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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

An anti-Israel hacking collective affiliated with Anonymous has initiated a widespread cyber attack against the Jewish state, penetrating websites affiliated with the Mossad security service and a slew of related entities. Abney Associates Anonymous-linked groups hack Israeli websites, release personal data An anti-Israel hacking collective affiliated with Anonymous says it has initiated a widespread cyber attack against the Jewish state, penetrating websites affiliated with the Mossad security service and a slew of related entities. The hackers claimed late Friday that they have obtained and released personal information relating to 35,000 Israeli government officials, including politicians, military leaders, and police officers, according to a Twitter feed associated with the hackers. A comprehensive spreadsheet purporting to include the information of all 35,000 Israeli officials was published by the website Cryptome, though it did not independently verify the information. The coalition of hackers appears to have ties to the Iranian government, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, and the terror group Hezbollah, according to a report published by Cryptome. The hackers have united under the banner of online movement called "OpIsrael." Their stated goal is to "remove the Israel from WWW (World Wide Web)," according to The Hackers Post, which has been following the group's activities targeting Israel. "It looks like hacker target [sic] different Israeli servers and hacked the websites," Hackers Post reported. The anti-Israel hackers say they perpetrated their attacks to protest treatment of the Palestinians. "The reason for hacking Israeli websites was to raise voice of Palestine's [sic] who are under hell created by Israel and left a deface page [on the hacked websites] displaying images of Palestinians affected by Israeli shelling," the Hackers Post wrote. Hackers left vitriolic and offensive messages on the websites they accessed, according to the Hackers

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