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Abney and Associates More than 90 highprofile speakers from the government, business and financial sectors willshare their insights on major Asian economic issues at the 6th Asian Financial Forum (AFF) tobe held in Hong Kong on Jan 14 and 15. Themed "Asia: Shaping the Next Global Landscape," this year's forum will focus on Asia's fast-expanding role in the global economy. Topics such as the Asia's role in global economic development, the need for a new financialinfrastructure, opportunities in China and yuan internationalization will be discussed during thetwo-day financial summit. The gathering, the sixth such event organized by the Hong Kong Special Administrative RegionGovernment and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), will take place at theHong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Some 2,000 business industry players and government leaders from 32 countries and regionsattended last year's forum. China Daily is a media sponsor of the AFF. Against the backdrop of the United States having averted a "fiscal cliff" while still struggling withits debt ceiling, and European countries remaining mired in their sovereign debt crisis, theemerging Asia has become the main force to drive global economic growth and the focus of theglobal market. "Although there're still a lot of uncertainties in the global economy, I'm cautiously optimistictowards the overall economic growth in 2013 and recent economic data shows that Asia is on apositive uptrend," AFF 2013 Steering Committee Chairman Benjamin Hung, Executive Directorand Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd, told a pressconference on Wednesday. The Chinese mainland's economic policies will remain a focal point for the world, said Hung,adding that this reality will be reflected at this year's forum. "Along with a panel discussion on China opportunities, the forum will feature workshops onChina's agenda for reforming its financial system, trends and opportunities in the global use of

Abney Associates Nicholas Webber, 21, was jailed for five years for running a criminal website He started his criminal career at £24,000-a-year Bradfield College Prison IT Teacher Michael Fox was made redundant after the incident Fox protests he had no idea Webber was a hacker One of Britain's most notorious cyber criminals hacked into a prison computer system from inside jail - after he was allowed to join an IT class. Nicholas Webber, 21, jailed for five years in 2011 for masterminding a multi-million-pound internet crime site, triggered the security scare during a lesson. It is understood his actions caused 'major panic' but it is not clear what, if anything, he managed to access. The prison, HMP Isis in South London, blamed his teacher, Michael Fox, who was employed by Kensington and Chelsea College. He was banned from the prison but the college cleared him of committing any security breaches at a disciplinary hearing last March. However, he was made redundant when no alternative work could be found for him. More... Pictured with piles of cash: The public schoolboy jailed for five years for masterminding £18m internet scam Computer hacker, 21, jailed for masterminding £27 MILLION fraud in his bedroom taking credit card details from unsuspecting internet users On Friday, Mr Fox, from Bromley, Kent, began a claim for unfair dismissal, arguing that it wasn't his decision to put Webber, the son of a former member of Guernsey's parliament, in his class. He says he had no idea he was a hacker. At a hearing at Croydon Employment Tribunal, Mr Fox accused the college of not doing enough to find him another job. 'The perceived problem was there was a tutor who had been excluded by the prison and charged with allowing a hacking expert to hack into the prison's mainframe,' he said. In a statement, the college's business development director, Shanie Jamieson, said: 'He [Mr Fox] did not feel he had done anything wrong as the student concerned was

Abney and Associates MONTREAL - Travellers should be wary of cyber threats on vacation as they access free wireless networks with their smartphones, tablets or laptops, says software security company Symantec Corp. Canadians travelling for March break and into the summer season shouldn't be doing things like pulling up their bank accounts on Wi-Fi networks, said Symantec Canada's Lynn Hargrove. "What people don't realize is that there's no security on those Wi-Fi networks for the most part," she said. "It's a great way to keep in touch while you're on vacation, but there are some inherent risks that come with it that people just aren't thinking about." Symantec has found that two in 10 Canadians pull up their bank accounts on free Wi-Fi networks in Canada. Young men are most at risk for cybercrime because they are "fearless" and access risky Internet sites, said Hargrove, director of consumer solutions, from Toronto. According to Symantec's 2012 Norton Cybercrime report, travellers are often victimized through their mobile devices while abroad, often by text messages. "We're seeing a lot of fraudulent texts asking you to click on a link or go and dial a number to retrieve a voice mail," Hargrove said. And the wealth of information stored on a smartphone - pictures, texts, emails, contact lists, work documents, banking information - can be valuable to cyber criminals if stolen or lost, Hargrove said. "What people aren't realizing is that in many cases they have more information on that device than they have on their home PC." Smartphone users should at a minimum have a password to access their device, Hargrove said, and there's also security software available for smartphones. The 2012 Norton Cybercrime report found that 92 per cent of survey respondents in Russia said they had been victims of cybercrime. For Canadians travelling to Mexico or Brazil, each country has a rate of 75 per cent of its online citizens being past victims of cybercrime, Hargrove said. In less

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