January 30, 2023

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Tools for Modern App and Web Development

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It is difficult to conduct business in today’s world without a dependable website, which is where professional web creation services come in. Developing an online presence for a business or corporation does not end with the creation of a basic website for a company or organisation.

Developers can use Web Development Tools to deal with a range of technologies and should be able to deliver faster and less expensive mobile development. Responsive site design will improve the online surfing experience while also allowing for better SEO, decreased bounce rates, and less upkeep.

The tools that an organisation have selected should be able to give a good RoI. Hence, Cost-effectiveness, Ease of use, Scalability, Portability and Customisation are the factors that should be considered when choosing a Web Development Tool.

Neo4j’s Vice President of Global Cloud and Strategic Sales, Kesavan Nair or simply Kay discusses in-depth how big companies set up their growth engine drivers with Mohit Sagar, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of OpenGov Asia.

With his proven track record of entrepreneurial leadership in the open-source domains, cloud, SaaS, big data and analytics with both early-stage technology firms and large public companies, Kay is an authority on the topic.

On-Premise vs Cloud

The location of the data is the key distinction between cloud-based and on-premises (prem) versions. Cloud software is hosted on the vendor’s server and accessed using a web browser, as opposed to on-premises software, which is locally installed on the company’s PCs and servers.

When making a choice, a variety of factors must be considered in addition to accessibility – software ownership, cost of ownership, software upgrades, and additional services like support and implementation.

Kay explains that the cloud database as a service (DBaaS) market is one of the fastest-growing markets in enterprise software. “We need to make sure that we are being able to be where our customers want us to be, which is in the public cloud.”

As an example, he cited the use-case of Levis – one of their longstanding customers. Levis had been running on-prem for a long time and wanted to switch as part of their digital transformation strategy. They had eight different applications across various business units which were running on-prem and wanted to move all the services into a cloud service, running on Amazon. Neo4j helped them with the migration in about 3 months.

“That was an excellent example of how the Neo4j AuraDB Enterprise aided in the execution of Levis’ digital transformation,” Kay enthusiastically stated. “For Levis’ Neo4j became one of the main motivators for the enterprise to experiment and try new ideas, which accelerated their transformation quite quickly.”

Neo4j counts both start-ups and established companies in their fold. Their largest customers include the likes of Siemens and Dun and Bradstreet. They also have customers like PwC Australia, PwC U.S, BMW, Walmart and a neo bank in the U.S, Current Bank runs their core database system on Neo4j. The biggest healthcare insurance provider in Brazil, Qualicrop runs its mission-critical database systems in Neo4j.

Speaking of their journey, Kay shared that they started as a database company where most of their customers use the Neo4j database for transactional workloads. Now, interestingly, about 90% of their customers use either a public cloud or a cloud managed by Neo4j.

“We’ll soon cover all the major cloud service providers, so customers can choose where to deploy their apps and where to use the service. This will bring us closer to where our customers are growing,” says Kay confidently.

Graph Data Platforms: The First Choice for Application Development

According to Kay, their graph database promises data consistency, performance, and scalability. It can search for patterns and connections in data’s interconnected relationships. “Neo4j now includes a graph data science platform. Both data scientists and developers can use this platform to meet their demands. And I believe it gives us an extremely attractive product to the market at large.”

When governments had to locate community infections due to the pandemic, the benefits of the Graph Data Platform were most evident. The Graph Data Platform with AI has shown to be a great tool for data management in real-time, from tracking connections via complex social networks to understanding linkages.

On the other hand, graph data science assists organisations in addressing some of their most challenging and complicated problems. “Neo4j Graph Data Science is a platform for connected data analytics and machine learning that enables you to better anticipate the future by understanding the relationships in huge data.”

He shared that those two key strategic products under the Neo4j Aura portfolio of cloud products are AuraDS (built for data scientists) and AuraDB (built for developers).

