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The coexistence of IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) in the Philippines does not only mean the convergence of technology. Rather it brings together people from different domains to sit together and plan for the future. IT and OT both have fairly different networks. Hence, converging them does not only mean bringing and sorting a few desks together or scheduling meetings together.

The IT field deals with information as it adopts a business-oriented approach while the OT field deals and interacts with machines as it adopts a machine-oriented approach. Basically, both the fields have a difference of day and night between them!

It is definitely a huge challenge to bring together IT and OT, especially in a country like the Philippines. IT and OT industries in the Philippines have been booming. Therefore, the amalgamation of both fields would mean BUSINESS!

The Philippines is slowly and gradually becoming a hub of outsourcing. People from all over the world are outsourcing their IT and OT projects to the Philippines. Hence, both industries are flourishing at a rapid rate. The BPO industry in the Philippines is geared up to generate over 1.3 million jobs. Moreover, both sectors have full support from the government of the Philippines.

So, having read about the importance of IT and OT in the Philippines, let’s have a look at 12 ways through which it becomes possible to bring together IT and OT here. Here we go:

1. Uniting Two Different Languages

As IT and OT both are different fields, their respective languages are different as well. The terminology is different. Hence, uniting two different languages would make it easier for the coexistence of IT and OT.

For example, CIP vs. SIP (both pronounced as sip but meanings are different). In the OT industry, CIP stands for Common Industrial Protocol which means having a protocol for automating industrial processes, controlling, safety, configuration, etc. However, in the IT industry, SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol which means having a protocol that starts, maintains, and terminates real-time voice and messages.

So, if both the languages, the terminologies, the jargon, and the acronyms are collected in the same place, the task would become easier for the coexistence of IT and OT.

It is definitely hard but not impossible!

2. Bringing Together the Diverse Cultures

IT and OT both have been present here for a lot of time. Therefore, the IT and OT cultures are quite diverse and profound. IT puts focus on the security of the offices and accessibility as it has been the custodian of ethernet technology for years now. OT focuses on reliability, availability, and quality.

Basically, both the fields had the requirement of different skillsets. Nonetheless, IT and OT convergence is changing that!

It is very much possible for both the groups to unite together. Nonetheless, honesty and patience are the keys to clearing the questions and truly understanding the connection between IT and OT.

3. Cooperating with Each Other

A number of times, groups often oppose each other for several reasons. In short, they are adamant about not working together. The idea of one group being too dominant over the other is actually dangerous for coordination. Therefore, it creates rifts between the groups, and working together becomes harder.

In a bid to align IT and OT, the manufacturing and industrial sectors would need a person to step up in order to bring into line the priorities, engaging everyone to work together diligently. This single person would act as a third party and would not take any sides. The same person would have to represent both sides. Therefore, it is necessary for him/her to have knowledge in both fields.

The person must be able to persuade people from both sides in order to initiate cooperation.

4. Fully Understanding the Meaning of Convergence

It is vital to understand that remaining on the same page in terms of IT and OT convergence is necessary!

Convergence does not mean that everyone would have equal accessibility to everything. When IT and OT are converged, the decisions would be based on mutual agreements. However, there will be dozens of challenges in converging both fields. It is not as simple as connecting two domains.

Through IT and OT convergence, you will have the benefits of IoT and process automation. You will be running after similar objectives to make sure that the convergence has proven to be fruitful.

In the end, a thorough convergence would ensure running a single system and managing it only.

5. Faithful in Making the Convergence Works

It is all in your mind! If you believe you can do it, then no force can stop you from doing it!

Convergence is definitely very helpful in providing several benefits. In order to analyze the benefits, start with a pilot project or opt for some projects in which both IT and OT can work together. Slowly and gradually, build trust in the process, the team members, and your own approach, and then witness the feedback.

Plus, make sure to not get annoyed if any of the trials fail. Every member of the team must be ready for hiccups, mistakes, and total failures. Also, draw an insight regarding how the issues would be resolved.

6. Converging the Process

Converging the process means aligning the workflows of both IT and OT. The IT and OT platforms must be able to modify their processes in order to accommodate each other while making sure that projects are communicated in the right manner. Newly converged technology would definitely take some time to prove its mettle. However, over time, you would realize that it was actually the right decision.

7. Communicate Goals and Strategies

The best part about the convergence of IT and OT is that the communication of goals and strategies would make the job easier and faster. Developing a clear picture of the goals, discussing with each and every member, and ensuring that everyone understands the challenges and benefits of convergence are key to success. Nonetheless, it is important to make sure that members of both groups are equally participating in the discussion in order to avoid problems in the future.

8. Defining Roles and Objectives

As two different groups are being amalgamated, the first and foremost task is to define the roles and objectives of each and every group member. The responsibilities must be assigned according to the skillset of the members. Moreover, both the IT and OT team members should get an equal amount of work.

There should not be any sort of discrimination if the idea is to keep both groups converged triumphantly.

Plus, apart from assigning the duties, there should be an initiative to keep the teams together. Also, the focus should be on providing opportunities to collaborate so members can easily gel together.

9. Make Use of the Accurate Tools

In every domain, the use of appropriate tools is extremely important. IT and OT teams do require tools to communicate with each other. Moreover, deploying accurate tools make sure that there is enough visibility on what is happening around the ongoing projects. Visibility is very important so that all the functions remain under the scanner and nothing could escape from the eyes.

10. Train the members of both IT and OT Groups

Training is very important, no matter wherever you head! Training the members would create a new atmosphere for convergence where everything would happen in a sustained manner. Through cross-training, the members of the IT group would know the expectations of the OT group and vice versa.

So, both the groups would work hand in hand without making problems amidst any important project.

11. Keep a Check on the Flow of Data

When IT and OT groups are brought together, the check on the flow of data becomes imminent. You must be able to identify the devices from which the flow of data has originated. Plus, with a number of IT and OT devices passing through your network, it is very important to know their actual location.

Therefore, if you know the actual location, you will be able to identify and eliminate the vulnerabilities.

While eliminating vulnerabilities, the basic aim should be to have a completely secured coexistence of IT and OT.

12. Integration with Existing Systems

The coexistence of IT and OT is only possible through the integration of existing systems. It is not fully possible to completely replace all the previous systems in order to create adaptability among IT and OT systems. Hence, the task should be to bring together IT and OT and integrate them with existing systems.

By adopting this approach, you will be able to cut down a lot on costs. Moreover, the main agenda of coexistence is to do more with less!

The Bottom Line

So, the above-mentioned are the 12 fruitful ways of making IT and OT coexist in the Philippines or in every other country in the world. Basically, the approach always remains the same. Nowadays, the convergence of IT and OT can deliver a number of benefits for organizations. So, coexistence must be looked forward to!

Cyber threats are costing the Philippines’ businesses a huge amount of money. Therefore, a complete cyber insurance policy is a MUST in such situations. One report by Microsoft Philippines last year highlighted cyber threats that would go to hit around $3.5 billion in a single year.

The Insurance Commission (IC) said that the breaches in data privacy are the actual risks. Hence, the Philippines’ businesses should opt for a cybersecurity insurance policy. He further added that dealing with cyber attacks and breaches must be a part of a company’s risk management plan.

Moreover, talking about the industries that require cybersecurity insurance, Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa said highlighted BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) as it mainly deals with a huge amount of data. Hence, the BPO industry requires the greatest protection against cyber threats.

Nonetheless, the BPO industry has not fully understood the intensity of the time and there’s a very low take-up of cybersecurity insurance policies as of now! It’s totally alarming at this point in time!

In November 2021, a lot of people got to know that their personal information was breached because of a ransomware attack on S&R Membership Shopping which is a warehouse club located in the city of Paranaque.

According to Manila’s National Privacy Commission, personal details such as name, phone numbers, or birthdate were revealed to the hackers. However, bank information was somehow preserved. So, the authorities are constantly working to improve the cyber environment in the Philippines.

Since mid-2020, there have been several cyber-attacks on the Philippines’ small and mid-size businesses. These attacks have caused the breach of the personal databases of the customers with companies bearing huge losses around US. $500,000 to US. $1 million.

Importance of a Cybersecurity Insurance

Cybersecurity insurance makes sure that your company fully recovers after a data breach or a cyber-attack. The insurance company would reimburse the costs like equipment damage, legal help, forensic examination, time loss, revenue loss, or costs related to business disruption. Moreover, an insurance company anticipates such cyber-attacks.

