Pemerintah Korea Integrasikan Data Center, Tetapkan Patok Ukur Baru Pada IT E-Government (Bagian 1)

Badan negara komputasi dan Informatika Korea Selatan "National Computing & Information Agency-NCIA", telah mulai mewujudkan sebuah ide agar pemerintah menempatkan semua sumber daya IT yang dimiliki semua lembaga pemerintah secara terpusat di satu tempat dan mengelolanya sebagai sumber daya IT yang terintegrasi,hal ini diungkapkan oleh Kim Kyung-sup, presiden NCIA. NCIA menjadi satu-satunya didunia yang berfungsi sebagai Pusat Data Pemerintah Terintegrasi atau GIDC (Government Integrated Data Center). Saat ini, NCIA menjadi rujukan untuk "Tolak Ukur untuk GIDC" dan diakui sebagai salah satu solusi e-Government terbaik di dunia, ujar Dr. Kim. Klaimnya mengenai ini dikuatkan oleh Survey e-Government PBB tahun 2010, dimana Korea menempati peringkat pertama dari 192 negara yang disurvei. Pada tahun 2005 menduduki peringkat ke-5 dan pada tahun 2002 peringkat ke-15. 

"Tidak ada pemerintah lain di dunia ini yang pernah mencoba pekerjaan ini. Pada mulanya, sejumlah orang bersikap skeptis terhadap capaian sukses proyek ini, mengingat berbagai potensi konflik kepentingan diantara berbagai kementerian dan skalanya", ujar Kim .

Menuju Smart E-Government melalui layanan Government Cloud Computing 

Jumlah pengguna telepon cerdas di Korea kita jumlahnya melampaui 20 juta. Berarti 4 dari 10 orang Korea mengguna telepon selular cerdas. Komunikasi yang interaktif telah menjadi fitur yang krusial dalam era cerdas. Di jantung tren, ada layanan komputasi awan atau cloud computing. 

Pemerintah menilai bahwa komputasi awan penting untuk mendekatkan pemerintah dengan masyarakat dan dengan berbagai tren yang sedang berkembang dalam layanan-layanan publik, sehingga pemerintah memutuskan untuk memperkenalkan paradigma baru, Layanan Pemerintah Berbasis ICT. 

Idenya adalah menghadirkan berbagai layanan e-Government yang cerdas melalui Layanan Komputasi Awan Pemerintah atau G Cloud. Pemerintah Korea telah memetakan sebuah rencana untuk menyediakan sebuah komputasi awan dan mobilitas yang mengacu kepada lingkungan. NCIA telah menetapkan 3 sasaran :

1. mentransfer 50% proses bisnis di berbagai lembaga pemerintah pusat yang bekerja dengan sistem yang berlaku saat ini kedalam sistem berbasis Komputasi Awan,
2. meningkatkan adaptasi perangkat lunak Open Source hingga 40% dan memotong berbagai biaya operasional hingga lebih dari 30%,
3. menawarkan Layanan Komputasi Awan Pemerintah yang terbaik di dunia. 

"Untuk mewujudkan tujuan ini, pemerintah kini dalam proses membangun sebuah landasan Komputasi Awan Pemerintah yang berfokus menciptakan berbagai layanan yang terpercaya, memiliki efisiensi dalam pengoperasian, memperkenalkan lebih banyak berbagai standard berbasis open source, untuk menyukseskan migrasi proses bisnis pemerintah kedalam lingkungan baru. 

Berbagai Capaian dan Tantangan Menuju E-Government yang Cerdas 

Sejak terbangunnya NCIA enam tahun yang lalu, lembaga ini telah membuat e-Government menjadi lebih stabil, aman dan efisien. NCIA juga telah melejitkan pertumbuhan perusahaan-perusahan IT kelas menengah dan kecil dan menunjang berbagai aktivitas ekspor model GIDC. 

Komputasi Awan Pemerintah buatan Korea akan diingat sebagai sebuah usaha mengatasi tantangan-tantangan e-Government secara menyeluruh yang paling sukses. Sistem keamanan e-Government kini telah semakin ketat. 

"Sederhananya, sejumlah rangkaian ketentuan pengamanan bekerja secara otomatis menangkal berbagai serangan Cyber yang memperlihatkan betapa keamanan semakin meningkat secara dramatis," jelas DR. Kim. " Jumlah ketentuan pengamanan yang teregistrasi pada awal berdirinya NCIA berjumlah 8.000. Namun ditahun 2011 humlahnya telah bertambah menjadi dua kali lipat. 

NCIA telah mengembangkan sebuah sistem pertahanan yang menyeluruh yang disebut e-ANSI (Advanced National Security Infrastructure) yang mencakup kemanan fisik dan cyber. Terimakasih kepada e-ANSI, NCIA telah sukses mempertahankan semua sistem sekalipun jumlah ancaman Cyber yang terus meningkat. 

Isu keamanan komputasi Awan tetap menjadi perhatian utama dalam inisiatif ini. Orang kerap berpikir bahwa berbagai resiko dapat meningkat sejak semua data dikonsentrasikan di satu tempat. NCIA telah melenyapkan kekhawatiran ini dengan menyediakan sebuah mekanisme pertahanan yang sistematik dan membuat Komputasi Awan bekerja optimal selama 24/7. 

"Kami telah berhasil dalam mengurangi tak hanya biaya-biaya peralatan tetapi juga biaya-biaya operasional seperti gaji, utilitas dan pemeliharan. Oleh karena itu, kita dapat meningkatkan efisiensi dalam mengelola berbagai sumber daya IT milik pemerintah," jelas Dr. Kim. 

NCIA membeli peralatan dan software untuk kepentingan berbagai kementerian dan menawarkan perangkat-perangkat ini melalui virtualisasi dan teknologi otomatisasi. Semua upaya ini ahirnya terbayarkan. Biaya pemeliharaan dan operasional telah berkurang sebesar 30%. 

Pada saat yang sama, jumlah pengeluaran dana yang alokasinya  tumpang tindih telah berkurang secara meyakinkan. Pemerintah juga telah melakukan penghematan sebesar KRW63,4 miliar (USD54,8 juta) semenjak NCIA beroperasi. 

"Kami sedang mengimplementasikan berbagai kebijakan yang bertujuan untuk membentuk sebuah lingkungan pasar  yang mendukung pertumbuhan perusahaan-perusahaan berskala sedang dan kecil," ujar Dr.Kim. "NCIA tidak hanya memperkuat kapabilitasnya dengan menjalankan kemitraan dengan perusahaan-perusahan lokal tetapi juga aktif memperkenalkan tren-tren baru serta berbagai teknologi baru dan menyebarkannya kesemua sektor pemerintah."Perusahaan-perusahaan berskala menengah dan kecil berpartisipasi pada 50% proyek-proyek NCIA setiap tahunnya.

