Latest news with #RM76
New Straits Times
09-07-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
Jakim developing module to curb extremism among foreign workers
KUALA LUMPUR: The Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) is developing a specialised module to curb the spread of radical ideologies among foreign workers in the country. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar said the initiative would be implemented in collaboration with the Home Ministry and the police to ensure its effectiveness. He said efforts to counter extremist ideologies, such as those associated with certain groups from Bangladesh, would not only protect Malaysia but also benefit the workers' countries of origin. "Some of these individuals are suspected of involvement in efforts to destabilise their governments," he told reporters after officiating the Corporate Zakat 2025 event here today. Mohd Na'im said Jakim has long promoted wasatiyyah (moderation) through seminars, lectures and sermons, in line with the Madani framework. "We want them to return to the true, moderate teachings of Islam. If we can assist in rehabilitating their ideology, we are not only protecting our country but also helping to prevent threats in their countries of origin," he said. On July 4, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain revealed that police had dismantled a militant cell involving Bangladeshi nationals, allegedly linked to fundraising and recruitment efforts in support of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Bangladesh. Separately, Mohd Na'im reported that business zakat collection by the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council Zakat Collection Centre (PPZ-MAIWP) for the first quarter of this year had reached RM76 million. Of that amount, RM53 million was contributed by 23 corporate entities, including Tabung Haji, Bank Islam, Amanah Hartanah Bumiputera and Bank Muamalat. "If more companies embrace zakat as part of their corporate culture, we can help alleviate poverty," he said.
The Sun
08-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
JAKIM creates module to prevent extremism among foreign workers
KUALA LUMPUR: The Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) is working on a new module to tackle the spread of extremist beliefs among foreign workers in the country. The initiative involves cooperation with the Home Ministry and Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) to ensure a structured approach in addressing radical influences. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar explained that the effort aims to safeguard Malaysia while also benefiting the workers' home countries. 'Some of these individuals are suspected of involvement in efforts to destabilise their governments,' he said during the Corporate Zakat 2025 event. JAKIM has consistently promoted moderation (wasatiyyah) through various programmes, aligning with the MADANI framework. 'We want them to return to the true moderate teachings of Islam. If we can assist in rehabilitating their ideology, we are not only protecting our country but also helping to prevent threats in their countries of origin,' he added. Recent police reports revealed the dismantling of a militant cell linked to Bangladesh nationals, allegedly supporting Islamic State (IS) activities in Syria and Bangladesh. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain confirmed the arrests on July 4. In a separate update, Mohd Na'im shared that corporate zakat collections for the first quarter of 2024 reached RM76 million, with RM53 million contributed by 23 companies, including Tabung Haji and Bank Islam. He encouraged more firms to adopt zakat as part of their corporate responsibility to help reduce poverty. - Bernama
The Star
26-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
One of the best hackers in the US is an AI bot
A hacker named Xbow has topped a prestigious security industry US leaderboard that tracks who has found and reported the most vulnerabilities in software from large companies. Xbow isn't a person – it's an artificial intelligence tool developed by a company of the same name. This is the first time a company's AI product has topped HackerOne's US leaderboard by reputation, which measures how many vulnerabilities have been found and the importance of each one, according to HackerOne co-founder Michiel Prins. Now, the year-old startup has raised US$75mil (RM317.88mil) in a new funding round led by Altimeter Capital, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital and NFDG. It declined to share its valuation. Security researchers and hackers have long automated parts of their work and AI has shown up as a key tool in the past two years, Prins said. Nearly all human hackers now augment their efforts with AI and there are a handful of firms trying to do what Xbow does – Prins calls them hackbot companies. Xbow, founded in January 2024 by GitHub veteran Oege de Moor, automates penetration testing, where hackers try to find security flaws and break into corporate networks. Companies often hire or employ people to do that, called red teams, as a way of improving and protecting their network and software. But red teaming and penetration testing is costly – US$18,000 (RM76,292) on average and few weeks of work for a test on a single system, says de Moor – and so it often doesn't get done frequently enough. De Moor wants to sell his product to enable customers to go through the process continuously or at least more often, and before new products and systems go live. "By automating this we can completely change the equation,' said de Moor, who formerly oversaw Microsoft Corp-owned GitHub's Copilot for AI code-generation. The challenge is that well-financed hackers are also using AI algorithms to automate attacks and increase their frequency at a lower cost. Xbow has "something that works now and it's exciting, but also somewhat terrifying because we are now in the era of machines hacking machines,' said Nat Friedman of NFDG, and a former GitHub chief executive officer. De Moor, who also spent two decades as a computer science professor at Oxford University, expects the balance of power to eventually favor defenders, using tools like Xbow. "There might be a period of chaos where not everybody gets ready for these AI-powered attacks,' he said. Now, "we can, for the first time, have a good hope that defenders can find and fix all the vulnerabilities before a system goes out.' De Moor founded Semmle, a startup for finding security flaws in code that was acquired by GitHub in 2019. Microsoft had bought GitHub the previous year and named Friedman CEO. He wanted to make a series of acquisitions to add new products