Therefore, they inform you in prior so that you are able to fight back at the right time without any major delay. Hence, cybersecurity insurance plays a crucial role in today’s dicey digital environment. A wide variety of businesses should opt for cybersecurity insurance before it is too late!

Why does Your Philippines Business Needs Cybersecurity Insurance?

After acknowledging the important details about the condition of businesses in the Philippines in terms of cybersecurity while understanding the importance of a cybersecurity insurance policy. Let’s have a broader look at why your Philippines business needs full-fledged cybersecurity insurance. Here we go!

• Loss of Data

During a data breach, the sensitive information of the clients is compromised. In the Philippines, 43% of the companies took the help of cybersecurity measures in order to prevent data loss. As we all know that Filipino population is becoming more and more tech-savvy with each passing day. Hence, the need for cyber insurance has grown multifold. In 2016, the Philippines Election Commission suffered a major cyber-attack as it was the biggest data leak in the history of the Philippines. The sensitive data related to 70 million voters was compromised. Another study in 2019 highlighted that if the cybersecurity conditions are not improved in the country, the Philippines would have to be ready to face a loss of $3.5 billion.

However, during the pandemic, the cybersecurity conditions drastically improved. A survey was conducted in 2020 which stated that 43% of the businesses in the Philippines have become more active in investing in cybersecurity insurance.

Loss of data is still a huge cause of concern for the improving digital economy of the Philippines. A loss of data occurs, and the company is responsible for the breach no matter where the data is kept.

So, it is important that you keep a regular check on the places where sensitive information is stored.

Nonetheless, if a data breach occurs, a cybersecurity insurance policy would put efforts into the retention of the data. Plus, the insurance policy would also account for the defense mechanisms such as responding to the cyber threats and lending a hand to the investigators.

• Loss of Devices

Today, everything happens through a small, portable, yet so powerful mobile phone. Apart from mobile phones, laptops are the primary devices used in companies. In the Philippines, mostly the workforce uses similar devices to operate in their companies.

So, when such devices are left on the premises of the company, it becomes very easy to hack or steal these devices. Nonetheless, it is not possible to fully protect the devices and prevent the loss of devices, but you can organize limited information on such gadgets.

Companies in the Philippines are now investing a lot in cybersecurity measures. For example, an allocation of 86% for anti-malware and antivirus tools, 59% for firewalls of the next generation, and 47% for cloud security tools have been invested in order to prevent any major or minor breach.

The important markets for cybersecurity insurance in the Philippines are the Philippine government, BPO industry, educational industry, telecommunication firms, health, and financial sectors. These industries are extremely vulnerable to the loss of devices and data breaches.

Therefore, the primary task is to safeguard all such industries for the betterment of the Philippines on whole.

Using effective passwords, placing two-factor authentication, and placing fingerprint access to all the devices would really help the companies to fight back against cyber threats. Moreover, sensitive and private information should not be stored on a laptop. Instead, encryption must be made mandatory.

Nonetheless, if a breach occurs then according to the cybersecurity insurance policy, the business would be compensated through Network and Information Security Liability coverage. Such coverage provides prevention from unauthorized access to devices or sensitive information with funding to cover the costs of lost devices such as laptops or mobile phones.

So, the businesses in the Philippines really need to step up their game and get cybersecurity insurance immediately.

• Businesses at Risk

Several businesses in the Philippines are at a major risk of cyber threats due to which a number of businesses have winded up their operations within the country. In order to tackle the risk, cybersecurity insurance has literally become a mandatory thing to opt for before anything big happens.

The small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the Philippines that went digital due to the pandemic are experiencing constant cyber-attacks, a study by Cisco Systems, Inc highlighted. Mainly, SMBs are the victims of such cyber-attacks. Therefore, a need for cybersecurity insurance is there!

Juan Huat Koo, director of Cisco for cybersecurity mentioned that as the SMBs are going digital due to the pandemic, the attackers are becoming more and more active in targeting the vulnerable areas. Moreover, when the companies go digital, they produce more data than before. So, concerns increase even more!

Around 77% of the SMBs have conducted surveys to find out the main reasons for the cyber-attacks. Every analysis indicated a number of feeble entry points that helped the hackers to breach into the systems with total ease. Hence, around 82% of SMBs have grown more conscious of cyber threats.

Robin Llamas who is Cisco Philippines’ managing director officer-in-charge mentioned that SMBs need to take immediate action to stop such cyber-attacks in order to avoid big losses. He further added that when the hackers spend a lot of time in the system, they automatically have the advantage to steal more and more data.

In order for businesses to reduce or eliminate risk related to cybersecurity, the first and foremost task is to get a cybersecurity insurance policy that not only deals with the aftermath of the incident. Rather it helps businesses throughout their journeys to combat cyber-attackers.

• Cyber Risks are Evolving

The major problem of cyber-attacks is that they never remain safe. The art of cyber theft is constantly evolving. As technology is evolving, the methods of cyber-attackers are also evolving. In the Philippines, 7,000 ransomware attacks were inflicted on businesses in 2020 with web threats increasing to 59 percent.

Cyber-attackers are extremely interested in the cyber environment of the Philippines. As the attacks are evolving, the task has become extremely hard to improve cybersecurity on the daily basis. Hence, there is a huge need for implementing a cybersecurity insurance policy so that businesses in the Philippines remain on the safe side.

Phishing scams, unsolicited emails, ransomware attacks, and internet frauds are quite common in the Philippines. Nonetheless, the hackers are regularly adapting to the modern day’s needs as they are upping their game at every stage. So, getting cybersecurity insurance for businesses in the Philippines should not be an option but rather a requirement.

The Bottom Line So, here we have come to an end where we discussed the need for implementing cybersecurity insurance in businesses in the Philippines. As the country is adopting fresh and newer digital technologies, the requirement for strengthening the system has grown even more. It has become a priority to safeguard the systems right at the moment in order to avoid any major losses.

The Philippines is all set to become the next hyperscale hub and it is definitely a great opportunity for the internet users in the Philippines. Hence, the Philippines is the talk of the town in terms of hyperscale cloud.

In the Philippines, the number of internet users is huge! Around 73.9 million Internet users are seeking opportunities as the Philippines ranks second in data center evolution which is massive, to say the least, among Southeast Asian countries. This is nothing in front of the growth which is going to be witnessed in the coming 3 to 4 years. According to Philippine Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, the data centers in the Philippines would grow by around 24 percent in the coming time.

Also, the spending on cloud services in the Philippines is expected to grow from US$1.8 billion in 2020 to US$2.6 billion in 2024.

The hype around Hyperscale Cloud

Hyperscale is basically the ability of the architecture to scale down in the right manner in order to accommodate the growing demand which is added to the system. Hyperscalers are the enterprises that make sure to provide seamless delivery so that a scalable cloud could be built. Such popular enterprises are Amazon AWS, Google, and Microsoft.

The hype around hyperscale cloud is genuine because it helps in meeting the increased demand.

Moreover, it is cost-effective, accessible, fast, and reliable. Hence, the demand for hyperscale clouds is increasing day by day. A few key benefits of hyperscale are given below:

• Speed: In terms of speed, hyperscale has left every other technology behind. Plus, for the exceeding computing needs these days, hyperscale cloud is necessary to adopt.
• Little to no downtime: Downtime is the talk of the past. With hyperscale, there is little to no downtime due to increased demand or other problems.
• Improved efficiency: The extra layers of control are reduced in hyperscale which means the computer operations would be easy to handle.
• Digital Transformation: The digital transformation in the hyperscale cloud is extremely nonchalant.
• Scale: Hyperscale helps you to scale up or scale down, depending on the demand.

Importance of Hyperscale Cloud

Today, the demand is exceeding every minute. Hence, there should be a technology to meet the ever-growing demand while taking benefits from the multi-cloud platforms to match the demand, promoting the business growth. Hyperscale cloud provides the opportunity to reduce downtime and stay connected, eliminating all sorts of disruption.

Moreover, the hyperscale cloud connects all the regions in the world through undersea connections.

Hence, the Philippines is one of those regions that has simplified getting connected to the entire world through undersea technology as well as through other solutions.

So, the Philippines is without a doubt, the go-to place for the hyperscalers.

Surely, the Philippines is going to be the next hyperscale hub. But why the Philippines? That’s the question!

Why the Philippines is going to be the next Hyperscale Hub?