Graph Database Technology is specifically designed and optimised for identifying patterns and hidden connections in highly interconnected datasets. Graph data stores are easy to use because they mimic how the human brain thinks and maps associations using neurons (nodes) and synapses (relationships).

A graph database stores and queries connected data in a node-and-relationships format efficiently. As a result, graph technology excels at problems where there is no prior knowledge of path length or shape by efficiently finding neighbouring data using graph storage and infrastructure.

Kay listed some of the most typical graph usage cases:

  • Fraud Detection & Analytics
  • Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
  • Real-Time Recommendation Engines
  • Knowledge Graphs
  • Network & Database Infrastructure Monitoring
  • Master Data Management (MDM)

All of these have one thing in common – to be successful, an enterprise needs to use datasets that dynamically change over time and are connected to each other.

Neo4j offers four benefits of using graph databases:

  • Natural and easy data modelling
  • Ability to adapt to changing data structures
  • Support for real-time updates and queries running simultaneously
  • Storage and a natively indexed data structure

Connected data in property graphs enable the enterprise to illustrate and traverse many interactions and find context for the next breakthrough application or analysis.

Kay encourages businesses to choose a cloud strategy that fits their needs and look for a provider that lets them move their assets whenever they want as many enterprises themselves to have evolving cloud strategies. This is because flexibility is very important.

“With us, Neo4j, you find value. It was predicted that by 2025, all smart applications would use graph technology in some way. So, graph databases are a natural fit for any new application that is being built today. This is because it is much easier to get insights from them,” Kay believes.

Neo4j Graph Database Platform has developed into a common form of information technology and has benefited businesses in a variety of ways. Numerous corporate game-changing use cases in fraud detection, financial services, life sciences, data science, knowledge graphs, and other areas have been made possible by the Neo4j Graph Database’s speed and efficiency advantages.

In the current VUCA environment, data security is crucial, challenging and fluctuating, particularly when dealing with sensitive data and the laws that govern it. Neo4j offers both safety and compliance, and frequently updates, enhances and expands its platforms. They can secure data in a variety of methods, including access control, user roles, protected environments, and system design, among others.

Neo4j Graph Databases has emerged as a critical technology for hundreds of companies, government agencies, and non-governmental organisations and will continue to be there. Kay is optimistic about the future and confident that Neo4j will always be placed to offer the best services for both the public and private sectors.

Precision Tech for Modern Livestock Management in Indonesia

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Modern livestock development based on precision technology has become one of the options for continuously meeting household demands. Syahrul Yasin Limpo, Minister of Agriculture, advocated using the technology to improve the resilience of Indonesian cattle products.

“We have to support innovative animal husbandry techniques (and the breeders) to use KUR (people’s business credit) to meet capital demands,” Syahrul said at the kickoff of the National Technical Coordination Meeting in Jakarta.

According to SYL, the world’s cattle sector is currently in decline due to a lack of fodder because swept away by floods and extreme weather. He stressed the challenges were worldwide, with direct consequences for distribution routes and high inflation. However, he urged ministry workers to find a means to meet the meat demands of 270 million Indonesians as part of the ministry’s obligation.

Nasrullah, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Director General of Livestock and Animal Health, stated that the government had established a strategy to deal with the global food crisis. Increasing food production capacity for commodities such as cattle, buffalo, purebred chicken, free-range chicken, lamb/goat, duck, and pork is one of them. The Ministry of Agriculture continues to expand production capacity and increase exports of swiftlet nests, chickens, and chicken eggs to various Asian countries.

“Through the synergy of business players, we will create priority livestock commodities on a corporate basis, precision, and integrated with a livestock supply programme of 10 million heads through the development of goats/sheep, ducks, and chickens,” he explained.

Additionally, Syahrul encourages regional and central government cooperation and synergy to be reinforced to preserve existing output and strengthen the resilience of Indonesian cattle products. Particularly in terms of job division and work duties within each work unit. He proposes that each division’s tasks be clarified to decide the subsequent measures. Measurement is required to determine critical activities and control task efficacy.