Bersambung : Bagian 2

Martin Simamora | koreaittimes.com

China racing to expand data center capacity

businessreviewindia.in : data center

China is in the midst of an unprecedented data center construction boom that's providing business opportunities for U.S. companies and could see China emerge with one of the most advanced computing infrastructures in the world. The country is building dozens, maybe hundreds of large data centers to support the needs of its fast-growing online population, estimated now at close to 500 million. The data centers will help to meet escalating demand from telecom providers, and for services such as e-commerce, online banking and e-government. 

  

They will also provide computing infrastructure for overseas firms looking to expand in China. But the uncertain political and regulatory environment make it unlikely that China can turn itself into a hub for international business in the region, to rival countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore. 

The build-out is strongly backed by the Chinese government, which has made expanding the national computing infrastructure a part of its latest five-year plan. And local governments are funding the development of vast "cloud cities" -- industrial zones that aim to provide the foundations to support as many as 20 data centers over time. 

The boom is providing opportunities for outside firms such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM. "We have more people in China focused on data center development and strategy than, I believe, in any country in the world," said Rick Einhorn, worldwide director for HP's Critical Facilities Services group.

China is heavily reliant today on outside firms for design expertise, he said, although that could change as HP and other firms work alongside Chinese engineers and provide them with training and experience. The nation's approach to data centers is “to build more and to build big,” said Glen Yuan, executive of data center services for IBM's Greater China group. 

The facilities being built for banks and telecom providers are sometimes vast, covering up to 50,000 square meters (538,000 square feet). China has seen waves of data center construction in the past, but those efforts were often hasty and suffered from poor planning, Einhorn and Yuan both said. Some data centers quickly exhausted their capacity, with the poor infrastructure making services in the country unreliable.

This time around, China hopes to do it right. The Suzhou International Science-Park Data Center (SISDC), in southeastern China, for example, is the country's first Tier 4-certified data center, according to Ivan Lau, a senior sales director with SISDC. 

Tier 4 signifies the highest level of reliability. Built with help from IBM, an initial phase opened for business in October 2010, and the data center will cover 42,000 square meters when a second phase is completed in 2013 or 2014. The Suzhou government is funding construction, with hopes of making the industrial park where it is based a major hub for IT services. 

About 80 percent of the existing capacity is in use or reserved by customers, Lau said. Many of its biggest customers are foreign financial firms, which are required by Chinese law to store data about its citizens within the country. Government directives on carbon emissions mean data centers are being built using modern, energy-efficient technologies, Einhorn said. 

Some employ modular, multi-tier designs, which help to match power and cooling equipment to the requirements, in turn reducing wasted energy. But while data centers are booming for domestic use, some are skeptical that companies will pick China as a base for providing IT services internationally. 

"There are questions around ownership rights for data and other assets," said IDC analyst Michelle Bailey. "It will be interesting to see if China can evolve its policies to keep in step with the market." A former security consultant who worked on data center projects in China said foreign companies have several causes for concern.
He sees three main areas of risk -- local employees absconding with data, traffic being monitored or interfered with, and the loss of equipment during sudden "inspections" by Chinese police. "The last of these is what sets China apart from most other geographic options," and can result in the government cutting off access to equipment for several days, said the consultant, who asked not to be identified. 

Trying to get outside firms to host their IT infrastructure in China is "an exercise in futility," he said. Lau said those fears are unfounded and may have been fuelled by Google's much-publicized problems in the country. As long as companies follow China's rules and regulations, they will face no problems locating data centers in China, he said. 

There are other challenges too, however, such as securing adequate bandwidth and power. And China needs to keep pace with a population that is adopting PCs, smartphones and tablets at a rapid pace, said Sheldon He, a product marketing manager with Intel. The client-to-server ratio in China is currently more than 60 to 1, he said, while in the U.S. it is closer to 20 to 1. “China has almost five times the population of the U.S., so our problems are five times greater,” He said. “We have the world’s biggest billing systems. If we can succeed in solving these problems it could lead to innovation.” 

COMPUTERWORLD http://news.idg.no

A Year in Review: Top Ten for Government 2.0 in 2011

For the third year in a row, here is my (absolutely personal) top ten in the area of government 2.0 and government innovation in general. This ranking is my own, and – as such – totally arbitrary. I am sure I am missing great things that happened in many corners of the world, and I could actually make it longer. My choice is based on topics, issues, individuals, jurisdictions that have “animated” my life as an analyst, through multiple interactions, dealing with several questions about them, and agreeing or disagreeing with what they are doing. 

  

As usual, my thanks go to all professionals who, in different roles and capacity, inside or outside government, work relentlessly to help transform the public sector with (or notwithstanding) technology innovation. Their contribution has been essential to help governments around the world face their huge challenges and better prepare to deal with an often uncertain, and certainly even more challenging future. 

 As usual, the list is in reverse order, from number ten to number one. 

10. Vendors trying to help with government clouds

With the US federal and several other governments hugely interested in cloud computing, several vendors have made significant inroads to meet government requirements for security and data sovereignty. Although most vendors tend to overuse the term “cloud” as an umbrella for a number of different services and delivery models, they have been listening more carefully and responding to their government clients’ needs. Examples include the development of specific federal clouds by Google, Microsoft, IBM and more recently Amazon; the issuance of IaaS blanket purchase agreements by GSA; the role of the vendor association Intellect in helping the UK government shape its own cloud strategy. While there is still room for improvement, things seem to be moving in the right direction. 

9. Cloud Security research by the European Network & Information Security Agency

Largely ignored by clients outside Europe (as witnessed by the number of clients who had never heard about it), ENISA’s “Security and Resilience in Governmental Clouds” is one of the few substantial contributions that the European institutions and agencies have provided to the cause of greater use of cloud computing by government organizations. Very thorough, it provides a great list of criteria for anybody who wants to look beyond the surface of compliance issues, and to something a bit more international than what FISMA and FedRAMP give in the US. 

8. How Queensland used social media to face the floods in January

This has been mentioned by many as one of the best examples of good government use of social media where this has often associated to riots and revolutions. Several state agencies opened access to social media to their employees, and started using platforms like Twitter and Facebook to reach out to the community affected by massive floods. Some of those uses have been exemplary and have gained the Queensland State Police, amongst others, accolades and awards. This great case also showed us how social media can serve a tactical purpose to face an immediate need, but may be difficult to sustain over time. 