Well, there are a number of factors due to which the Philippines is potentially strong enough to become the next hyperscale hub. The economic situation in the Philippines is improving which is a positive sign for the investors and the enterprisers. Moreover, the digital know-how is also captivating in the Philippines.

Also, digital growth has been a major factor in developing the interest of the hyperscalers in the Philippines.

The Internet economy is madly boosting in the Philippines. Therefore, internet users have multiplied in the past few years. Gary Ignacio who is the vice president and head of Strategic Business Development at PLDT Enterprise says that in 2025, internet users in the Philippines would increase to 90 million which is a BIG number!

Currently, the market opportunity is to capture the local presence and deploy cloud regions in the Philippines as much as one can in order to cater to the growing demand with a great chance to earn profits.

• Suitable Location

The best part about the Philippines is its location for the hypescalers. The strategic location of the Philippines offers accessibility to host content and transmit data across Southeast Asia and other bigger Asian Pacific regions. Hence, enterprises are looking forward to adding cable systems, considering the supreme location of the Philippines.

Gary Ignacio stated that their team is adding around 16 cable systems. Moreover, in the coming years, they will look to add more. Plus, he highlighted the Jupiter subsea cable system which is commendable to connect the US and the Philippines, creating a trans-pacific link, for example.

Cable systems such as ADC and Apricot will go live within the next 2 to 3 years in order to bolster Inter-Asian connectivity. Hence, in order to cater to the growing number of cable systems, enterprises are also launching landing stations to ensure smooth connectivity. The hyperscale customers will be looking for such resilience offered through the landing stations.

• International Connectivity

International connectivity is also a big cause for the next hyperscale hub in the Philippines. The Philippines offers continuous connectivity opportunities to worldwide data centers, without even a single hiccup. Resilience is offered and the providers in the Philippines are riding peacefully, thanks to this factor.

The data centers in the Philippines are carrier-neutral which means diversity is offered and connectivity is made simpler.

The international carriage capacity is also increasing due to a huge number of data centers. Undersea global partners have helped to develop such connections that make sure to connect several countries all at once.

The Philippines is becoming an excellent cloud region for exploring prospects. Moreover, the improvement in the digital economy of the country will by default assist the growth of cloud usage. One should not forget that the Philippines is one of the biggest Information Technology – Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) markets in the world with BPO companies opting for cloud-based solutions, the Philippines’ market is going to be a sure-shot winner in the coming days!

• Improved Industry

The government of the Philippines has also noted the increased demand for hyperscale clouds. Therefore, they are also offering opportunities to the companies to expand their cloud operations here. Hence, PLDT, last year announced that they will build the biggest data center in the Philippines.

Ignacio added that they will make sure to build a state-of-the-art data center that would comply with international standards. He also said that they will create a very unique hyperscale design for the data center.

Ignacio happily stated that the Philippines government has identified hyperscale data centers as the main industry sector. So, when the government itself is classifying the importance of hyperscale data centers, it is definitely a win-win situation for the companies. As the government of the Philippines identifies hyperscale cloud, there will be several tax breaks and government incentives to help this sector to grow even more.

Ignacio was enthusiastic to learn about the current and upcoming IT environment of the country where users are developing wired and wireless connections, seeking arrangements from PLDT and several other enterprises and developing the digital future in the Philippines.

The conditions in the country are quite welcoming for enterprises, looking to expand around the area of hyperscale cloud. The government of the Philippines is supporting them at every stage in order to set a positive environment to further increase growth.

Also, the government is providing relaxation in relevant laws and rules, data privacy, security, and other related departments so that the enterprises face no difficulty in working here in the Philippines as it would only help the economy of the country.

• Growing BPO Sector

As mentioned above, the BPO sector in the Philippines is drastically improving and growing. The Philippines is amongst the biggest BPO leaders across the whole world and will be increasing at a rapid pace in the coming times.

Hence, it has driven the demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud which is a shift caused due to the remote working setup of the companies where they seek to acknowledge the needs and demands of the customer through an online journey.

Enterprises are moving towards the cloud with vertical applications and hybrid operations in an effort to expand networks through fiber and 5G technology, led by the PLDT company in the Philippines. By 2025, the cloud market in the Philippines would grow to US$ 2.8 billion which is a massive figure, undoubtedly.

The Philippines has become one of the best outsourcing locations in the world. The country is offering amazing education, a hospitable culture, opportunities to grow, and a welcoming government. Hence, outsourcing cloud work here could be a great move as with all these advantages, low price is also a factor to remember.

The Bottom Line

Towards the end, we need to realize that hyperscale is not PERFECT! There could be a few hiccups with this sort of technology. Nonetheless, in the Philippines, the major enterprises are working hard to make the technology super-fast and highly adaptable to all users. The increased number of internet users require hyperscale cloud in order to smoothen their experience.

The speed and agility offered through hyperscale solutions are unimaginable. Moreover, the enterprises are also working hard to reduce carbon footprint which is again a huge positive for this technology. By 2030, the technology would achieve carbon neutrality, getting rid of carbon emissions.

Manufacturing is a huge industry in Malaysia. It deals with both the fields; IT and OT. IT is basically all about digital information, network storage, cloud computing, and data-related hardware and software.

Whereas OT encompasses the systems that keep a check on the operations of physical equipment such as machines, devices, plants, and pumps. Both fields need to work together in order to bring laurels to the manufacturing industry in Malaysia.

However, due to risks regarding cybersecurity and a couple of other reasons, it is quite hard to bring both groups on the same page. Nonetheless, there is a need to bridge the gap so that IT and OT come together to create a full-fledged smart manufacturing industry.

The aspect of cybersecurity in IT and OT is essential because Malaysia has been flourishing really fast in the digital world. Due to the rapid popularity of digitalization in Malaysia, the risks of cybersecurity are also maximizing thereby. Hence, the convergence of IT and OT in manufacturing come across the challenge of cybersecurity at the forefront.

So, in this article, we will try to find out how to bridge the gap between IT and OT in manufacturing while dealing with the risks of cybersecurity in Malaysia.

Without any further ado, let’s delve in!

Role of IT and OT in Manufacturing and the Risks of Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity has been a priority for Malaysians across all the major sectors, emphasizing a lot on the manufacturing industry. In order to understand the interest of the government of Malaysia in cybersecurity, you can assume from their allocation of US$434 million to prepare for the upcoming challenges posed by cyber-attackers to strengthen the country’s cybersecurity.

Malaysia Cyber Security Strategy (MCSS) launched the program for the years 2020-2024.

Understanding IT in Manufacturing

• What is IT?

IT in manufacturing is about transactional processes and includes a data management component, for example, a database. So, the data that is included in such storage and retrieval activities are mainly based on IT.

Deploying an IT Infrastructure in Manufacturing Industry

Basically, IT infrastructure falls into 3 major categories; system infrastructure, network infrastructure, and storage infrastructure.

• System Infrastructure:

System infrastructure deals with a wide variety of critical actions. It encompasses the management of all the IT assets within the data centers. For all such tasks, a chief technical officer (CTO) is in-charge.

• Network Infrastructure:

Network infrastructure makes sure that the configuration of all the linked networks is working fine and all the applications are having continuous access to the resources, ensuring that the network is safe.

• Storage Infrastructure

Lastly, storage infrastructure is responsible for keeping safe all the important assets of the manufacturing industry.

In order to broaden the study of the IT infrastructure in the manufacturing industry, the categories are further divided into 5 main components. So, let’s discuss them NOW:

1. Computer Hardware Platforms

All the tangible components of the infrastructure like computers, servers, cybersecurity tools, boosters, routers, repeaters, wires, supplies, or cooling units make up the computer hardware that ensures the use of the IT environment.

1. Operating Systems Platform

This is the platform that deals with the interface of hardware with software, middleware, and the application layers of the IT infrastructure. Operating systems are the main components that enable the users to operate the hardware.

1. Software Applications

The IT infrastructure mostly consists of physical components but it might extend to a few software applications as well. It consists of both enterprise-level software like Oracle, SAP, or Microsoft and client-level applications that take advantage of the enterprise layer. A number of layers of software combine in order to make the hardware intelligent, thereby performing actions like calculation, interaction, and even cognizance.

1. Data Management and Storage

Data management and storage act as the main areas in the IT infrastructure. It basically deals with the storage of data and performs the actions like an oversight. Moreover, it handles the physical components as well like data servers. Plus, it handles software components like database management systems that are used to organize databases.