The livestock industry has used technological advancement to modernise. In New Zealand, the government employed a new antibody testing robot to provide faster and more accurate tests for animal sickness. A 750kg high-throughput diagnostic robot worth NZ$ 580,000 (US$ 376,736.10) will improve testing reliability and precision throughout future biosecurity interventions.

The first-of-its-kind technology will aid in disease control among breeds since they will need to analyse 3,000 to 7,000 samples daily. By automating this process, farmers will profit from speedier outcomes while enhancing the well-being of the people and animals involved. The system, developed in Germany, can test up to 7,000 samples daily for antibodies to FMD and other exotic diseases.

The robot is self-sufficient and does not need constant supervision or interaction. This frees up animal health laboratory personnel for other tests and ensures stability during intense reaction periods. Even without human involvement, the robot can run experiments overnight. Delays in testing can have an economic impact because antibody testing is critical for preserving access and security of goods exports to New Zealand’s overseas markets. If an exotic disease outbreak occurs in New Zealand’s animals, automation will help the country to recover more quickly.

Meanwhile, agricultural sectors known as smart agriculture have been modernised by technology. It boosts output, addresses farm-related issues such as food demand, and makes farms more connected and intelligent. Precision farming, variable rate technologies, smart irrigation, and smart greenhouses are innovative agriculture applications that leverage the Internet of Things (IoT). The innovative farming method provides farmers with higher yields, higher-quality products, and the ability to cultivate crops regularly all year. The technology satisfies the market’s requirement for food efficiency and sufficiency.

CSIRO Launches New R&D Programme for Mining Sector

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CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, is helping small to medium-sized businesses in the mining and mining equipment, technology and services sectors by offering a free online course that provides expertise and support for research and development.

Innovate to Grow is a 10-week online programme offered by CSIRO that is designed to help eligible small to medium-sized businesses in the mining and mining equipment, technology and services sectors that are in the early stages of engaging in R&D or pursuing a new idea. It will be guided by experienced researchers and innovation experts who will help participants to examine their technical or business challenges, explore R&D opportunities, and develop actionable business and funding plans.

Upon completion of the Innovate to Grow programme, participants may be able to access facilitation support through CSIRO to connect with research expertise nationally and may also be eligible for dollar-matched R&D funding.

The SME Collaboration Manager for CSIRO stated that the programme is designed to assist small-medium businesses in understanding the process of engaging in R&D by providing them with information on how to access funding, mentoring and a highly connected network through research organizations and industry peers.

The Innovate to Grow programme targets Australian companies with less than 200 employees, and currently is offered at no cost to participants. In this way, it is hoped that some of the barriers that smaller enterprises face when they have an idea they would like to pursue can be removed.

Upon completion of the Innovate to Grow programme, participants will have received assistance in defining their goals, developing a business case for R&D with the help of a university or CSIRO, and preparing a funding proposal.

Participants will also benefit from the expansion of their professional networks through connection with their peers in the cohort, sector-specific mentors, and CSIRO which has the world’s largest mineral resources R&D capability.

One company that manages the Australian Premium Iron Joint Venture participated in the Innovate to Grow program in 2021. The Principal Scientist at the firm stated that the company participated in the Innovate to Grow program as a way to refresh their knowledge about engaging with research organisations, identifying available funding options and preparing for partnerships with organisations like CSIRO or universities.

The mining industry faces many challenges, and it requires multiple elements to come together to achieve success. CSIRO plays a vital role in supporting research and development goals for the industry, he said.

The global smart mining market is projected to grow from roughly US$9.3 billion in 2019 to about US$23.5 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 16.3% during the forecast period 2020-2027.