7. The many UK strategies

After a pause to let the new coalition government settle, the UK Cabinet Office did issue a Government ICT strategy in March, followed by a shared services vision and then a stream of documents about the implementation of the ICT strategy, covering cloud computing, end-user devices and more. These documents show that the idea of having foundational partners, i.e. IT leaders in large departments, in charge for different parts of the strategy is working. On the downside, though, some leadership changes in the Cabinet office, with executives moving to the private sector, may leave some void at crucial implementation time. 

6. Alex Howard: great gov 2.0 blogger

Alex and I are often on the opposite side of the fence when it comes to debating open government. He is an enthusiast, although, being a reporter, he does not like this term. Actually, I mean this in a positive sense, as opposed to my analyst cynicism that makes me look at many open government endeavors as politically motivated, déjà vu, or “me-too”. I have often enjoyed comparing notes with him and certainly like the breadth and depth of his government 2.0 coverage. Probably if he were not working for O’Reilly, he could come to terms with the weaknesses in the “government-as-a-platform” approach: despite this, he is one of the most balanced bloggers I have been reading on this and related themes. 

5. The US Federal CIOs: change and continuity

This year has seen the change in federal IT leadership with Vivek Kundra moving to Harvard and Steve Van Roekel taking his place. Vivek has been one of the most controversial and innovative figures in federal IT, dividing experts between enthusiastic supporters and dismissive critics. The former liked his very different approach, driven by transparency and the willingness to push change in various areas. The latter complained about his lack of experience with federal environment and processes and even accused him of caring mostly about self-promotion. Reality, as usual, is in the middle: he certainly was visionary for the federal environment and triggered some significant change; however he did not put enough emphasis on the sustainability of his many initiatives. Steven’s main challenge is to accomplish something that helps build political capital in a re-election year: he is doing so by building upon what Vivek did, rather than immediately looking at something else in order to impose his personal vision. 

4. Australia: down under and down to Earth

During 2011 Australia published both its draft ICT strategy and its cloud strategy. While not perfect, these documents are very sensible and do not try to impose blanket approaches to all agencies. This has been much welcome in between a stream of more compulsory measures, from the shared service approach in Canada to Cloud First in the US. It is always refreshing to discuss about these topics with people at AGIMO:I do wish them to keep a stronger drive than what they did with the outcome of the government 2.0 taskforce, which made number 2 in my top ten in 2009 but apparently had little impact so far. 

3. GSA: keeping their drive with tighter budgets

The tighter federal budget in 2011 has taken resources away from some of the innovative programs that the US General Services Administration have been leading under the Obama administration. Nevertheless they have kept advancing their agenda on both USA.gov and on cloud computing. On the latter, despite a change in leadership, they have finally published the blanket purchase agreement for IaaS, pushed a call for tender on email services through a GAO protest, progressed the complex FedRAMP initiative, while transitioning themselves to a new cloud-based email service. This is a group of talented and highly-motivated professionals who epitomize the great government employees that made number 1 in my top ten last year. 

2. Women in IT: leading with grace

I have written in the past about how women get social media better than men do, and how I have had the pleasure to meet great female IT-savvy politicians and IT executives. The list goes on and on. Behind many of the successful achievements that I have been tracking there is a woman. People like Linda Cureton (NASA CIO and author of the excellent “The Leadership Muse”), Ann Steward (Australian federal CIO), Mechthild Rohen (Head of eGovernment program at the European Commission), Claudia de Andrade de Wit (CIO of the City of Amsterdam), Stela Mocan (Director of the eGovernment Center in Moldova) and many many others are all great examples: we’d better watch out! 

1. New Zealand: the best social media guidelines so far

Analysts can’t help find little drawbacks even in the best product or strategy. That’s why I was so happy to find the social media guidelines from the New Zealand government: this is close to an almost perfect document (of course it’s not, analysts are impossible to please) and certainly one that I recommend to many to read. It is a great blend of common sense and actionable advice, and can be easily tailored to different contexts. The authors said they were heavily inspired by a document prepared by people in the UK government: however it does not look like the UK published one yet, so, while some kudos go to the unknown British employees who inspired this, the merit is all for our distant friends in the Pacific.

Thank you all for reading my blog through 2011. Let me wish you, your families and friends a Happy New Year. 

http://blogs.gartner.com

Thailand aims to be cloud service hub

Software Park Anual Conference 2011

It was very well received for the Software Park Annual Conference 2011 “Software Industry Towards ASEAN Economic Community – AEC 2015 on 13 September 2011 at Ballroom, Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. The key objective of the event was to create awareness and to provide knowledge about ASEAN Economic Community and the impacts to IT Industry. Vnohow also participated in this event.

The US and Taiwanese governments have agreed to stimulate adoption of rental cloud-based services among small and medium-sized enterprises for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to improve competitiveness. The move promotes their cloud systems in the global marketplace, as growing cloud technology is expected to be valued at US$82.9 billion by 2016. Software Park Thailand wants to promote the country as a cloud outsourcing hub in the region over the next five years to create new IT job opportunities and attract revenue.
 

Cloud computing is set to enter the mainstream in Asia-Pacific next year. Frost & Sullivan predict 30% of companies in the region will adopt the technology. Speaking at a recent seminar, Craig Allen, a representative of the International Trade Administration under the US Department of Commerce, said his country is planning to introduce cloud for both developed and developing countries.

Ming-Cheng Sheng, director-general for the IT division of the Institute for Information Industry Chinese in Taipei, said it aims to export cloud-related products and services, especially a cloud data centre.

It is also promoting domestic use of cloud among government, manufacturing, media and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Wimonkan Kosumas, deputy director-general of the Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion, said the Thai government needs to strengthen IT capability for its 2.9 million SMEs to compete with more companies as free trade liberalises markets, particularly the planned Asean Economic Community.

Dr Wimonkan said cloud enables companies to use technology at a lower cost through a subscription-based service, compared to traditional licence and purchasing models that require large investments upfront. Thanachart Numnonda, director of Software Park Thailand, said Thailand could use cloud to build new IT skills to develop cloud-enabled applications.

"We could become a cloud outsource centre within five years," Dr Thanachat said. To achieve that goal, Software Park is cooperating with the Association of Thai Professionals in America and Canada to train cloud developers on the global cloud platforms of Amazon EC2, Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure.

"We are preparing to form a cloud Thailand alliance by gathering all related authorities to promote cloud in the country," he said. Dr Thanachart added that in order to achieve its goal, Thailand needs a reliable high-speed broadband infrastructure nationwide plus a data privacy protection law.

