Posted: 03 Mar 2010 09:15 PM PST

March 04, 2010 13:22 PM

International Cooperation Strengthens CyberSecurity's Role

By Bashirah Bakar

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Bernama) -- Issues relating to cyber security transcend national boundaries.

Therefore, tackling security issues relating to ICT even within the country calls for international cooperation, noted CyberSecurity Malaysia's Chief Executive Officer Lt Col (B) Husin Jazri.

CyberSecurity Malaysia is an agency under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation entrusted with the task of managing cyber security, including safety in the Internet.

"The culture of sharing information with its counterpart overseas helps to reduce cyber security problems," noted Husin during an interview with Bernama.

Husin pointed out that CyberSecurity Malaysia has established cooperation with 71 nations including within the Asia Pacific region and the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

CyberSecurity Malaysia has been appointed as the chairman of the OIC's Computer Emergency Response Team, and the committee member for Asia-Pacific Computer Response Team.

"The international cooperation denotes one of CyberSecurity Malaysia's successes, and our role at the international stage is something to be proud off," stated Husin.

ENSURING SECURITY OF THE CYBER WORLD

CyberSecurity Malaysia exchanges information with its foreign counterparts on cyber threats and learns of their strategies in enhancing cyber security.

By adopting international best practices, for example in digital forensics with the cooperation of South Korea, CyberSecurity Malaysia has extended its network.

CyberSecurity also conforms to international standards in carrying out studies at the international stage, said Husin.

Last December, a cyber drill `Latih Amal Krisis Siber X-MAYA2' organised by CyberSecurity saw the participation of 16 nations from the Asia Pacific region.

Early this year CyberSecurity Malaysia inked a MoU with Morocco's Post, Telecommunication and New Technology Department whereby both parties agreed to cooperate in protecting the critical information infrastructure, developing cyber security cooperation framework, develop competencies, conduct training and create awareness.

According to Husin, international platforms like the European Cyber Crime Convention provides an avenue to debate on cyber crimes.

"Taking part or organising international conference, workshop or seminar is the best option for CyberSecurity Malaysia to update knowledge in current issues of the cyber world," added Husin.

For example, on Feb 8 and 9 CyberSecurity Malaysia organised the Information Security Professionals Network Forum in Kuala Lumpur with international participants.

According to Husin, professionals from United Kingdom were invited to share their knowledge on tools, trends, laws and strategies on cyber security issues with cyber professionals in Malaysia.

EXPERTISE AND CHALLENGES

CyberSecurity Malaysia acts as the technical agency conducting analysis and activities to protect the nation's cyberspace especially in terms of technology and expertise.

For example, when the authorities need the advanced technical systems to analyze digital evidence, CyberSecurity Malaysia plays a role in helping out.

CyberSecurity Malaysia also holds activities and training programmes for Critical National Infrastructure to enhance the security of IT systems in the public and private sector.

In carrying out its responsibility CyberSecurity Malaysia has to face various challenges, noted Husin.

"This includes the difficulties in collecting evidence from overseas, that is time consuming and calls for the evaluation of the host nation," he said.

According to Husin the capabilities of Malaysian enforcement agencies in prosecuting cyber crimes has improved.

"Technical assistance from CyberSecurity helps enforcement," noted Husin.

ESTABLISHING A CONDUCIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

CyberSecurity Malaysia plays a vital role in establishing a safe and conducive cyber environment to help boost economic growth.

The Implementation of the National Cyber Security Policy, for example, directly and indirectly helps to change the ICT environment to a more positive one.

"The cooperation between the public and private sector in tackling cyber issues help generate economic activities. For example the local ICT industry develops software and hardware in coming up with applications like biometric access, MyKad reader, chip and other applications," said Husin.

As an agency established by the government, CyberSecurity Malaysia is financed by the government to assist the industry in enhancing the quality of ICT products with security features.

"CyberSecurity Malaysia provides the quality seal and recognition for the security features for businesses and industry to help enhance quality and add value to products and services that they provide overseas.

"Therefore local hardware and software developers have the opportunity to sell the products overseas with their security features guaranteed," he said.

According to Husin, at present CyberSecurity Malaysia has established cooperation with 17 foreign nations in providing benefits to entrepreneurs and consumers by recognizing products of quality based on ICT.

THE RESULT OF COOPERATION

CyberSecurity Malaysia's biggest achievement according to Husin is ensuring the security and well-being of the cyber realm, that not only benefits Malaysians but also Internet users worldwide.

"Through international cooperation, Malaysia could seek strategic partners overseas in the event foreign hackers threaten the nation and vice-versa," he said.

The latest, CyberSecurity Malaysia's contribution at the international stage also covers free information at its website www.cybersafe.my . The site provides tips on how to surf the Internet safely.

According to Husin, the public could also forward complaints and receive information on the latest cyber threats at the CyberSecurity Malaysia's web site (www.cybersecurity.my) or call the Cyber999 helpline that operates 24 hours daily at cyber999@cybersecurity.my or call 1-300-88-2999.

-- BERNAMA

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Professor selected as Center for Hellenic Studies fellow (The Collegian)

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 09:45 PM PST

Elizabeth Baughan, assistant professor of classics and archaeology at the University of Richmond, will be a non-residential fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies for 2010-2011.

The center is located in Washington, D.C. and is associated with Harvard University. Baughan will have access to Harvard's extensive library resources, as well as travel support to conduct research at the center.

The center is a great spot in the middle of the district, said Julie Laskaris, a classics professor at Richmond and previous fellow. It is on several hundred acres of land by Rock Creek Park, where wildlife, such as deer and foxes, can be seen.

The center has a fantastic library, Laskaris said. Once a person becomes a fellow, he or she is a fellow for life and can return at any time to use the library.