Smart mining is a process that uses advanced technology, information and autonomy to improve safety, reduce operational costs, and increase productivity for mine sites. Companies in the mining industry are focusing on increasing productivity by implementing advanced software and solutions. It also includes the use of remote-controlled robotic equipment for mineral and metal extraction known as telerobotic mining, which reduces the risks for miners.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the global smart mining market, primarily due to the disruption of international trade, prolonged lockdowns and restrictions in construction, mining, and maintenance activities worldwide.

Mobile App Launched for Khelo India Youth 2023

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The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has launched a mobile application for the Khelo India Youth Games 2022. The app gives participating athletes, coaches, support staff, parents of athletes, and officials from all states participating in the Games access to information about the competition, through a single platform. This is the first time that a dedicated application has been launched for the Khelo India Youth Games.

The App has a dedicated athlete login and supports the athlete right from the time of their registration into the games, through the entire course of the Games. The app gives the athlete a chance to check if their verified documents have been uploaded before the start of the Games. According to a government press release, this will ensure greater transparency for athletes in the registration process. The application is available both for Android and Apple phones and can be downloaded free of cost.

As the athlete registers for the games and arrives at the Games venues in Madhya Pradesh, they can check the status of the issuance of their sporting kits, the hotel where they will stay, transportation plan for athletes to and from the venue, as well as have important contact numbers where athletes can connect in case of an emergency. Further, to ensure that athletes have immediate responses to queries raised by them during the Games, a chatbot has also been created. For sports fans, the application gives access to match schedules, medal tally, addresses of Games venues, and the photo gallery.

The Khelo India Youth Games are held every year. They are national-level multidisciplinary grassroots games held in January or February for two categories: under-17 years school students and under-21 college students. This year, the Games will be held in Bhopal from 30 January to 11 February. The competition has been divided into twelve different verticals, including developing state-level Khelo India centres, talent identification and development, sports for women, and the promotion of sports amongst people with disabilities.

The government has launched several applications and online services to promote athletics. For instance, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) launched the National Anti-Doping Agency app. It provides athletes with a one-stop solution for all anti-doping-related information. The app helps athletes understand anti-doping rules and regulations and provides a platform for athletes to report any potential anti-doping violations.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports launched the Fit India App to encourage people to adopt healthy and active lifestyles. The app provides offers a range of features such as fitness challenges, workout routines, health tips, and a record of daily physical activity. The app also provides users with a dashboard that helps them track their progress and set goals for themselves. Its age-appropriate fitness protocols, approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO), test the fitness level of the user. Based on the results of the fitness tests, the app gives users a fitness score that tells them how fit they are and then further suggests activities to improve their health and fitness level.

E-Voting Proposed for Elections in the Philippines

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Automated elections are cost-effective because they can accommodate up to 1,000 voters per clustered precinct instead of 500 voters per precinct in manual ballots, necessitating paying more workers. Therefore, Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Cavite 4th District advised his colleagues in the House of Representatives to employ the Automated Elections System (AES) in the Barangay (village) and local council Sangguniang Kabataan (BSK) elections on October 30 this year.

In House Resolution 717, which he submitted on Wednesday, Barzaga asked the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms to launch an investigation into the Electoral Reform Act. The viability and feasibility of executing automated BSK polls are discussed.

“It will not only result in faster outcomes and the announcement of victors, but it will also eliminate human involvement or error and confusion in the evaluation of ballots on an experimental basis on the BSK Elections in major barangays, ideally in Metro Manila,” he convinced.

There are 42,022 barangays in the country as of October 2022, each with one punong barangay (local official) and seven Sangguniang Barangay (village council) members, one SK chairperson and seven representatives.

There will be two polls for the BSK elections, one for ordinary voters aged 18 and above and another for SK electors aged 15 to 30. The lawmakers suggested repurposing and adjusting the existing Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) to accept two ballots from registered voters. Then, the devices can independently summarise the Barangay and SK elections’ scores.