.bangkokpost.com

ITU approves new worldwide smart grid standards

mauinow.com

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said that its standards for smart grids have been approved and now available for download. The new standards -- Recommendations ITU-T G.9955 and G.9956 -- contain the physical layer (PHY) and the data link layer (DLL) specifications, respectively, for NB-PLC transceivers based on OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing). The specifications define technologies that support indoor and outdoor communications over direct current and alternating current power lines (including low and medium voltage lines), through transformer communications, for both urban and long distance rural communications and at frequencies below 500 kHz. 

 

These standards are envisioned to enable cost-effective smart grid applications such as distribution automation, diagnostic and fault location, smart metering, demand response, energy management, smart appliances, grid-to-home communications and advanced recharging systems for electric vehicles. 

ITU also said the standards are an ideal platform for smart grid applications because of their use of power lines as a communications medium, which is under the direct and complete control of power utilities. In addition, because the family supports popular protocols like Ethernet, IPv4 and IPv6, smart grid networks can easily be integrated with IP-based networks. 

"The approved ITU NB-PLC family of international standards will be a fundamental building block for realizing a robust smart grid anywhere in the world, and will allow utilities to start immediate deployment of NB-PLC on a worldwide basis,” said Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General, ITU. 

http://egovasia.enterpriseinnovation.net

More 1M’sia Products, Services In The Pipeline: PM

NJOI , TV Satelit Gratis bagi segenap  rakyat Malaysia

The government plans to roll out more 1Malaysia products and services for the rakyat, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak announced. Speaking at the launch of the country’s first free satellite TV station called NJOI, Najib said the government is committed to ensuring the people experience the benefits put in place by his administration. “This free satellite TV launched today is truly a 1 Malaysia product for the people,” Najib said after launching NJOI at the PPR Cochrane flats.  

“For the good of the rakyat, God willing, there will be more of such products and services in time to come,” he said. Najib said more than 50,000 households, especially from the lower income group, will soon enjoy the services of NJOI, made available through Astro in collaboration with the government’s e-Kasih programme.

NJOI will feature 18 TV channels, including Bernama TV and 19 radio stations. Astro will distribute 50,000 NJOI decoders and satellite dishes to recipients under the e-Kasih programme for free. “1Malaysia is not just a philosophy to guide us in nation building,” Najib said. “It is also used to develop products and services that will benefit Malaysians of all walks of life.

All Malaysians must be able to enjoy the benefits and facilities provided by the Government,” he added. On Sunday, Najib launched the first internet protocol television station called 1Malaysia TV which can be accessed online. The 1Malaysia TV, Najib said, was to disseminate fast and accurate information in real-time to the people so that they would not have to rely on other news sources which are often inaccurate and false.

The NJOI service is aimed at narrowing the digital gap, especially among the rural folks and those from the low income category. NJOI services will be made available to all customers by the first quarter of next year. Customers will only need to purchase the decoder and satellite dish without having to pay a monthly subscription fee like conventional Astro users. Meanwhile, Astro’s chief executive officer, Datuk Rohana Rozhan said Astro would introduce NJOI in three phases.

She said in the first phase, Astro would distribute 50,000 NJOI decoders and satellite dishes to recipients under the eKasih programme. “The second phase involves making the NJOI service available to all by the first quarter of 2012, where a customer can purchase the decoder and dish, install them and start to enjoy the services.

“In the third phase, NJOI customers can choose to buy additional content at their own discretion, from a menu of product and services through a prepaid mechanism, which will be available by the middle of 2012,” she said at the launch of NJOI here today, reports Bernama. Rohana said NJOI’s customers could enjoy the 37 TV and radio services such as Astro Tutor, Astro Vanavil, Astro Prima, Astro Oasis, Astro Awani, Bernama TV, Astro AEC, Jia Yu, Makkal TV, iView, iMus, TVi, TV1 and TV2. She also said Astro planned to offer its services or selection of its services via smart devices for its existing customers. “This will be made available in the second quarter of next year,” she said.

.thesundaily.my

ICT budgets B27m for e-commerce and cyber security upgrade

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry set aside 27 million baht for the Thai Computer Emergency Response Team to set up a national digital forensic laboratory to tackle cyber security and boost local e-transaction service. The move is aimed at increasing the country's e-commerce and e-payment services, worth 629 billion baht and 680 trillion baht last year, respectively. Thailand expects e-transactions to comprise 10% of GDP by 2015. 

  

Surangkana Wayuparb, executive director of Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), the parent of ThaiCert, said ICT allocated it 241 million baht for 2012. The budget will be used for implementing laws and regulations as well as building mechanisms to facilitate e-transactions. 

Of the total, around 27 million will be allocated to ThaiCert to establish a national digital forensic laboratory. The facility will be designed as a source for gathering electronic evidence without contamination, enabling the authority to handle court cases faster instead of only monitoring cybercrime incidents in the past. 

Mrs Surangkana said ThaiCert plans to extend its security-related network alliance by increasing its workforce from 300 to 10,000 next year. Cyber security threats increased significantly from 150 reports in 2001 to 5,526 this year. In the second half of this year, ThaiCert received over 100 cases per month, half of which were incidents of fraud.

The ETDA granted an additional 17 million baht to ThaiCert to set up a national root certification authority, scheduled to start providing service by Sept 2012. The authority will issue digital certificates that act like a digital signature for trusted e-transactions. 

This will help verify the credentials of electronic-related service providers in order to increase consumer confidence in e-transactions. Charamporn Jotikasthira, the ETDA board's chairman, said the Bank of Thailand's report noted the country's e-payment transactions were worth 732 trillion baht last year, with 680 trillion in paper-based payments. 

Internet and mobile payments accounted for 19 billion baht last year. The National Statistical Office reported in 2010, e-transactions rose 19%, up from 629 billion baht in 2009. Private e-commerce tallied 288 million baht. 

.bangkokpost.com

Russia's Government Rethought Its Plans For Internet In 2011-2012

Russia's government has released a new edition of the state run program "The Information Society" regarding the use of the Internet in years 2011-2012. As Kommersant newspaper reports, the new edition differs from its previous version by the shift of Russia's official interest in the web space. Instead of the e-government, "The Information Society" strongly stresses the need of finding solutions for problems of the Russian society which uses modern technologies. 

 

One of the priorities of the new edition of the program "The Information Society" is the low quality of Internet connectivity in Russian households. As a goal, this new edition sets "the compensation of aging of telecommunication infrastructure", wich means that there might be new requirements in 2012 for telecommunications industry and Internet providing companies. 