Fellows work on their research at the center, and are given funding so they have their time available to devote to research, she said.

The center offers both residential and non-residential fellowships to scholars working on various aspects of ancient Greek civilization, according to its Web site.

Non-residential fellows are provided with varying levels of financial support depending on their proposals and needs, according to the Web site.

Baughan will research and write the final chapters of her coming book. Her work is the first comprehensive study of funeral couches and their social and cultural significance in the area that is now Turkey.

Baughan said ancient funeral couches were burial places and made of stone to replicate wooden furniture of the type used during Greek and Roman antiquity.

The funeral beds Baughan researches replicate the wooden couches that were used for dining. This type of burial was popular when Anatolia was part of the Persian Empire.

Baughan became interested in the couches during an excavation near Turkey. The work gave her the idea for her thesis about funerary couches in Anatolia.

The couches had never thoroughly been collected and studied, and Baughan said she wanted to research where the idea for funeral couches came from and its significance.

"My focus is on the origins and significance [of couches] as a marker of elite and cultural identity," she said.

People would recline while eating at banquets, so Baughan said she thought the couches might signify the belief that one continues banqueting after death, or that the couches may have identified the dead as people who had been elite enough to attend banquets.

Before Baughan's work, it had been argued that the couches must be a Persian custom, but Baughan has researched couches that predate the era of the Persian Empire.

Baughan is in her third year at Richmond and previously taught at Trinity College.

"She's just a really great colleague to have, a wonderful addition to the department," Laskaris said. "She does fantastic work and has excited so many students about archaeology. She's just a delight."

Baughan's research began as her dissertation in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley.

"Since then I've just been doing more and more research," she said. "I applied [for the fellowship] because it's a research institution that is close by, so I can stay in Richmond with my family but be a part of the academic center, a researcher and a fellow, part of a community of scholars," she said. "I'll probably go up once a week to work for the day or stay overnight."

Part of the application process for fellowships included writing a proposal about the work applicants hoped to accomplish at the center, writing a statement of career goals and submitting recommendation letters. Baughan was notified in December that she had been selected as a fellow.

According to the center's Web site: "The center will fund proposals that (a) show scholarly promise as indicated by the merits of the project, (b) demonstrate the capability of the researchers to achieve the proposed outcomes as reflected in their academic records, prior publications and supporting letters, and achieve results that will have a broad impact both on the immediate field and on the humanities in general."

Baughan said she looked forward to working with more professionals in her field of study.

"It's exciting for me to become a part of this scholarly community," she said. "From what I understand it's sort of like a family in that you develop strong bonds with other fellows."

The fellowship with the center is special because many fellowships in the United States are only open to Americans, but this fellowship is available for international scholars as well, Laskaris said.

Baughan will continue to teach at Richmond after her fellowship.

"Hopefully I can use the funding to take leave to finish my book," she said. "Then I look forward to getting back to teaching."

Contact staff writer Ashley Graham at ashley.graham@richmond.edu.

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A novel in vitro model for light-induced wound healing (EurekAlert!)

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 09:28 PM PST

Public release date: 4-Mar-2010
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Contact: Ingrid Thomas
ithomas@aadronline.org
703-299-8084
International & American Association for Dental Research

Washington, DC, USA Today, during the 39th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research, convening at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, lead researcher C. Millan (U.S. Army Dental Corps, Martinez, Georgia) will present a poster of a study titled "A Novel In Vitro Model for Light-Induced Wound Healing." Studies have suggested that exposure to minimal doses of blue-violet light (400-500 nm) elicits production of small amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and contributes to increased mitochondrial activity and cell growth in epithelial cells. Many growth factor signaling pathways generate ROS.

In this study, Millan and other researchers involved in this study hypothesize that exposure to blue-violet light may enhance cell growth. To test this hypothesis, they developed a novel in-vitro wound healing model that allowed them to monitor the cellular responses to a single, small dose of light in cultured cells.

Normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK) and human gingival fibroblasts (HGF) were plated around cloning cylinders. At confluency, the cylinders were removed to create a wound. Cells were treated with a single 5 J/cm2 light dose delivered by a quartz-tungsten-halogen light source. Mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase activity was measured via a standard MTT assay, and cell proliferation was assessed using DRAQ5 DNA dye. Conditioned media were collected at each time point and used in a growth factor antibody array (RayBio) to compare the secretion products.

Growth factor array results showed that NHEK responded to blue light exposure by increasing secretion of several growth factors including insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1, amphiregulin, epidermal growth factor and fibroblast growth factor-b. Likewise, mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity and cell proliferation were enhanced in NHEK. In contrast, HGF did not respond to blue light exposure significantly in any of the parameters tested.

These results show that NHEK cells responded robustly to a single, small dose of light by increasing their mitochondrial activity, DNA synthesis, and production of growth factors. Together, these data suggest that blue light may be useful to enhance epithelial cell growth in a wound site.

This is a summary of abstract #488, "A Novel In Vitro Model for Light-Induced Wound Healing," to be presented by C. Millan at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 4, 2010, in Exhibit Hall D of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, during the 39th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research.
About the American Association for Dental Research

The American Association for Dental Research (AADR), headquartered in Alexandria, Va., is a nonprofit organization with nearly 4,000 members in the United States. Its mission is: (1) to advance research and increase knowledge for the improvement of oral health; (2) to support and represent the oral health research community; and (3) to facilitate the communication and application of research findings. AADR is the largest Division of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR).

To learn more about the AADR, visit www.aadronline.org.

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International Studies

Thursday, March 4, 2010

“International Cooperation Strengthens Cybersecurity's Role (Bernama)” plus 2 more

“International Cooperation Strengthens Cybersecurity's Role (Bernama)” plus 2 more

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