The BSKE, scheduled for October this year, will use a manual election system in which voters will write the names of candidates on ballots. Historically, manual elections can encounter issues such as imprecise counting, perception, and appreciation of votes. The integration of votes in larger Barangays usually takes two to three days, as opposed to automated elections, which immediately transmit the results to the canvassing centre upon closing of the voting.

Barzaga stated that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) was praised for conducting the national and municipal polls on May 9, 2022, for having the fastest results and largest voter turnout since the Philippines adopted the AES in 2010, and that the public has accepted the outcomes of the elections. The 2022 national and municipal elections were attended by 55,290,821, or 84.10 per cent of the 67,745,526 registered voters.

The resolution also said that the Comelec owned the 97,000 reconditioned vote-counting machines (VCMs) it purchased in 2016 and leased more VCMs for the 2022 elections and that a portion of these machines will be used in the BSK Elections in the pilot barangays. Barzaga believes voters are well-versed in using AES since The Philippines have used the technology in the national and municipal elections in 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has indicated that it is open to holding automated village votes. Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia noted that they would investigate the possibility of executing a pilot test of barangay and SK election automation in specific areas/precincts. He mentioned that Barzaga contacted him about the proposition earlier this week.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act 11935 on October 10, 2022, rescheduling December 5, 2022, BSK elections to October 30, 2023, and holding other polls every three years after that. Meanwhile, earlier this month, OFW Party List Rep. Marissa Magsino suggested that the government should change the existing law to increase voting options to prevent voter disenfranchisement of about 1.83 million OFWs exercising their right to vote. The proposed legislation would enable Filipino personnel working abroad to vote via email, web-based portals, and other internet-based technologies.

AI to Better Image Resolution and Reduce Uncertainty

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Researchers are exploring ways to improve artificial intelligence image identification accuracy on computer vision. Computer vision is an artificial intelligence topic that teaches computers to extract information from digital images. They employed an algorithm that takes the distorted image as input and outputs a clean image to the users.

The study focuses on images partially smudged or distorted due to the missing pixels. Another goal is to reduce the uncertainty estimations and inferences from the visual data acquired. The researchers then created computer algorithms to reveal the part of the signal that is marred or otherwise concealed.

“Models for doing so already exist, but quantifying the uncertainty is difficult. And you don’t want to make a mistake in a life-or-death situation,” Swami Sankaranarayanan, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the study’s lead author, explained.

So far, they have been able to reconstruct images of simple objects, such as human faces or animals. However, they wish to expand their method into more required fields, such as medical imaging, where our “statistical assurance” may be precious. If the film, or radiograph, of a chest X-ray, is blurred, they intend to reconstruct the image as accurately as possible.

They attempted to rebuild the image while preserving vital information. In the instance of a chest X-ray, this could tell whether a patient has lung cancer or pneumonia. Sankaranarayanan and his associates have already begun collaborating with a radiologist to assess whether their method for diagnosing pneumonia could be beneficial in a clinical context.

Their work is also helpful in the realm of law enforcement. The image from a surveillance camera may be grainy, but law enforcement agents can improve it using their instruments. The tools he and his colleagues are building could aid in identifying a guilty individual and exonerating an innocent one.

As a result, obtaining a more excellent grasp of that uncertainty could benefit us in various ways. For one thing, it can help us learn more about what we don’t know. MIT engineers successfully established reliable estimates of uncertainty and displayed ambiguity in a form that the average person could understand.

In a new study, Sankaranarayanan and his co-authors — Anastasios Angelopoulos and Stephen Bates of the University of California at Berkeley; Yaniv Romano of the Israel Institute of Technology; and Phillip Isola, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT — addressed the issues.

When recovering a blurred image, questions are bound to occur. How much trust can one put in the correctness of the resulting image? And, as addressed in the December 2022 study, how should the ambiguity in that image be represented? The conventional method generates a “saliency map,” which assigns a probability value between 0 and 1 to each pixel to express the model’s confidence in its accuracy.