The often discussed and vaunted e-government supported by the President Medvedev still has its place in the program, although sharply reduced practically to "filling out forms" to receive a public service. 

Sadly enough, the "universal digital map", the "electronic voting system" and web cameras in each precinct as recently promised by Vladimir Putin are not mentioned in the program. 

publiciti.ru

VIETNAMESE CITY UNVEILS ICT TRANSFORMATION PLAN

Pham Kim Son, General Director,
Department of IT, Danang City.

Da Nang, a city of nearly a million residents in central Vietnam, has embarked on a comprehensive modernisation programme that will see it become Vietnam’s first “e-city” by 2020, according to Pham Kim Son, Director of the Danang Department of Information and Communications.Under a decision made in mid-December, Da Nang city government has resolved to become Vietnam’s first “e-city”, in which ICT will be applied to all major areas of governance including health-care, citizen services and transportation. 

 

According to Vietnam’s Potential Competitiveness Index - Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s overall survey of economic governance among the country’s 63 provinces - Da Nang Province has ranked among the top five since 2008, and is therefore seen as a key base from which to propel the country into a more competitive stratum. 

According to the official report, the e-city programme will “be implemented in two phases with six main tasks, including an e-city model and an overall legal frame for such tasks, IT application models among enterprises and the community, and IT infrastructure improvement among others.” 

The first phase, the report says, will be undertaken from 2012 to 2015, in which the focus will be on IT infrastructure and human resource development. The second phase, lasting from 2015 to 2020, will concentrate on connecting government agencies together, with the aim to spearhead the economy using IT. 

The city has been involved in rapid modernisation this year, with critical infrastructure pertaining to modern e-government models, resource management and allocation, and environmental friendliness already in the works. The city also plans to be one of the “Eco2 Cities”, which conform to sustainability and efficiency standards suggested by the World Bank.

futuregov.asia

Serbia - Strengthening Capacity of Public Administration through European Training Programmes

Director of the European Integration Office Milica Delevic said today that the project "Speak European – a programme of professional development for EU accession" contributed to strengthening the capacity of public administration in Serbia toward the EU. Delevic said that all countries wishing to join the EU have gone through public administration reform, adding that this project is significant because of the introduction of European standards in national legislation, modernisation of public administration and strengthening of its capacity. 

  

She noted that implementation of this project, which is worth €2.5 million, was initiated by the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, funded by the EU and implemented by the British Council. Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert underlined that all EU programmes are open for Serbia and its citizens. 

Degert noted that the goal of the “Speak European” project is to develop human resources in public administration and convey EU messages. During the past two years, the “Speak European” project enabled professional development and training in EU countries for over 200 civil servants and more than 50 representatives of organisations of the civil society, the media, professional associations, the academic community and primary and secondary school teachers. 

Upon their return to Serbia, all participants have an important role in conveying the acquired knowledge to their institutions and the broader public, which is an important contribution to a better understanding of how the EU functions, about the advantages of EU membership and the spread of European values. 

UNPAN Europe

The global economic outlook for 2012 isn't pretty

A eurozone recession is certain, the UK is double-dipping and the US is growing at a snail's pace – fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy year 

The economic outlook for 2012: China's growth model is flawed. Photograph: Reuters

The outlook for the global economy in 2012 is clear, but it isn't pretty: recession in Europe, anaemic growth at best in the United States, and a sharp slowdown in China and in most emerging-market economies. Asian economies are exposed to China. Latin America is exposed to lower commodity prices (as both China and the advanced economies slow). Central and Eastern Europe are exposed to the eurozone. And turmoil in the Middle East is causing serious economic risks – both there and elsewhere – as geopolitical risk remains high and thus high oil prices will constrain global growth.

  

At this point, a eurozone recession is certain. While its depth and length cannot be predicted, a continued credit crunch, sovereign-debt problems, lack of competitiveness, and fiscal austerity imply a serious downturn. The US – growing at a snail's pace since 2010 – faces considerable downside risks from the eurozone crisis. 

It must also contend with significant fiscal drag, ongoing deleveraging in the household sector (amid weak job creation, stagnant incomes, and persistent downward pressure on real estate and financial wealth), rising inequality, and political gridlock. 

Elsewhere among the major advanced economies, the United Kingdom is double dipping, as front-loaded fiscal consolidation and eurozone exposure undermine growth. In Japan, the post-earthquake recovery will fizzle out as weak governments fail to implement structural reforms. Meanwhile, flaws in China's growth model are becoming obvious. 

Falling property prices are starting a chain reaction that will have a negative effect on developers, investment, and government revenue. The construction boom is starting to stall, just as net exports have become a drag on growth, owing to weakening US and especially eurozone demand. Having sought to cool the property market by reining in runaway prices, Chinese leaders will be hard put to restart growth. 

They are not alone. On the policy side, the US, Europe, and Japan, too, have been postponing the serious economic, fiscal, and financial reforms that are needed to restore sustainable and balanced growth. Private- and public-sector deleveraging in the advanced economies has barely begun, with balance sheets of households, banks and financial institutions, and local and central governments still strained. Only the high-grade corporate sector has improved. 

But, with so many persistent tail risks and global uncertainties weighing on final demand, and with excess capacity remaining high, owing to past over-investment in real estate in many countries and China's surge in manufacturing investment in recent years, these companies' capital spending and hiring have remained muted. 

Rising inequality – owing partly to job-slashing corporate restructuring – is reducing aggregate demand further, because households, poorer individuals, and labour-income earners have a higher marginal propensity to spend than corporations, richer households, and capital-income earners. Moreover, as inequality fuels popular protest around the world, social and political instability could pose an additional risk to economic performance. At the same time, key current-account imbalances – between the US and China (and other emerging-market economies), and within the eurozone between the core and the periphery – remain large. Orderly adjustment requires lower domestic demand in over-spending countries with large current-account deficits and lower trade surpluses in over-saving countries via nominal and real currency appreciation. 

To maintain growth, over-spending countries need nominal and real depreciation to improve trade balances, while surplus countries need to boost domestic demand, especially consumption. But this adjustment of relative prices via currency movements is stalled, because surplus countries are resisting exchange-rate appreciation in favour of imposing recessionary deflation on deficit countries. 

The ensuing currency battles are being fought on several fronts: foreign-exchange intervention, quantitative easing, and capital controls on inflows. And, with global growth weakening further in 2012, those battles could escalate into trade wars. Finally, policymakers are running out of options. Currency devaluation is a zero-sum game, because not all countries can depreciate and improve net exports at the same time. 