1. Networking And Telecommunications

The networking and telecommunications of a manufacturing industry come under the domain of IT infrastructure. It deals with everything from virtual network software to modems, routers, or wires. Plus, it also includes the infrastructure linked with internal and external servers that are responsible for hosting cloud-oriented applications and websites.

Understanding OT in Manufacturing

• What is OT?

OT is a group of computing systems that deal with managing, monitoring, and controlling the physical objectives of the operations in the manufacturing domain. Several OT activities include controlling the environment settings, keeping a check on infrastructures, or assigning tasks to the robots available on the manufacturing floor. OT is commonly used in the manufacturing industries.

Talking about OT data, it encompasses the raw data received from sensors, devices, and tools for further processing. The OT data provides information regarding controlling the processes within manufacturing workflows. This information is processed further to take help in decision-making.

How to Set an OT Infrastructure in Manufacturing?

OT systems are the core of OT/IT solutions that manufacturers require to promote production effectiveness to reach the targeted revenue. The cybersecurity challenges disrupt the IT/OT convergence. Hence, there is a need to plan and build the OT infrastructure in such a way that the environment remains secure.

Down below is the personalized 8-step approach to planning your OT infrastructure for manufacturing:

Step 1:

Develop policies that are matching to the OT environment of your manufacturing organization.

Step 2:

Identify the level of complexity in the OT environment through the following ways:

• Keeping a check on the production process.
• Monitoring and supervising the production process while lending automatic control.
• Managing the workflow in order to obtain the desired results while maintaining the records and optimizing the production process.

Step 3:

Have a look at the IT and OT convergence points. Every floor in the manufacturing industry comprises an overlapping branch. Hence, it is essential to identify that particular branch to chart them accurately.

Step 4:

OT will help you to identify a huge amount of data when connected to the tools that are capable of drawing these inferences. Hence, the OT/IT convergence should be made easier for the final data parsing manufacturing tools and devices.

Step 5:

In this step, the workflows must be established in order to maintain change management, obsolescence management, and disaster management. The OT asset management is responsible for compliance with the laid standards and protocols.

Step 6:

In step 6, training and workforce development are critical to equip the necessary skills in the workers in order to manage the OT environment. Training is very much needed so that security is ensured and workflow is never hindered. The training must take place in a modern, fully-equipped arena for better learning.

Step 7:

Setting up and maintaining the OT environment is another effort that ensures smooth operations within the manufacturing industry.

Step 8:

OT infrastructure requires help and assistance from leaders that have already worked really well in their personal space. Business leadership is always critical and therefore, the results are actually seen in the outcomes.

Why Cybersecurity Is Essential in OT and IT?

As cybersecurity’s need is increasing in every other department, OT and IT also require a completely safe environment in order to maintain the operations of the manufacturing industry. The task of solidifying devices, protocols, systems, networks, and users is now mandatory as no one is willing to share their private information.

Cybersecurity has long been an issue in the IT and OT fields. In order to make sure that the users safely connect to the devices and networks, the main aim should be to anticipate such cyber-attacks.

Protecting the systems and networks becomes even more difficult when these get more and more connected.

Hence, new vulnerabilities are witnessed that are easily exploited by cyber-criminals in order to gain unauthorized access to networks. In Malaysia, more than 90% of the manufacturing organizations that operate IT/OT systems have come across one or more cyber-attacks in a single year, according to the Ponemon Institute of Research.

Apart from that, around 50% of the organizations faced OT infrastructure cyber-attacks that made the system go down entirely, disrupting the flow of information. The World Economic Forum highlighted that IT/OT cyber-attacks have been extremely critical and are ranked among the top 5 of the gravest cybersecurity risks. This is quite alarming!

The Bottom Line

As coming towards the end of the article, the concerns of cybersecurity are quite evident in IT/OT environments within the manufacturing industry in Malaysia and all over the world. But the main task is to make the system so strong that no power is able to break down the system in any case.

Otherwise, the main agenda should be to anticipate minor or major cyber-attacks so that an action could be taken beforehand in order to save the organizations from further damages. For it, the government of Malaysia is working really hard!

As DevOps is a full-fledged culture, the need for having a full arsenal of the right DevOps tools, standards, and best practices ensures that you are able to implement DevOps successfully. In Malaysia, the scope of DevOps is increasing with each passing day due to the versatility of the technology in developing a variety of software. Moreover, Accenture comes on number 2nd where most of the DevOps people work!

Accenture is also located in Malaysia. Hence, you can easily notice the impact of DevOps in Malaysia.

Going into 2022, the year would be very exciting for DevOps, especially in Malaysia due to the increase in the usage of technology. Students here are becoming increasingly enthusiastic about learning software development in order to fill the gap in the computing industry of Malaysia.

Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing are gaining huge popularity in Malaysia. All these technologies are able to integrate DevOps. Therefore, in Malaysia, the trend of DevOps is working like magic!

The remarkable concept of DevOps is that it brings software development teams and operation teams together. DevOps also focuses on the automation of the software in order to save time!

So, without any further ado, let’s have a look at the DevOps tools, standards, and best practices that are going to rule in 2022 in Malaysia. Here we go!

What is DevOps?

DevOps is basically an approach to developing software that is extremely fast and quicker than other options available. Also, companies today are looking for codes that could be generated quickly. So, DevOps does the job for them.

DevOps is a combination of philosophies, standards, and practices that make it possible to replace long development hours with a faster approach. With DevOps, the idea is to be very prompt towards the customer demands and quickly adapt to the changes within the market.

Moreover, DevOps becomes an absolute gun of an approach with appropriate tools.

As mentioned above, the software teams and the operation teams form a group to work together on development projects. Quality Assurance teams and Security teams also work in coordination with the developers in order to get accurate and quick solutions.

What are the Best Practices in DevOps?

Down below are the best practices in DevOps:

• Automation
• Coordination
• Uninterrupted Improvement
• Uninterrupted Deployment
• Customer-Oriented Action

Teams work in coordination in order to deploy new features and updates while keeping a check on the environment to ensure that things are working as planned. Companies in Malaysia that are using DevOps state that they have received benefits in terms of communication, scalability, and reliability.

The Best End to End DevOps Tools being used in Malaysia in 2022

• Ansible

Ansible is an IT automation tool through which you are able to handle cloud provisioning, deployment of applications, orchestration, configuration, and several other tasks. Ansible is a versatile tool to model IT architecture. Moreover, it smoothly takes care of multi-tier deployments. This tool uses YAML.

YAML is a human-readable data serialization language that is used for the configuration of applications and files where all the data has been stored. The language has a minimalistic syntax.

For security, Ansible is known to use passwords, designed for SSH keys along with SSH agents or Kerberos. Plus, it is an open-source community project that is sponsored by Red Hat.

• Slack

Slack is the best tool for the collaboration of teams. It was developed in 2013 and since then, it has been releasing quite effective updates to make it adaptable to the current market scenarios. The tool is able to shed the boundaries across the globe and bring the teams together so that they can work effectively.

Moreover, there are several options available in Slack to carry on with an optimal workflow, generating insights from each and every member of the team to make the project even better. DevOps is never easy to get uniform responses from the members.

Therefore, Slack makes sure to simplify the roadmap, automate tasks, and bring everyone on the same page.

• Jenkins

Jenkins is again one of the best tools for DevOps. It is an open-source continuous integration server that automates the complete build cycle of a DevOps software project. The ultimate benefit that the DevOps engineers get through using this tool is the feature of ‘Pipeline’.

By using this feature, the code is committed into the repository automatically, running test cases, thereby fetching the reports of the tests as well. It is highly customizable to provide feedback in a few seconds. Plus, it would ring a bell for you if any sprint is leading into a broken build or disturbing it.

Jenkins is also able to automate tools and applications used in SDLC, increasing the effectiveness of the output.

• Phantom

For all the DevOps teams, the security element makes them quite worried. Especially in Malaysia, cyber crimes have increased like crazy. So, the Phantom tool is actually a sigh of relief for those who are looking to build a secure and defensible infrastructure to deal with cyber-attacks in a great way.

By using this tool, you are able to coordinate in a centralized environment regarding an incident and make sure to be aware of the increasing security threats simultaneously. Plus, the tool also helps the DevOps engineers to alleviate the risk immediately by using tactics like device quarantine, file detonation, etc.

• Docker

It is a tool that is present in the middle of containerization. Containerization is an ongoing trend that is rapidly increasing in value. The tool ensures the packaging, planning, and deploying of applications regardless of the current environment. Each application container consists of source codes, configuration files, supporting files, and several other things to make execution possible.