Their approach revolves around an image’s “semantic characteristics” – clusters of pixels that, combined, have meaning, such as a human face, a dog, or any other recognised entity. According to Sankaranarayanan, the goal is to “estimate uncertainty in a fashion that relates to groupings of pixels that humans can easily perceive.”

While the usual technique may produce a single image representing the “best guess” as to what the genuine picture should be, the ambiguity in that representation is typically difficult to perceive. Therefore, according to the new article, uncertainty should be conveyed meaningfully to people who are not experts in machine learning for application in the real world.

When recovering a blurred image, questions are likely to occur. How much assurance can someone have in the reliability of the resulting image? And, as discussed in the December 2022 paper, what is the best approach to convey uncertainty in that image? The conventional method is to generate a “saliency map,” which assigns a probability value — somewhere between 0 and 1 — to each pixel to represent the model’s certainty in its validity.

Their technique is centred on an image’s semantic characteristics – groups of pixels that, when combined, convey meaning, such as a human face, a dog, or any other recognised entity. According to Sankaranarayanan, the goal is to estimate uncertainty in a fashion that connects to the groups of pixels that humans can easily perceive.

Whereas the usual technique may produce a single image representing the best guess as to what the genuine picture should be, the ambiguity in that representation is typically difficult to perceive. According to the new article, to be helpful in the real world, uncertainty needs to be communicated in a meaningful way to individuals who are not experts in machine learning.

Thailand Utilises Drones for Smart Farm Projects

Image credits: mdes.go.th
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The Ministry of DES has recommended farmers employ more drones for a new Thailand smart farm project in Pathum Thani Province’s Pin Fah Farm region. Pinfah Farm is an intelligent farm model in Pathum Thani Province designated for agricultural eco-tourism.

Pinfah Farm employs drones to spray medications, fertiliser, and various chemicals in farmlands to reduce money and improve farmer health. Chaiwut Thanakmanusorn, Minister of Digital Economy and Society, paid a visit to the new farm and provided financial assistance.

The government allows farmers to pay half of their needs under the “half of each person” programme. The remainder of the fund will be used to assist individuals in purchasing at a reduced price to develop modern agriculture more efficiently. The financial assistance is provided in collaboration with community enterprises or farmer organisations to create a smart farm using digital agriculture technology.

Smart agriculture is a cutting-edge idea that is gaining traction around the world. It boosts output, addresses farm-related issues such as food demand, and makes farms more networked and intelligent. Precision farming, variable rate technologies, smart irrigation, and smart greenhouses are smart agriculture systems that leverage the Internet of Things (IoT).

Thailand Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha recently visited the development of the “Digital Agriculture” pilot project at Pha Mi Training Centre in Chiang Rai Province. To expand digitalisation in agriculture, smart agriculture also employed the Government Central Cloud System (GDCC) platform and 5G network.

The Pha Mi Training Centre is an education, research, and development institution for high-value commodities, including vanilla and orchid, which are among the world’s top five most lucrative products. The centre will also increase farmers’ awareness of the region and provide long-term job options. Finally, the initiative attempts to boost farm revenue and eliminate farmer poverty.

The creation of the Cloud GDCC system facilitates the integration of IoT Smart farm technologies and Big Data storage in Thailand’s agriculture sector. The cloud system is designed to support the future growth of Thai farmers and other experimental plants.

Aquaculture sectors are also included in the agricultural digitalisation initiative. The Thai government was undertaking Aquaculture 4.0 to secure the long-term growth of this essential industry and increase farmers’ sustainable farming capabilities. The Aqua-IoT is an Internet of Things-based monitoring system for water’s physical, chemical, and biological properties.

They combined critical data – physical, chemical, and biological water characteristics and weather – into a single interface that enables users to comprehend the link between the data, analyse it, and make informed decisions.