Monetary policy will be eased as inflation becomes a non-issue in advanced economies (and a lesser issue in emerging markets). But monetary policy is increasingly ineffective in advanced economies, where the problems stem from insolvency – and thus creditworthiness – rather than liquidity. Meanwhile, fiscal policy is constrained by the rise of deficits and debts, bond vigilantes, and new fiscal rules in Europe. Backstopping and bailing out financial institutions is politically unpopular, while near-insolvent governments don't have the money to do so. 

And, politically, the promise of the G-20 has given way to the reality of the G-0: weak governments find it increasingly difficult to implement international policy coordination, as the world views, goals, and interests of advanced economies and emerging markets come into conflict. As a result, dealing with stock imbalances – the large debts of households, financial institutions, and governments – by papering over solvency problems with financing and liquidity may eventually give way to painful and possibly disorderly restructurings. 

Likewise, addressing weak competitiveness and current-account imbalances requires currency adjustments that may eventually lead some members to exit the eurozone. Restoring robust growth is difficult enough without the ever-present spectre of deleveraging and a severe shortage of policy ammunition. But that is the challenge that a fragile and unbalanced global economy faces in 2012. To paraphrase Bette Davis in All About Eve, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy year!"

 Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2011

Guardian.co.uk

Over 1 milion people register on portal of public services in Russia

More than 1.3 million people have registered on the unified portal of public services launched two years ago. The portal has proved highly effective and the number of its visitors increases 100,000 monthly, Rostelecom Vice President Alexei Nashchekin said. The portal offers 140 federal public services and 371 regional public services in electronic form. All in all, it gives information on more than 34,000 public services.

Information kiosks are installed for people who have no Internet at home. “Up to date, 520 kiosks have been installed in 30 regions,” Nashchekin said. “Thirty-eight regions are connected to the e-government system and work is underway to connect another 34 regions,” he said. The Russian government plans to install over 100,000 information kiosks in regions by 2015 for the provision of public services in electronic form, Minister of Mass Communications Igor Shchegolev said earlier. 

  

“They become popular right away and people line up not to operators but to the kiosks,” the minister said. In order to eliminate waiting lines, the government plans to install more information kiosks, including at post offices. Unlike a payment terminal, an information kiosk has a printer and a scanner and can print out any questionnaire or send a copy of a document to the relevant agency. 

Payments can be made both in cash and with a bankcard. The universal electronic card to be issued from 2012 will provide access to such services. Information kiosks will also have access to the portal of public services. “It would be logical to assume that the mobile phone will become the next means of access,” Shchegolev said. 

Almost 30 government agencies are presently connected to the system of electronic services, and work is underway to connect regional segments. The government has simplified the registration procedure on the unified portal of public services, and now a person will no longer have to wait for an access code for entering his account to be mailed to him. Rostelecom, the portal operator, is working to further simplify the registration process, Valery Zubakha, e-government project manager, said. 

“We are working to improve the system of identification,” he said. At present, a person has to fill in a questionnaire at the portal and then obtain an access code for registration, which is only mailed and can arrive in several weeks. 

“There have been many complaints about this procedure, which is quite long. We are trying to transfer the function of issuing access codes to the customer service centres at Rostelecom and regional communication companies [from the state-owned holding company Svyazinvest],” Zubakha said. The centres will also issue digital signatures to individuals and legal entities. 

The new system should replace the existing one. The web portal of public services is considered to be a key element of the electronic services project. About 360 million inquiries from citizens to government agencies are registered every year. “And this despite the fact that 17 percent of people in Russia do not go to government agencies at all,” Shchegolev said. 

The minister believes that the implementation of each stage of the project will reduce the number of visits to various government offices by one-fifth. This will also save work time because people will no longer have to ask for a day off in order to visit government offices. "We hope very much for cooperation with all those who have used this portal," Shchegolev said, adding that the portal had a special feedback section where visitors can leave a message, suggestions or complaints. 

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stressed the need to build a system of public and municipal services in electronic form within the next several years. In his opinion, “the biggest progress can be seen where regional leaders deal with the issue themselves and understand its importance. 

But if regional authorities do not give it enough attention, we will think that they do not want to improve the quality of services and streamline bureaucracy, and do not think about how comfortable people feel.” The federal target e-government programme, previously called e-Russia, was launched back in 2002.
It was designed to take the country to a new level of information technologies. One of its components was the creation of so-called multifunctional centres. The main principle of multifunctional centres is that all documents and certificates are processed and issued in one place. 

A centre will be opened to visitors at least 60 hours a week. A centre should be able to process at least four people per officer an hour. Waiting time should not exceed 15 minutes for the receipt of information, 45 minutes for the submission of documents and 15 minutes for the receipt of documents. 

The strategy for the development of information society up to 2015 was adopted in 2008. Rostelecom has been named the sole operator of the e-government project. “There is no end to the project and it will evolve permanently,” Rostelecom telephone company Director-General Anton Kolpakov said. 

He believes that this evolution will result in a “powerful and all-embracing document processing system” in Russia. The unified web portal of public services launched in December 2009 accounts for only 10-15 percent of all work to be done under the e-government project, Kolpakov said.

.itar-tass.com

'Brunei can benefit economically from Heart of Borneo'

mongabay.com : BORNEO

CAPITALISING on the Heart of Borneo (HoB) initiative may be contradictory considering its conservation purposes but it does not mean Brunei has to miss out on economic benefits, said a former South Korean minister. Professor Kim Myung-Ja, Korea's former Minister of Environment, said that in her country, there is a similar issue with a conservation area which was turned into a tourist site. "There are other alternative ways for economic growth of conservation for Brunei and the Heart of Borneo, like the promotion of tourism, or more specifically, eco-tourism," she said during a seminar organised by the e-Government Innovation Centre (eG.InC) at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) on Saturday. 

 

Professor Kim stressed the importance of the HoB, saying that the initiative is "beautiful and preserved remarkably well". However, Kim reminded that the future of the area depends solely on the collaboration between the three involved governments: Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. 

"Other major international organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) also play a part," she said. Professor Kim added: "One of the keys to success for an initiative like this is funding." 