and entrepreneurial talent. Friedman and Altimeter Capital partner Apoorv Agrawal said they were looking at ways AI could boost cybersecurity when de Moor began Xbow. "Cybersecurity is going through a credibility crisis. There are a lot of alerts,' Agrawal said. What chief information security officers "want is less, not more, they want simplicity and less alerts,' he added. "How do you make this work? AI can help.' HackerOne offers a security platform where companies who want their software vetted can offer bounties for finding bugs. There are open programs and ones that are invitation-only. Xbow is active in both. When an AI like Xbow's finds a vulnerability, HackerOne requires a human at the company to vet it to filter out AI hallucinations. Then Xbow goes to the company whose product contains the supposed flaw. If it confirms the issue, Xbow earns reputation points – hackers get more points the more severe the issue. As part of that work, the Xbow product successfully found and reported security bugs to more than a dozen well-known companies, according to de Moor. The list includes Inc, Walt Disney Co, PayPal Holdings Inc and Sony Group Corp. De Moor declined to name Xbow's current customers except to say they are large financial services and technology companies. Xbow's team includes GitHub veterans like Nico Waisman, who served as chief information security officer at Lyft Inc, and is now Xbow head of security, and Albert Ziegler, Xbow's head of AI, who worked at GitHub and Semmle. While Xbow's algorithm does well in finding things like common coding errors and security issues, it does poorly at realising when a flaw results from product design logic. For example, it needs to be explicitly told when looking at a medical web site that prescriptions should be kept private, de Moor said. And it won't understand that while a doctor or a pharmacist needs to be able to access the prescriptions of multiple patients, it's a security problem if one patient can see another's meds. In the future, Xbow also wants to add the ability to tell customers how to correct the security flaws and make coding suggestions for those fixes. Widespread adoption will also require getting customers to change how they work, Altimeter's Agrawal said. "Whenever there's a sufficiently advanced technology, the last-mile adoption requires a change of workflows,' Agrawal said. "It requires a change of people's behaviors that they've been doing for years, sometimes decades." – Bloomberg
New Straits Times
19-06-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
#SHOWBIZ: Hans Isaac: Finas to consider ending 'open door policy' for foreign films
KUALA LUMPUR: Following the disappointing box office performance of Blood Brothers: Bara Naga in Indonesia, despite it being Malaysia's highest-grossing film of 2025, the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) is considering ending its 'open door policy' towards international films. Its chairman, Datuk Hans Isaac, 53, expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of reciprocity in how Malaysian films are treated abroad, particularly in Indonesia. "I'm saying this not just as Finas chairman but also as a filmmaker. We open all doors for them to screen their films in Malaysia," he told reporters when met recently. "However, when we take our films abroad, although they grant us entry, the process, marketing, and structural hurdles are extremely challenging." "For example, in Indonesia, they complicate the situation, whereas here in Malaysia, we have always made it very easy," he added. Hans further said that if foreign countries make it difficult for Malaysian films to penetrate their markets, Malaysia should impose the same conditions on them. "If they offer five slots, we'll offer five. If they give ten, we'll give ten. It has to be on a first-come, first-served basis." "We can't reserve special slots for anyone. This is similar to the Mandatory Screening Scheme, which may also be considered for foreign films. However, implementing this will require processes, proposals, and a thorough review," he explained. To further promote local films on the global stage, Finas plans to launch a major initiative around September or October. "Finas will serve as a bridge between countries. We'll help film producers tap into larger markets, even beyond Indonesia," Hans added. "Let's just put it that way for now. If Blood Brothers failed in Indonesia in terms of earnings, I'll prove that their audience was wrong. Finas will take the film to bigger markets elsewhere. Discussions are already underway." It was previously reported that Blood Brothers, which grossed RM76 million at the box office in Malaysia, was screened in only 40 cinemas in Indonesia. Its director, Syafiq Yusof, also revealed that fewer than five Malaysian films were screened in Indonesia in 2024, whereas over 100 Indonesian films entered the Malaysian market with ease.
New Straits Times
13-06-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
Palm rises on crude and rival oils; set for first weekly loss in five
JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures traded higher on Friday, tracking soaring crude oil prices and rival edible oils in Dalian and Chicago amid geopolitical concerns, but the market was headed to snap a four-week streak of gains. The benchmark palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained RM76, or 1.98 per cent, to RM3,915 (US$921.50) a metric ton by the midday break. The contract has lost slightly 0.05 per cent so far this week. "Today's market is reacting towards Israel's bombing of Iran, resulting in the rise of crude oil," a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said. Oil prices surged more than 9 per cent on Friday, hitting an almost five-month high after Israel struck Iran, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East and raising worries about disrupted oil supplies. Stronger crude oil futures make palm a more attractive option for biodiesel feedstock. Dalian's most-active soyoil contract rose 1.4 per cent, while its palm oil contract gained 2.12 per cent. Soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 1.43 per cent. Palm oil tracks the price movements of rival edible oils as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market. India's palm oil imports in May rose about 84 per cent month-on-month to 592,888 metric tons, a trade body said on Thursday. Malaysian ringgit, the palm's currency of trade, strengthened 0.75 per cent against the US dollar, making the contract more expensive for holders of foreign currencies. Palm oil may break resistance at RM3,927 per ton and rise toward the RM3,962-RM3,998 range, according to Reuters' technical analyst Wang Tao.
