China high tech

(Corrects spelling to Kottmann from Hottmann, paragraphs 3, 16, 18-25) (Reuters) - At a time when U.S. agencies and thousands of companies are fighting off major hacking campaigns originating in Russia and China, a different kind of cyber threat is re-emerging: activist hackers looking to make a political point. Three major hacks show the power of this new wave of "hacktivism" - the exposure of AI-driven video surveillance being conducted by the startup Verkada, a collection of Jan. 6 riot videos from the right-wing social network Parler, and disclosure of the Myanmar military junta's high-tech surveillance apparatus. And the U.S. government’s response shows that officials regard the return of hacktivism with alarm. An indictment last week accused 21-year-old Tillie Kottmann, a Swiss hacker who took credit for the Verkada breach, of a broad conspiracy. "Wrapping oneself in an allegedly altruistic motive does not remove the criminal stench from such intrusion, theft and ... » Learn More about New wave of ‘hacktivism’ adds twist to cybersecurity woes

Kang Chang-hyeon in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, on Feb 20. (Photo: AFP) In a South Korean rice field, the teenage world drone-racing champion is preparing to defend his title in one of the planet's fastest and highest-tech sports. But at all of 18 years old, Kang Chang-hyeon fears he is quickly passing his prime to compete at top flight levels. On the starting signal, Kang and his three teammates send their craft buzzing furiously into the air and hurtling around an obstacle course set up on the bare earth in Hwaseong, south of Seoul. The only human movement was the twitch of fingers on handsets, which the pilots use to control the aircraft while wearing virtual-reality goggles that give them a drone's-eye view of the route. Three laps and around one minute later, the race was over and the technical analysis began in a dedicated tent, with pilots, coaches, technicians and parents poring over flight data. Like Formula One, drone-flying depends both on precision engineering ... » Learn More about Meet S. Korea’s 18-year-old world drone champion

SINGAPORE: There is a tongue-in-cheek joke that the coronavirus did far more for digital transformation than any company’s most well-intentioned Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) or Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Because of COVID-19 we saw mass adoption in telecommuting, increases in on-demand food and services and a spike in virtual platforms like Google’s Hangout and Microsoft’s Teams and while Netflix added 15.8 million subscribers from January to March alone as the pandemic-linked lockdowns forced people to stay at home. Slack added over 9000 new users in the first months of the pandemic and Zoom shares rose 112 per cent. Schools of all levels utilised video-conferencing programmes and e-learning while grandparents jumped onto mobile-based payment platforms like PayNow to minimise physical contact with cash-based payment. The local banking scene also made strides with the awarding of four local digital banking licenses. A consortium of Grab-Singtel was awarded a full ... » Learn More about Commentary: Forget digital banks – many still prefer the trip to the branch