"There needs to be diversified and equitable benefits for involved local communities and governments," she said, adding that it would help conservation areas to be effectively implemented. When asked how Brunei can improve in reducing its carbon emissions, Professor Kim said that there are two obvious points she picked up on whilst in the Sultanate: the temperature of air-conditioning, and the lack of public transportation. She told The Brunei Times that room temperatures are usually set too low, making the difference in temperatures outdoors and indoors too large. "

This may possibly affect one's health, as the difference is too much," she said. As for the lack of public transportation, Professor Kim said that carbon dioxide (CO2) contributes to 78 per cent of global warming. "Research has shown that public transportation can be a way of reducing emissions," she added. Professor Kim, who is currently President of Green Korea 21 Forum, during the seminar delivered a presentation entitled "Green Growth Initiative and Green Energy Innovation". She highlighted the importance of renewable energy, and regional and global energy cooperation. The seminar was held at UBD's Institute for Learning, Innovation, and Advancement.

The Brunei Times

QATAR INTRODUCES ICT ACCESSIBILITY POLICY

Hessa Al -Jaber

To make ICT more accessible for persons with disabilities, the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR), has introduced the country’s first eAccessibility Policy.The policy aims to ensure people with disabilities in Qatar have equal access to the technologies that can enrich their lives, and covers a range of e-accessibility issues, including websites, telecommunications services, handsets, ATMs, government services, access to assistive technologies and digital content. 

  

The policy is effective immediately and ictQATAR will oversee the implementation of the policy across sectors and monitor progress. “For many people with disabilities, information and communication technology can be a tremendously empowering and enabling tool, however, if these technologies are not fully accessible, they may actually become tools of exclusion or isolation. 

Qatar’s eAccessibility Policy, which was developed in consultation with numerous stakeholder groups, will make Qatar one of the most progressive countries in the region in terms of bringing the benefits of technology to people with disabilities,” said Hessa Al-Jaber, ictQATAR Secretary General. 

The primary provisions of the eAccessibility Policy include: 

• Requiring telecommunications service providers to provide accessible handsets, user interfaces, relay services, special rate plans, emergency services and accessible public payphones where appropriate. Requiring public sector organisations to develop websites and mobile content that can be accessed by persons with disabilities. 

• Requiring all public sector organisations, including government owned banks, to implement service improvements that will ensure that public access terminals/kiosks and ATMs are available at strategic locations and usable by people with low vision blindness, deaf or hearing impairments, physical disabilities and reading problems. 

• Requiring Qatar’s Assistive Technology Center (Mada) to establish a fund to improve access to assistive technologies (AT) and services, encouraging the wide spread procurement of ATs, spreading awareness of the available services and benefits of ATs and providing demonstrations, special training and evaluations. 

• Calling to action all producers and distributors of digital media in Qatar to improve the accessibility of their content through accessible eBooks, online information and special captioning for video programming. The full e-accessibility policy is available here. 

.futuregov.asia

Google Awards $1.5 Million To Code For America

Startup will use the money to bolster a fellowship program and launch two others to create new Web-based apps for cities. Tech giant Google has awarded a $1.5 million grant to a startup nonprofit aimed at building a community of Web developers and designers around the country to bolster civic e-government initiatives.

 

Code for America will use the grant money to expand its Fellowship program, according to a blog post by founder Jennifer Pahlka. The money from Google also will help Code for America develop two new pilot programs: the Civic Startup Seed Accelerator, and the CIA Brigade. 

Google's backing gives weight to the organization's vision for creating a new technology paradigm for city government, Pahlka said in an e-mail interview Wednesday. "Companies like Google have changed the world by leveraging the Web as a platform, she said. "

We think we can remake our relationship with government by helping government function as a platform, and having Google validate that vision is huge for Code for America." Code for America's Fellowship program is a 12-month internship of sorts for Web developers, designers and entrepreneurs to team up with city leaders to create new civic technology. 

The organization will put fellows in eight cities this year with the new funding as opposed to three last year. The cities with Code for America fellows in 2012 will be: Austin, Texas; Detroit; Chicago; Santa Cruz, Calif.; New Orleans; Honolulu; Macon, Ga.; and Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia also was a Fellowship city in 2011, along with Seattle and Boston. Code for America also is using the early days of the program to learn what works and what doesn't and "applying the lessons learned to make a better fellowship," Pahlka said in her blog post. "

We're looking forward not only to great new apps and stories of innovation, but to reuse of the 2011 apps by our new city partners and others," she said.

In addition to Google, the John S and James L Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations also funded the Fellowship program, which is taking applications online.

The Seed Accelerator program aims to "put disruptive technology in the hands of entrepreneurs that can change the world," Pahlka said in her post. The program will aim to foster sustainable businesses so they can potentially develop into vendors that serve the government market. 

The Kauffman Foundation also provided financial support for the program, she added. The CIA Brigade program will develop an online platform that can help civic-minded hackers join forces online. The goal is to allow developers who have created applications for cities to reuse them across the country, as well as share and remix code.

Code for America will go live with a beta site for the program in March. Launched just this year, Code for America appears to be taking the idea of crowdsourcing--which the federal government also is embracing--to a new level. The organization is using the Web to connect technologists with ideas for transforming government through Web-based applications and services. 

.informationweek.com

A Circus Tent for Fukushima Daiichi?

Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The cover to block the spread of radiation from Fukushima Daiichi’s No. 1 reactor under construction on Sept. 17.

The polyester cover erected over Unit 1 of Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station was fashioned in the shape of a tight-fitting, non-descript, white box. It could have looked very different.

  

At first, planners from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. and general contractor Shimizu Corp. say they considered something that looked like a circus tent, when they sat down in mid-March to discuss how to stop the spread of radioactive materials from the plant’s four damaged reactor buildings. 

Constructing a tent was fast, and Tepco was in a hurry to stop the spread of radiation – particularly from Units 1 and 3, where hydrogen explosions after the nuclear accident in March had blown away the reactor buildings. The engineers finally decided the boxy shape, with panels fastened to a steel frame, would be more durable.

“We dropped the idea [of putting up a plain tent over the plant] because it would be easily blown away by winds in a typhoon,” explained Noriyoshi Nakamura, the plant’s general manager responsible for radiation containment. “It wouldn’t cover the reactor as tightly as we wanted, either.” Shimizu’s general manager for construction technology agrees. “

The cover we built is expected to last at least a few years, but in the future, we probably need a more robust structure,” said Masahiro Indo. “The cover isn’t exactly air-tight; air can leak through gaps between the panels.” The Wall Street Journal describes some of the civil-engineering heroics Shimizu went through to get the cover in place. 

But even before the construction began, there were challenges. There was no detailed plant blueprint, for one. That information was trapped in a computer in the reactor building and inaccessible. The only layout available was one produced 40 years ago, which didn’t include any of the stacks, pipes and buildings added later. 

Shimizu ended up doing a laser scan of the entire building and creating a 3-D image, then building a 1/100-scale model of Unit 1, complete with surrounding debris. “We rebuilt the model three or four times until we were satisfied with it,” Mr. Indo said.