When containers are excessed, the applications would be able to execute in a remote environment.

Hence, the companies are able to save infrastructure costs. According to one of the studies, 2 out of 3 companies who have used this tool have ultimately adopted its usage within 30 days of using it.

The fact itself highlights the benefits and the impact of Docker in the DevOps world.

• Nagios

This tool is quite similar to the Phantom tool. It basically provides monitoring in order to keep the tabs open on the applications, servers, as well as in your entire business infrastructure. Having said that, the tool is exceptional for larger companies rather than smaller organizations. It keeps a check on a large amount of circuitry of a huge organization. The circuitry might include routers, wires, repeaters, etc.

Moreover, it immediately notifies the users in case of any problem occurring in the backend or in case of a failure of any device.

Plus, it maintains a performance graph and notifies the users prior in case of any upcoming error.

• Vagrant

Vagrant is an effective DevOps tool to manage and work with virtual machines by maintaining the same workflow. Through this tool, the team members are able to share the environment of a running software while testing applications at a rapid pace to not waste any time on setting configurations.

Plus, the tool makes sure that the environment of the software remains the same on every developer’s machine so that there is no chance of excuses like ‘runs-on-my-system’.

• GitHub

Talking about the most demanded DevOps tools in Malaysia, you cannot forget GitHub in any case. The tool was launched in 2000 and since then it has proved its mark all the time! Developers use the tool to make quick iterations into the code and the notification is also sent quickly to every member without any possible delays. Moreover, in case of any errors, instant rollbacks are done to the previous versions, that too in seconds!

So, the speed of GitHub has always remained a major factor in adopting its usage across several industries.

The tool is able to remember the history of changes that are being stored side by side into the tool. Hence, rolling back to the original version is also not a hassle at all!

• Sentry

In DevOps, Sentry is the best tool to use in order for bug or error detection. Mostly, the tool is used by Uber and Microsoft. It is a free tool and it supports languages like JavaScript, IOS, Ruby, etc. Moreover, there are in-built SDKs in Sentry that make it possible to support more languages and frameworks.

The tool keeps on scanning the lines of codes across the whole system and immediately notifies in case of any error detection. It not only highlights the problem. Rather it provides a number of solutions to be applied to the current scenarios that can be obtained with just a single click.

The Bottom Line

So, these are the best end-to-end DevOps tools being used in Malaysia and all over the globe in 2022 and in years to come! DevOps is an emerging field that has a huge scope to grow, considering the benefits that companies could get by using DevOps. So, what are you waiting for? Change your developing strategy NOW!

Virtual worlds and Virtual Reality (VR) both are shaping up nicely for businesses in Malaysia. As most of the businesses in Malaysia are approaching digitalization, the impact of virtual worlds such as Metaverse has multiplied over time. Moreover, Virtual Reality (VR) is part and parcel of a virtual world.

Hence, for Malaysian businesses, the main focus is on both the virtual world and VR as VR could easily become a part of virtual worlds.

The traditional way of running a business has long gone now. There is a need for every business to step up and reflect on something extraordinary to remain in the race. Thanks to the technology that you would be experiencing through virtual worlds and VR. Through virtual worlds, the consumer experience would also take a U-turn and they would come across something that they have never imagined.

However, people are still confused between virtual worlds and VR. So, today we are going to explain everything related to virtual worlds and VR in terms of businesses in Malaysia. So, without any further ado, let’s keep going:

What is a Virtual World?

A virtual world is similar to the real world where you are currently living. Basically, a virtual world is an online persistent, and shared world where you can interact with other people within the virtual world. You will require the help of VR technology in order to interact and communicate here.

A virtual world has a large population and people come together to experience the whole virtual world.

People in a virtual world are available in the form of avatars. Each and every entity has its own personalized avatar which is recognized through personal characteristics. As metaverse is one of the examples of a virtual world, you can observe that a number of businesses have accounted for its hype.

Popular brands like Nike, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger, and Forever 21 have shown interest in building their virtual stores in the metaverse so that people can shop in real terms without even leaving their homes or comfort zones. Therefore, many Malaysian businesses are following the same way.

 In the virtual world, the ownership is always with the users and the companies have no relation to it.

What is Virtual Reality (VR)?

Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-simulated online environment where users think of it as the actual reality. An environment in VR could be similar to the actual world. But at the same time, it could be totally opposite to what you see in your daily life. Basically, a person creating VR has all the power to shape and reshape a Virtual Reality. Virtual reality systems make use of VR headset technology to get the feel of it.

The popularity of Artificial intelligence (AI) is growing at a rapid pace, especially after the pandemic. Hence, disruptive technologies such as robotics, Virtual Reality (VR), Virtual Worlds, or Artificial Intelligence (AI) are completely changing the way we used to live! Though AI is yet to touch the sky.

However, you might have come across AI technologies even today. A perfect example of AI technology is virtual assistants like Alexa, Cortana, or Siri. In Malaysia, almost all industries are able to incorporate AI for their own benefit.

McKinsey reported that around 50% of the work time in Malaysia is spent on doing tasks that are highly automatable. Therefore, the impact of AI is evident.

In Malaysia, AI alone is able to create 6 million new jobs by 2030. Thus, there is a need for long-term planning in order to execute AI technologies and to create new skill sets so that they are inculcated as the demand arises!

So, let’s have a look at the top 20 AI trends leading Malaysia into the future. Here we go!

1. Collaboration of AI and Cloud

AI is all set to play a very important role in the adoption of cloud services in the coming years. Through AI technology, it will become easier to monitor the cloud applications and keep a thorough check on the available amount of data, no matter how big it might be. AI and the cloud will collaborate even more.

1. IT and AI Solutions

AI solutions for the field of IT would increase in the coming years. AI solutions through which identifying the IT problem becomes easy while rectifying it thereby will see a surge in development. It will help in reducing downtime. Moreover, the organization would be able to spend most of its time in activities that are actually quite complex and require human intervention.

1. AIOps Solutions to become extremely Popular

Due to the growth in the IT industry, the complexities of the systems have increased a lot. Therefore, the vendors are asking for platform solutions that would combine more than one monitoring discipline, for example, infrastructure, applications, or networks. IT teams would be able to redefine their processes in a better way through AIOps solutions. As AIOps solutions are incorporated, more and more cross-team coordination would be there to be seen!

1. AI to Assist in Structuring of Data

Structuring of data is always an issue, especially when you are dealing with a large amount of data. So, machine learning processes or robotics would definitely delve in here to make the lives of Malaysians easier than ever. With the help of AI, you will forever forget the hassle of unstructured data.

1. AI and the Growing Need for Workers

As AI is rapidly growing in terms of popularity, the skillset is missing from Malaysia. Although universities are introducing courses for AI. Yet there is a huge gap to fill due to excessive demand for skillful workers. Therefore, the government of Malaysia should launch several programs to help curb the need for an AI workforce.

1. IT Industry and Adoption of AI

Within the IT industry, there has been rapid adoption of AI technology. In the near future, AI will be used on a large scale in the IT industry. Through AI, a company would be able to generate ROI in real-time. Hence, the companies would be able to see their progress in real-time which is one of the biggest successes for AI technology.

1. AI Ethics on Focus

In the coming few years, AI would be used to fight against major worldwide problems, ensure economic growth, and stimulate diversity. As AI ethics are in focus, the major problems for the companies are transparency of data and fairness of algorithms.

1. Augmented Processes to become a Reality

Augmented processes have already shown a glimpse of it. However, there is still a bigger picture out there. Hence, companies would go one step ahead in optimizing their augmented businesses. Through AI, software development processes could be made easier as well. Fostering a data-driven culture is very important for sustainable AI practices. Moreover, this trend is here to rule!

1. AI to Become More Clear

Though AI has seen its heights. Yet a few people find it quite hard to understand the diverse subject of AI. Nonetheless, in the coming future, AI would become more explainable through a variety of modules and theories. As more and more universities would offer courses related to AI, the subject would become easier to acknowledge.

1. Voice-Oriented and Language-Oriented AI

Voice-oriented and language-oriented AI is seen in the form of customer care. It is bound to increase its depth, delivering high-quality solutions regarding a wide variety of issues without the need of any human.

1. AI and Security

Security issues have been increasing like a wildfire. AI is the answer to all the worries. AI technologies have been implemented on voice and face recognition methods in order to make the technology more and more secure. AI security is able to eliminate all sorts of security breaches.

