South Korea’s biggest mobile carrier SK Telecom and the Seoul City government last Thursday said they had agreed to develop 5G-based maps for self-driving. By the second half of this year, 1,700 vehicles will be used to create a map by providing real-time updates of the traffic system, they said.

The agreement is expected to help Korea gain an edge in 5G technology and autonomous driving. Officials said if the plan is implemented as scheduled, Seoul would become the first global city to use the 5G network for public transportation.

“Live updates of high-definition maps will lay the ground for a new industry, such as smart mobility,” said Ko Hong-seok, who manages the traffic system in Seoul. “By enhancing cooperation with the local government, we will help Seoul lead other global cities in future transportation.”

The announcement comes as part of the mobile carrier’s efforts to develop advanced network infrastructure for autonomous driving. Last month, SKT signed an agreement with the Incheon Free Economic Zone to develop 5G-based self-driving infrastructure.

The sophisticated map system in Seoul will be based on traffic information of 12 crowded streets, stretching up to 121 kilometres. After creating the map, SKT said it would work with the government to verify its accuracy. To make the map with “centimetre-level” accuracy, the Seoul city government will deploy 1,700 buses and taxies on the roads later this year. Equipped with an “Advanced Driver Assistance System,” the selected public transport systems will be able to update traffic information in real time.

Unlike the previous Global Positioning System, ADAS allows drivers to “communicate” with other vehicles and objects on the roads, SKT said. It can help drivers commute safely by detecting potential hazards and warnings using such information automatically.

Screenshots provided by a tip-off seen by The Straits Times showed that the website exposed data such as names, NRIC numbers, passport numbers and travel plans of Chan Brothers Travel’s customers.

The Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) said it has been notified of the incident and is investigating.

Responding to ST queries, a spokesman for the travel agency said that it takes full responsibility for the incident and that it was notified of the vulnerabilities on May 16.

It is currently working with its vendor, Aodigy Asia Pacific, to |ascertain the cause of the data exposure.

“Upon notification of the vulnerabilities, we immediately took action to address the matter including containing the extent of vulnerabilities, assessing the extent of impact and reporting the incident to PDPC,” the spokesman said.

“Some of the measures undertaken require continual monitoring, review and action, as it involves information that has been publicly cached. We have shut down the site meanwhile.”

When ST visited the website on Friday, some of the data could still be publicly accessed via cached versions of the site, which are temporarily available versions of websites.

When asked if Chan Brothers Travel had informed any of the affected customers, the spokesman said it was progressively contacting affected customers.

“We are currently investigating this matter and ascertaining the extent and nature of information that was revealed.

“We would like to assure our customers that no sensitive financial and booking information was revealed,” she said.

“That said, we recognise that no personal data should be exposed at all in any manner and that it is our responsibility and priority to protect our customers’ personal data.”

Andrew Goh, the co-founder of local fintech start-up Factors Platform, informed ST of the insecure data.

He had come across it as he was in the midst of gathering datasets for his work.

He discovered that he could look up client inquiries and post-tour surveys on the Chan Brothers Travel site, which contained the personal information.

Said Goh: “I have found close to 500 entries in aggregate [inquiries and surveys], close to 450 of them are unique clients.”

He said he had found the data on May 15 evening and decided to go down to the travel agency’s office the next day to notify them about the issue. There, he met its IT director, who, he said, told him that the issue would be sorted out.

Later on May 16, Goh said a Chan Brothers Travel staff member called him to inform him that the problem had been fixed.

But when Goh checked again in the evening, the data was still publicly accessible.

The Chan Brothers spokesman said Goh was still able to view the information that evening as it “was stored in cached pages by the search engines’ servers”.

When asked what recourse Chan Brother will be providing its customers, its spokesman said that it will be “[addressing] their individual concerns personally”.

Dr Lucy Cameron, lead author of the “Vietnam’s Future Digital Economy Towards 2030 and 2045” report and Australian senior research consultant, said the country should carefully navigate a number of risks while undertaking digital transformation.