The cover is made up of 20-meter-square polyester sheets, with each sheet held down by two weights weighing 7 and 12 tons. The panels were lifted by two cranes capable of carrying 750-ton loads, out of only 14 such machines in all of Japan. 

During the construction, those cranes got dosed with high levels of radiation, particularly the one working closest to Unit 1. So where are the contaminated cranes now? Tepco says they’re still sitting in the plant complex, waiting for their next mission. 

blogs.wsj.com

Bill Clinton praises Oman's e-Government efforts

Former US president Bill Clinton delivers a keynote address at the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in e-Government in Oman.

Former US president Bill Clinton has urged Oman to make prudent use of Information Technology (IT) for a brighter future of the children. Delivering a key note address at the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in e-Government on Monday, Clinton said: "Use IT to make government more responsible and in the process to empower the citizens of your growing nation to make more of their own life and to give their children a brighter future." 

  

A government that is excelling in information technology services is more productive, more efficient and alternately less costly leaving more money to invest in education, more technology and economic development," he pointed out. Clinton also stressed that IT was critical to the success of the efforts by the country's ruler to modernise and diversify the economy. 

"In an inter-connected world we can more rapidly than ever before share what we are good at, make trade something that benefits broad masses of people and create jobs and opportunity and give education to people," he said. "This is how I see the eGovernment efforts in Oman. You are knitting together the people of Oman in their shared opportunity - first access to government, then to improve their education, then to diversify and strengthen their economy, and then to reach the rest of the world," said Clinton. 

The patron of the awards and Personal Adviser to the Sultan, Sayyid Shihab Bin Tarek Al Saeed, said the award was a clear evidence of Sultan Qaboos' interest in promoting the government performance to push forward the wheel of development and upgrade the e-government services. He added that the award plays an important role in enhancing the efforts to promote e-Oman strategy and promote the e-government services rendered for everyone. 

The Sultan's Personal Adviser also pointed out that the public organisations which won the award had to play a role in bridging the gap, opening communication links among the different categories of society, therefore providing the high quality service aspired by the government. Ali Bin Masud Al Sunaidi, Sports Affairs Minister and Chairman of ITA, pointed out that the Sultanate had developed a national strategy for the building of digital Oman society and the e-government. 

A total of 44 e-projects, representing 23 government institutions in the Sultanate, participated in this year's edition of the award. The Ministry of Manpower's portal won the Best eContent Award and Muscat Municipality bagged the Best eReadiness award. Oman Education Portal by Ministry of Education won in the Best eProject (individual) category. 

The Award for Best eProject (collaborative) was given to the project employment collaboration project by the Ministry of Manpower. The award for the eEconomy category was granted to ‘One-Stop-Shop' by Ministry of Commerce & Industry. The award of the Best eService Government to Government was granted to Integrated Financial System of Ministry of Finance. 

The project which won the award of the Best eService (Government to Citizens) was students evaluation report of the Ministry of Education. The award of the Best eService Government to Employees went to eOffice: Ministry of Housing. The winner in the category of the Best eService for Mobile Service was iMuscat by Muscat Municipality Portal. The award of the Best eService Government to Business was withheld, as no submitted project met the award criteria. 

http://gulfnews.com

US needs to more to deter Chinese hacking teams, say cybersecurity analysts

wina.com

As few as 12 different Chinese groups, largely backed or directed by the government there, do the bulk of the China-based cyber-attacks stealing critical data from US companies and government agencies, according to US cybersecurity analysts and experts. The attacks, which steal billions of dollars in intellectual property and data, often carry distinct signatures allowing US officials to link them to certain hacker teams. And, analysts say the US often gives the attackers unique names or numbers, and at times can tell where the hackers are and even who they may be.

 

Sketched out by analysts who have worked with US companies and the government on computer intrusions, the details illuminate recent claims by American intelligence officials about the escalating cyber threat emanating from China. And the widening expanse of targets, coupled with the expensive and sensitive technologies they are losing, is putting increased pressure on the US to take a much harder stand against China. 

It is largely impossible for the US to prosecute hackers in China, since it requires reciprocal agreements between the countries, and it is always difficult to provide ironclad proof that the hacking came from specific people. Several analysts described the Chinese attacks, speaking on condition of anonymity. China has routinely rejected allegations of cyberspying and says it also is a target. 

"Industry is already feeling that they are at war," said James Cartwright, a retired Marine general and former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. An expert on cyber issues, Gen Cartwright has come out strongly in favour of increased US efforts to hold China and other countries accountable for the cyber-attacks that come from within their borders. 

Cyber experts agree, and say that companies are frustrated that the government is not doing enough to pressure China to stop the attacks or go after hackers in that country. Much like during the Cold War with Russia, officials say the US needs to make it clear that there will be repercussions for cyber-attacks. 

The government "needs to do more to increase the risk," said Jon Ramsey, head of the counter threat unit at the Atlanta-based Dell SecureWorks, a computer security consulting company. "In the private sector we're always on defence. We can't do something about it, but someone has to. There is no deterrent not to attack the US." 

Cyber-attacks originating in China have been a problem for years, but until a decade or so ago analysts said the probes focused mainly on the US government - a generally acknowledged intelligence gathering activity similar to Americans and Russians spying on each other during the Cold War. 

But in the last 10 to 15 years, the attacks have gradually broadened to target defence companies, and then other critical industries including those in energy, finance and other sectors. Hackers in China have different digital fingerprints, often visible through the computer code they use, or the command and control computers that they use to route their malicious software through, Mr Ramsey and other cyber analysts say.

US government officials have been reluctant to tie the attacks directly to the Chinese government, but analysts and officials say that they have tracked enough intrusions to specific locations to be confident they are linked to Beijing - either the government or the military. 

And, they add that they can sometimes glean who benefited from a particular stolen technology. One of the analysts said investigations show that the dozen or so Chinese teams appear to get orders to go after specific technologies or companies within a particular industry. 

At times, two or more of the teams appear to get the same shopping list, and compete to be the first to get it, or the one with the greatest haul. Analysts and US officials agree that a majority of the cyber-attacks seeking intellectual property or other sensitive or classified data are done by China-based hackers. 

Much of the cyber-attacks stealing credit card or financial information come from Eastern Europe or Russia. According to experts, the malicious software or high-tech tools used by the Chinese have not got much more sophisticated in recent years. But the threat is persistent, often burying malware deep in computer networks so it can be used again and again over the course of several months or even years. 

AP | .thenational.ae