1. AI and Real-Time Video Processing

AI ensures minimum latency and high-speed video processing through which streaming achieves a whole different level. In times to come, AI would surely improve here! Real-time video processing takes a lot of time and errors occur quite often. But now all the pains related to real-time video processing would vanish. Just rely on AI technology and you will never be disappointed.

1. AI for Content Creation

There have been a number of AI tools through which you are able to gather ideas for your next content strategy. Moreover, there have been AI tools through which you get an entire piece of content, fully customized according to your needs and requirements.

1. AI and Chatbots

Chatbots have partially eliminated the need for humans, thanks to such powerful response of the AI. Modern AI models are able to generate text, speech, and even video. Chatbots are designed in such a way that they try to understand the problems of the people and supply an apt answer. In most cases, the chatbots correctly answer the question. Nonetheless, the technology will improve.

1. AI and Inspection

The latest trend in AI in Malaysia is computer vision inspection. The AI technology ensures to check the products in order to find any minor or major faults in them in terms of quality standards and security compliance. The task of inspection is quite hard for human beings. Therefore, you must take advantage of the technology and give the credit where it is due!

1. AI changing the Medical Industry

The medical industry is rapidly developing and AI is coming into play. AI-driven solutions help a lot in CT scans, lab scans, tests, prescribing medications, and in a number of other important objectives. During covid-19, AI worked flawlessly in assisting the on-site doctors. It analyzed threats and rendered quality solutions to make things work!

1. Diversity in AI

AI has become extremely diverse. Still, there is a long way to go. There is no such gender or racial bias in AI. Every person from every part of the world is equally contributing their best efforts to AI. Moreover, the diversity in AI would only increase as the impact of AI would cross different borders.

1. No-Coding AI Platforms

No-coding AI platforms have enabled small companies to acquire powerful technologies that were earlier only available to big companies. Developing a code takes a lot of time in writing it and then rechecking it in case of any error. However, no-code platforms have made life easier as everything happens fairly quicker than ever without any hassles. Moreover, the cost is also quite meager.

1. AI and Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity has become a huge issue as technology is maximizing. Hacking is an inevitable problem that grows more and more. AI is playing a huge role in eliminating cyber threats by constantly analyzing the traffic, recognizing patterns, and developing smart algorithms to tackle all the cybersecurity issues. However, the problem is not fully resolved. But in times to come, the hope will only grow!

1. AI and Autonomous Vehicles

Vehicles are also becoming smart and powerful as they no longer require the need of any human driver. cars are now becoming autonomous, thanks to AI technology. Earlier you needed a driver to drive the car and concentrate on the road. Meanwhile, he/she was not able to do anything else.

Nonetheless, nowadays there has been an influx of autonomous vehicles that are driven on their own.

And don’t worry, such cars would also save you from accidents, all thanks to AI technology.

The Bottom Line

Such AI trends have been coming into play in Malaysia and in every other part of the world. There is no stopping it. The AI trends would only increase with time and there is no doubt about that. So, while having a look at all these current trends, do let us know if you are already looking forward to the future or not?

Cybersecurity is a huge concern for companies as sensitive data could be breached. Customer’s data is very important and should be kept with extreme care and protection. Technology is becoming more and more complex with each passing day. Therefore, the task of keeping the data protected becomes even harder.

In Malaysia, cyber-attacks have inflicted a huge cause of concern as identity theft has made Malaysians’ life a living hell. Every other person in Malaysia goes through a security breach once in their lifetime and it is definitely a worrisome thing to consider!

Therefore, due to the major cybersecurity issues in the country, the cybersecurity insurance market is definitely a ray of hope in times of skepticism. For Risk Management, the companies need to consider cybersecurity insurance in order to minimize the cybersecurity threats.

What is Cybersecurity Insurance?

Cybersecurity insurance or cyber liability insurance is similar to all the other types of insurance. It would protect you against the damages incurred due to the cybersecurity attacks. Within cybersecurity insurance, you will be offered with several types of packages that you can choose according to your needs.

A simple cybersecurity insurance would cover first-party, third-party, and cyber extortion. However, many other cybersecurity insurance companies would provide you with cell phone protection coverage that would constantly keep a check on cell phones or on-the-spot threat management.

Nowadays software and hardware insurance are also getting popular, considering that the hackers are always looking for one open door to make an entry.

Insurance policies vary according to the size of the company. For SMBs (Small and Medium Businesses), the policies would be different. Similarly, for mid-size and large operational businesses, the policies would be different. Hence, you need to be clearly aware regarding such things while applying for a policy.

Before getting cybersecurity insurance in Malaysia, make sure you have studied your business model in full detail. You need to think about how vulnerable your business is. Plus, you need the policy to be tailor-made according to your industry. Otherwise, there is no use getting cybersecurity insurance.

Cybersecurity Opportunities and Challenges in Malaysia

As mentioned above, there are a number of challenges faced by Malaysia in terms of cybersecurity. However, when there are challenges, there are opportunities as well for the cybersecurity insurance companies. The major challenges in cybersecurity for Malaysia are given below:

• Bank Card Fraud: Around 88 percent of the people in Malaysia are concerned regarding their bank card being used fraudulently or other people obtaining bank card details.
• Identity Theft: Around 87 percent are worried regarding unauthorized access to personal information.
• Hacking/Virus: Hacking and viruses are quite common in Malaysia with 77 percent of Malaysians are concerned about unsolicited emails, viruses, phishing attacks, and hacking.

Unisys Asia conducted a survey in which it was highlighted that during 2014, the main concern for Malaysia was threats of war, terrorism, or natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes. However, now the concern for Malaysians has shifted to cybersecurity. The fear of consumers about cyber attacks is quite real. They fear their personal data being stolen and sold on the dark web or getting trapped into phishing scams. Hence, cybersecurity insurance is an opportunity to safeguard the data.

Dr. Haji Amirudin Abdul Wahab, CEO of Cybersecurity Malaysia shared that the cybersecurity concerns for Malaysia are a part of economic and national security challenges created through an online environment where everything is shared online, eliminating borders. However, being aware about the challenges provides an opportunity to tackle them in the right way and take a proactive approach to get the job done.

Therefore, Cybersecurity Malaysia always remains one step ahead in reporting cyber attacks in advance so that the companies could protect them beforehand.

Moreover, cybersecurity insurance is also a great way of nullifying the cyber threats as soon as possible!

Dr. Haji also mentioned that Malaysia lags behind in production of experts, despite a huge growth in the cybersecurity sector. During the last year, Malaysia reported a shortage of 7,917 experts. However, the country is looking forward to producing around 20,000 experts till 2025.

Also, there would be around 9,020 cybersecurity positions that would need to be filled till 2026. Thus, there is a lot of scope around the cybersecurity sector. Nonetheless, there will be a huge demand for cybersecurity graduates who are able to render quality work and fulfill the needs at this point in time.

There are a lot of vacancies within the cybersecurity insurance market that need to be filled immediately.

Nonetheless, there is still a huge vacuum left due to the unavailability of quality graduates that would be sufficient for the cybersecurity insurance market. As the technology is getting updated each day, the requirement is shifting towards producing experts that have practical knowhow rather than theory work.

The attention is given to students to work in an open environment. Rather than working to acquire skills in closed rooms. The ability to harness skills is only possible through hands-on work and applications.

Sectors in Malaysia that require Cybersecurity Insurance

As mentioned above, not every company in Malaysia would want to opt for cybersecurity insurance. However, a few important sectors that should opt for cybersecurity insurance are SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). SMEs are responsible for a large chunk of production of gross products in Malaysia. Hence, they are the real targets of the cyber attackers who are willing to get a single chance.

Moreover, SMEs lack a full-proof plan to tackle such attacks. Therefore, cybersecurity insurance is a MUST in such sectors. According to a study conducted by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) in 2020, 79% of SMEs in Malaysia faced more than one cyber attack which is a serious cause of concern.

In Malaysia, the digital economy is boosting every other day. With the growing digital economy, the threats on the cyber environment are pretty accurate. On the other hand, SMEs are constantly adopting digital technology in order to render the best of their services. Hence, they come under a lot of scanner due to this move.

SMEs can’t be overlooked in Malaysia as they are the main source of boosting the economy. So, safe measures need to be taken through cybersecurity insurance in order to keep the economy growing.