Nonetheless, the Philippines has made a comparable effort. The Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering (DA-BAFE) visited the nation’s first established innovative greenhouse project to enhance the widespread application of smart agriculture.

The smart greenhouse is a significant advancement in precision farming. It employs sensor technologies to generate a microclimate that allows plants to develop consistently. An intelligent greenhouse modifies the environment autonomously to help plants grow to their full potential. This innovative farming method provides farmers with higher yields, higher-quality products, and the ability to cultivate crops regularly all year. This satisfies the market’s requirement for food efficiency and sufficiency.

While in Indonesia, Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo urged the adoption of precision technology to boost the resilience of Indonesian cattle products and to meet domestic demands constantly. It is believed that the technology will increase the food production rate for commodities such as cattle, buffalo, purebred chicken, free-range chicken, lamb/goat, duck, and pork.

Syahrul advises strengthening regional and central government cooperation and synergy to conserve present output and increase the resilience of Indonesian cattle products. Job division and work obligations within each work unit. He suggests that the tasks of each division be specified to determine the next steps.

Singapore Boosts Measures Against Scam SMS

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All organisations that use alphanumeric Sender IDs to send SMS are now required to register with the Singapore SMS Sender ID Registry (SSIR) as part of the measures announced by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) last October. This registration is intended to protect consumers from non-registered SMS that may be scams, a press statement has said.

Starting from 31 January, any non-registered SMS will be labelled as “Likely-SCAM”. This functions similarly to a spam filter or spam bin. Consumers might get non-registered SMS labelled as “Likely-SCAM” and are advised to exercise caution. If unsure, consumers are encouraged to check with family and friends. This will improve IMDA’s overall resilience against scams.

All organisations that use alphanumeric Sender IDs must register early with the SSIR. This is to give adequate time as non-registered SMS Sender IDs after 31 January will be labelled as “Likely-SCAM”. Organisations that have not registered their Sender IDs are advised to do so, the statement said.

As of January 2023, over 1,200 organisations have already registered with SSIR, using more than 2,600 SMS Sender IDs. These include financial institutions, e-commerce operators, logistics providers, and SMEs that send SMS to their customers who have registered with the SSIR.

In recent months, IMDA reached out to organisations through aggregators and associations such as the Singapore Business Federation, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, and Association of Banks in Singapore, to encourage them to register with the SSIR. The mandatory SSIR regime is part of a broader effort to protect against scams, which also includes working with telecom operators to reduce the number of scam calls and SMS coming through the communication networks.

Since the implementation of the SSIR in March 2022, there has been a significant decrease in scams reported through SMS, with a 64% reduction from the last quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2022. Additionally, scam cases perpetrated via SMS dropped from 10% in 2021 to 8% in Q2 2022, down from 10% in 2021.

To effectively combat scams, a collective effort from society is needed. Despite implementing various measures, scammers may adapt their methods and tactics. IMDA will continue to collaborate with other stakeholders in the fight against scams, but individual vigilance and awareness are crucial. Consumers should remain vigilant and share scam prevention tips with friends and loved ones, the statement said.

IMDA leads Singapore’s digital transformation with infocomm media. To do this, IMDA is working to develop a dynamic digital economy and a cohesive digital society, driven by an exceptional infocomm media (ICM) ecosystem. It fosters talent, strengthens business capabilities, and enhances Singapore’s ICM infrastructure. IMDA also regulates the telecommunications and media sectors to safeguard consumer interests while fostering a pro-business environment and enhances Singapore’s data protection regime through the Personal Data Protection Commission.

Scams and unwanted commercial electronic messages and calls are an international problem with scammers continuing to prey on unsuspecting parties. Last year, IMDA and Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to boost cooperation and fight scams and spam. The agreement covers cooperation in information sharing and assistance in investigations relating to scam and spam calls and short message services. The two sides also agreed to mutual exchanges of knowledge and expertise and collaboration on technical and commercially viable solutions in relation to scam and spam communications.

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