his admiration for the responsiveness and openness of the Chinese government during the visit.

During an appreciation dinner, Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) chairman Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, who was part of the Malaysian delegation, hailed the visit as “fruitful and impactful”.

“The swift and comprehensive responses from Chinese leaders and institutions regarding our cooperation proposals are a positive sign for Malaysia, particularly in educational collaborations between the countries.

“We have strengthened ties in higher education, especially in TVET (technical and vocational education and training), and tourism following the 30-day visa-free travel ease, benefiting both nations.

“We are delighted that Mara and GiatMara will offer more valuable TVET opportunities for Malaysian students.

“This is also a good sign of more such positive tie-ups to come, as both countries move towards a new chapter of an even stronger friendship after this golden jubilee celebration,” he said.

Despite this being his first visit to China as Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Rural and Regional Development Minister, is no stranger to Chinese leaders.

During a courtesy call on China’s State Councillor and Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong, a warm and convivial atmosphere was prevalent as both leaders, who have been friends for a long time, shared laughter.

When Wang introduced his colleagues to his guest, Ahmad Zahid easily identified some of them.

Speaking to the media, Ahmad Zahid, also the National TVET Council Committee chairman, could not but marvel at China’s commitment to being a strategic partner in the TVET sector, an area close to his heart.

The bilateral discussions encompassed artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, renewable energy, and technology transfer.

Expectations are high for further cooperation between China and Malaysia, with the upcoming visit of Chinese Premier Li Qiang to Malaysia this month.

During engagements with the Malaysian diaspora in Tier 1 cities in China, Ahmad Zahid received a warm reception and commended the loyalty of Malaysians even when they were seeking opportunities abroad.

First-tier cities comprise Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen – the four most developed cities in terms of economic and infrastructure development.

A media veteran observed that the choice of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing on Ahmad Zahid’s itinerary was because of their expertise in TVET, high technology, and knowledge transfer.

“These visits are seen as a continuation of the agreements reached between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his Chinese counterpart last year.

“Both sides are happy that he (Ahmad Zahid) is here, as assurance that the agreed projects are being implemented, the media veteran said.

Ahmad Zahid also emphasised the importance of setting a timeline for turning memoranda of understanding into action and reality.

It is clear that he is committed to ensuring that the collaborations and partnerships forged during his visit will produce tangible benefits for both Malaysia and China.

With continuing hard work and dedication, this solid relationship can only grow and prosper in the 50 years ahead – and beyond.