Cybersecurity insurance sector is flourishing with each passing day. A lot of investment is being pumped into this sector as of now. The spending on the cybersecurity insurance market in 2019 was around RM10.4bil. Nonetheless, the figure is only going to increase in the upcoming years.

Benefits of acquiring Cybersecurity Insurance

There are a number of benefits that you can get through cybersecurity insurance. Especially, in Malaysia, the task is to solidify SMEs in order to create a strong network that is nearly impossible to breach. Let’s have a look at the benefits:

• Legal Expenses

Cybersecurity insurance would assist you in covering the legal expenses. In case of a cyber-attack, you and your employees would get full coverage for the legal expenses. Often companies do not have funds to open legal cases. But a cybersecurity insurance policy would help you here so that you can offer a legal battle.

• Loss Reimbursement

In case of a data breach, the operations of your business would be disrupted. Hence, causing you the loss of time and money. So, a cybersecurity insurance policy would reimburse the loss of income during such times. Plus, all sorts of added costs would be covered in the policy as well that are incurred due to the aftermath of the incident.

• Defense against Cyber Extortion

As important data is stolen from the organizations, the hackers demand a huge amount of money in return for the data. Such cyber-attacks are increasing day by day. So, companies must seek to get a cyber insurance policy for their own good and to protect themselves against cyber extortion.

• Forensic Help

While your company is under-attack, you will need to identify the root cause of the attack as well as the amount of damage done to your organization. So, the right information would make sure that your funds are quickly generated. While a few companies also offer to stay in touch with you 24/7 for constant support.

• Coverage apart from General Cybersecurity Insurance Policy

A general cybersecurity insurance policy would provide you with several other benefits apart from a written agreement. If you ask them to provide your company with cyber coverage, you will have peace of mind for a greater part of time. In case of an attack, your company’s data would be protected as data is always worth more than physical assets or money. So, plan ahead and apply for a cybersecurity insurance policy to save yourself from huge hassles.

The Bottom Line

In Malaysia, the digital economy is booming and so are the intentions of cyber criminals. They are always looking to breach into the systems for making a fortune of their own. Never let them get away with your precious data and information. A cybersecurity insurance policy does a great job.

Hyperscale data centers are known to move billions of bits of data in a single second, making the connectivity flawless and super-fast. Talking about Malaysia, tech giants are making it clear to build humongous hyperscale data centers in Malaysia. Malaysia’s population is 32 billion with land 35% bigger than the United Kingdom. Hence, opportunities for cloud hyperscale galore here!

Already, data center providers and cloud operators such as Alibaba Cloud and Microsoft Azure are established here and are planning to expand even further.

One of the Malaysia Data Center Market Report stated that the market for data centers in Malaysia is likely to increase by $800 million in 2025. Hence, there have been constant talks regarding making Malaysia the main hub for data centers, replacing the neighbor Singapore.

However, it is yet to find out whether Malaysia is a good spot for hyperscale companies!

Is Malaysia worth it for hyperscale companies?

Henrick Choo, CEO of NTT Ltd. in Malaysia explained the importance of Malaysia in terms of making it a data center hub. He said that Malaysia is an excellent location in Southeast Asia for data centers. With abundant resources available here and relaxed governmental policies, the country seems a perfect fit for the data center infrastructure.

Apart from that, Malaysia holds another bunch of advantages such as low electricity costs, an abundance of skilled workers, cheaper construction costs, and a low price of land as compared to the other countries in Southeast Asia.

Malaysia is also a great location for NTT without any single doubt. Its data center campus has grown to five more data centers in Cyberjaya. Another data center, CBJ5 was launched just last year.

Choo also stated that the development of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC Malaysia) and Cyberjaya especially have made an open ecosystem for the business community to grow more and more. Cyberjaya in Malaysia was developed with the thought to replicate Silicon Valley in the US.

Hyperscale & Renewable Energy

Hyperscale is definitely a demanding technology to play rightfully as it would require huge power to operate in the right manner. Hence, Chiew Kok Hin who is the CEO of AIMS highlighted the increasing number of data centers and their potential impact on the power grid.

So, he identified that hyperscalers are the main reason why companies must tap into renewable energy in order to shed the burden off the power grid. Growing power demands are not ideal for an environment.

Therefore, Malaysia’s efforts in projects of renewable energy are quite satisfying and make Malaysia a perfect place for hyperscale data centers. Currently, renewables are contributing around 18 percent to fulfilling the country’s power demands. Moreover, the authorities are planning to move the number to a whopping 31 percent by 2025 and 40 percent by 2030. Such an aggressive move will very much push the data center providers to invest in Malaysia even more.

Nonetheless, Chiew also said that Malaysia’s initiatives regarding renewable energy do look promising. But directly piping renewable energy to data centers is not an easy task.

He further added that the data center power demands increase at a rapid pace as the IT requirements are increased or colocation project activation. However, renewable energy is mostly used for pre-designed load management.

Considering these shortcomings of renewable energy, it is important to source accurate renewable energy power farms to extract energy for the data centers. While giving an example, Chiew said that solar energy varies constantly, sometimes due to rain and sometimes due to excessive cloud cover.

In order to deliver energy to the data center optimally and when it is needed, it is vital to understand that huge energy storage systems would be required to deliver when the demand is there. In this regard, hydroelectric power plants are less affected. But the locations that are fine might not be close to cities or industrial areas.

So, another solution for it is to obtain renewable energy certificates. Chiew said that they are working on obtaining certificates. He said that they are currently studying the feasibility of renewable energy by acquiring solar energy systems or by acquiring renewable energy certification that would be globally recognized in order to promote the growth and usage of renewable energy.

Malaysia Proving its Worth against its Counterpart Singapore

Singapore’s data center moratorium is responsible for the growth in the construction of data centers in Malaysia, according to both Choo and Chiew. For example, Singapore-based Bridge Data Center highlighted its intention to build a Singapore Data Center, in 2018. After 3 years of having no Singapore facility as of now, it made an announcement to build a Greenfield Facility in Malaysia in order to express approval for the two facilities that it had acquired already in Malaysia.

Choo mentioned that Singapore, undoubtedly, has been an ICT and financial hub in Southeast Asia for the past 30 years. It has been the main front for the industry. However, the demand has been constantly increasing. Cost to market, labor demands, data recovery, and network diversity, all are increasing due to which there is a need for an alternate hyperscale data center hub.

Hence, Malaysia proved its worth and ticked all the boxes to become an alternate gateway.

The welcoming environment and cost-effectiveness here in Malaysia are the primary indicators for the ability to hyperscale in Malaysia. Therefore, it is actually a good location for hyperscale data center providers to further expand their operations.

That being said, Malaysia will remain to be an alternate location in Southeast Asia and will not replace any geo-location. The goal would be to make Malaysia a complementary piece to improve a company’s overall architecture plan. Choo said.

On the other hand, Chiew praised the connectivity power of Malaysia with the rest of Southeast Asia. He said that Malaysia would complement Singapore by providing regional connections in order to meet the growing local needs.

Problems in the Connectivity

Previously, in Malaysia, the complaints about slow internet were pretty regular. The slow internet connectivity was due to a small number of submarine cables landing in Malaysia. However, the complaints regarding slow internet have been resolved to a great extent. Nonetheless, a new problem is looking to threaten the popularity of data centers in Malaysia. The problem is “Cabotage exemption”.

The problem was identified in November 2020.

Cabotage is basically the right to operate by sea, air, or other transportation in a particular territory.

States always apply cabotage in their own waters in order to safeguard their local locations. But in 2019, Malaysia applied for exemption from cabotage. Hence, foreign-flagged vessels were then allowed to repair undersea cables. It allowed us to speed up the undersea fiber projects. Plus, options and capacity were also increased beyond a single local provider to carry on the repairs every time.

Canceling the cabotage exemption would take the time back to the previous status quo. Plus, there would be a requirement for the telecoms to apply for a domestic shipping license before they start working and it can take up to 100 days.

The repeal is forced by the government as mentioned by the detractors. They said that it is Malaysia’s revenge for the exclusion from a number of subsea cables. However, the Malaysian shipowners’ Association highlighted that Malaysia’s exclusion from various subsea projects was due to the little or no investment by the local telecommunication players as they were not fully participating.

Nonetheless, the decision is yet to be taken and nothing is finalized.

A Triumph for the Region

Though Covid-19 was actually lethal in taking lives. Yet, it made clear that going digital would be the future for consumers as well as for businesses. As everyone witnessed, the digital demand increased dramatically during the pandemic. Hence, data centers started to grow in popularity.

Chinese tech giants entered Malaysia and were always looking to expand their operations worldwide.

The battle for a regional digital hub has already started. The government of Malaysia created and showcased a blueprint known as “MyDigital” to highlight itself as the regional leader in the fresh digital era.

The blueprint is all about increasing local data centers in Malaysia in order to support hyperscale cloud computing and a government-driven cloud-first strategy. Considering this fact, tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Telekom Malaysia were given permission to build hyperscale data centers in Malaysia.

The bottom Line

Nevertheless, considering the amazing growth in the hyperscale data centers, we can surely say that Malaysia would do extremely well in the race. Chiew stated that as Singapore’s and Malaysia’s data center capabilities would improve, so will the human resources and other technical abilities would increase. Therefore, the interconnection of skills and capabilities would make Southeast Asia grow further.

Moreover, such growth would accelerate the strength of Southeast Asia to become one of the fastest-growing markets for hyperscale data centers in the whole world. So, data would easily be handled, thanks to the hyperscale culture!

The rising growth of technology in Malaysia has brought along cybersecurity threats that have kept on increasing with each passing day. Malaysia has gone through so much trouble in terms of cybersecurity that this concern has surpassed the concern of physical threats. Malaysians are now quite skeptical about sharing their personal information through the mediums of the internet.

Accenture Malaysia conducted a survey in which it was highlighted that around 40% of security breaches are indirect. Such breaches take place due to weak links in the supply chain and in the overall business world.

The main problem regarding supply chain attacks is that they are often overlooked. However, if enough time is given to the hackers, there could be massive destruction. Such attacks target vendors and suppliers instead of targeting the whole business.

Therefore, it becomes quite hard to detect and eliminate such attacks, especially when the vendors or the suppliers have not adopted promising cybersecurity practices, completely annulling the use of modern tools to fight cyber-attacks.

One of the examples of a supply chain cyber attack is the SITA data breach in which more than 580,000 records were exposed from Malaysia Airlines’ Frequent Flyer program. Finnair, Air New Zealand, and many other airlines reported similar attacks, exposing a large number of records of the consumers.

Singapore Airlines shared data with a company known as Star Alliance. It was the place from where the cyber-attack on the supply chain originated, making the entire supply chain vulnerable.

There are a number of similar supply chain cyber-attacks that have wreaked havoc on businesses.

What is a Supply Chain Cyber-Attack?

There are quite a few names of a supply chain attack such as a third-party attack, value-chain attack, or backdoor breach. Having said that, a supply chain attack is when an attacker is able to access a certain business through indirect channels such as vendors or suppliers or the supply chain.

Sometimes, supply chains could be quite huge. Therefore, it becomes difficult to trace the attackers.

In the past, an unsecured supplier or the vendor in a supply chain was the main culprit that was the reason for the initiation of a supply chain cyber-attack. Nonetheless, today, software supply chain cyber-attacks pose the greatest concern. The software supply chains are quite susceptible to attacks because modern software is not written from scratch.

Instead, open-source code or third-party APIs are taken into account in order to save time. But it can prove to be very dangerous for an entire supply chain.

Today, a single software project consists of around 203 dependencies. So, if any of the apps consist of even one of the compromised dependencies, then any business who would download the app from that vendor will be exposed to a cyber-attack. Hence, the number of victims grows like this!

Moreover, the software is reused. Therefore, the vulnerability would exist till the lifecycle of the software.

How Do You Detect and Stop a Supply Chain Cyber-Attack?

In December 2021, a total of 10,016 cases of cyber-attacks were reported to Cyber999. Cyber999 is a cyber security incident response center that is operated by MyCERT (Malaysia Computer Emergency Response Team). According to another study, it was highlighted that Malaysia could lose around RM51 billion from 2020-to 2024 due to cybersecurity threats. Such a huge figure makes up around 4% of the total GDP of Malaysia.

It is actually quite concerning to witness cyber-attackers spread everywhere, especially within businesses.

Ubaid Mustafa Qadri, Head of Technology Risk & Cyber Security at KPMG in Malaysia said that persistent threats, ransomware attacks, supply chain cyber-attacks, or anything new can come in with which one could struggle to emerge. So, lack of foresightedness and being reactive to the cyber-threat is actually way more dangerous than the actual threat.

Thus, it is important to have a plan ready so that it could be tested against a variety of scenarios in order to understand the impact of the attack on your business.

Having said that, let’s understand how to detect and stop the supply chain cyber-attack through a few handy measures. Here we go!

• Consider Speed as the Primary Factor

Speed matters! It does matter a lot! If the speed is enough to anticipate, detect, and stop the supply chain cyber-attack then no one can stop you from becoming the best in business in the whole globe!

Speed is that X-factor that separates your business from other players in the game. While a few of the supply chain cybersecurity policies term strength as the major factor, the majority of the practices would always put speed on number one. According to Accenture Malaysia, the cybersecurity leaders take around 15 days or less in order to identify and plug the security breaches.

Visibility, focus, and agility are the main indicators of rapid threat detection.

Moreover, through these indicators, both the buyers and the vendors can measure their abilities in a good manner.

The approach should always be proactive rather than reactive so that vulnerabilities are identified and eliminated thereby. While businesses that rely on a reactive approach are fairly slow and ineffective.

• Put Focus on Value

Now, Malaysian businesses are quite scared of cybersecurity threats. However, they should be smart enough to find out the value of money. Rather than investing with close eyes. When businesses make cyber investments without thinking twice, they automatically increase their hopes and are left shattered.

Hiscox indicated that businesses around the world have witnessed an increase in cyber security spending of 39% between 2019 and 2020.

With investments increasing rapidly, the businesses need to ensure whether their spent money was worth it or not.

Accenture Malaysia reported that 69% of the businesses feel that the growth in costs would be unsustainable in the long term. Achieving targeted results is more vital than investing money here and there.

The task should be to create effective tools that are able to identify the vulnerabilities in prior throughout the entire supply chain so that applicable measures are taken to safeguard the supply chain.

• Set a Momentum

When everything goes right, there is always a desire to add more and more tools to the arsenal. Nonetheless, the leading organizations always focus on maintaining momentum. They do not tend to go with the flow. Instead, they focus on their budget to make sure that they are aligned with it.

It is the art of doing the basics right when the time is right! The supply chain cyber-attacks have become more sophisticated. Therefore, the need of the hour is to understand the fundamentals because solutions always lie within the fundamentals, for example, securing the customer database.

It is very important to address the consequences of cybersecurity within the supply chain. If you ignore them, you are likely to come across prolonged damage. Moreover, if a supply chain data breach is ignored, your business would lose a huge amount of money.

• Get in touch with the Suppliers within the Supply Chain

Within the supply chain, the main entity is the supplier. So, working in coordination with the supplier at key levels would make sure to achieve the goals without any major hiccups. Coming across anyone who produces, manufactures, organizes, or supplies the goods is a vital step in getting to know more about the supply chain.

Businesses in Malaysia are ensuring to meet the suppliers physically. Hence, the auditing has been quite strict so that the suppliers are taking quality measures in terms of cybersecurity to prevent any minor or major cyber-attacks.

Businesses in Malaysia are in constant talks with the suppliers to demonstrate the results themselves.

Sometimes, even supply chains are not obvious. If your HVAC system consists of embedded IoT devices, then the vendor would have been refreshing the firmware on a regular basis. So, the vendor and the refreshes also become a part of your supply chain, even if you don’t consider it that way!

• Make it a Priority to Identify Vulnerabilities

The priority should be to identify the vulnerabilities within a supply chain. The first and foremost task is to identify and then eliminate immediately without wasting any more time. Make sure that you have a separate staff to look over the supply chain every once in a while.

The staff must be funded and trained specifically to eliminate the vulnerabilities right when they are in their infancy. Otherwise, delaying cyber-attacks could prove to be worse than anything!

Today, cybersecurity is a very important domain that can’t be overlooked in any case. So, make sure to prioritize where it is necessary and give your due time and effort.

The Bottom Line

In the end, it is important to note that Malaysia is growing immensely in digitizing businesses, all thanks to the pandemic. However, with the growth in the digital economy of the country, the focus should be on securing the supply chain in the best manner possible. The business owners in Malaysia should take active measures to learn about cybersecurity challenges and make it their habit to control the system in an optimal manner.