“Vietnam has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and has already become one of the most dynamic countries in the East Asia region,” she said.

A boom in digital hardware and software exports has occurred, and Vietnam’s young population is rapidly taking up new mobile internet services, the report said.

The government is also implementing industry 4.0 policies to modernise major existing industries and develop new ones, it added.

Digital transition is expected to add about 1.1 per cent to GDP growth each year for Vietnam through 2045, while the country’s growth is fast and inclusive, which is suitable for digital transformation, according to Cameron.

But to sustain high growth, Vietnam will need to overcome substantial challenges, she said.

The population is ageing, while climate change and rapid development are straining the environment and food production as the country rapidly urbanises.

The workforce needs to learn higher-level skills, especially as jobs are becoming automated in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

Nguyen Van Binh, chairman of the Central Economic Commission, said that mastering the digital economy created an opportunity for Vietnam to maintain rapid and sustainable growth through the next phase of development.

“Strong leadership and institutions will be key in Vietnam’s development across all economic sectors, including the private sector,” he said. “Digital transformation resulting from this strong leadership will unblock bottlenecks to promote further economic development.”

Chu Ngoc Anh, minister of science and technology, said the report provided a blueprint for the country to plan for its digital future.

“It is a tremendous example of successful collaboration between our national innovation systems,” he said.

Craig Chittick, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, said the report was the first major output of the Aus4Innovation partnership between Australia and Vietnam.

“It will guide our work over the next three years as we deepen the collaborative linkages between our two countries and help strengthen the Vietnamese innovation system as it adapts to the challenges and opportunities of the digital economy,” he said.

Australia has worked with Vietnam to identify seven megatrends affecting Vietnam’s future digital economy.

These include the impact of emerging digital technologies, new export markets for Vietnam, the development of modern digital infrastructure, the push to smart cities, the rise of digital skills and services, and changing consumer behaviours.

Megatrends informed the report’s development of four potential future scenarios, which provide a blueprint for decision-makers to plan for Vietnam’s future digital economy.

With a young population, high investment and a location in the heart of high-growth Asian economies, Vietnam has a good chance of surging forward with new digital tools, if the transition is managed well.

In 2017, the “Vietnam’s Future Digital Economy Towards 2030 and 2045” report was launched by the ministry of science and technology and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

The report provides economic modelling for potential scenarios of growth for Vietnam’s digital economy up to 2045.

It aims to serve as a strategic decision-making tool for leaders in government and businesses negotiating the new wave of digital innovation and the next phase of economic development.

The first report “Vietnam Today”, which was released last year, examined the state of Vietnam’s macro-economy and digital economy.

The present report, which was released in May, updates this research and examines the state of Vietnam’s economy and digital economy in early 2019, with a main focus on the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

The report is part of the Vietnam’s Future Digital Economy project, an innovative joint venture between the governments of Vietnam and Australia.

The project is the first major output of the Aus4Innovation programme launched in 2017 by the governments of Vietnam and Australia.

GS Home Shopping, a leading home shopping channel operator in Vietnam, said it had invested $1.2 million (Bt38.19 million) in Luxstay, a Vietnamese home-sharing platform that targets the Southeast Asian market.

The deal marks GS Home Shopping’s second such investment in an e-commerce startup based in Vietnam.

In January this year, the South Korean company invested $3 million in another e-commerce venture firm, Leflair, which focuses on premium-branded products for women, men, children and homes.

Vietnam, one of the fastest-growing countries in the travel industry, is a destination favoured by South Korean tourists for its low cost and diverse attractions.

The quarterly figure for South Korean tourists visiting Vietnam soared more than 24 per cent in the first three months of this year, exceeding the 1 million mark for the first time, industry data showed.

Given the current pace of growth, the annual figure is widely estimated to exceed 4 million for this year.

After topping the 1 million level for the first time in 2015, the annual number of South Korean tourists to Vietnam rose to 2.42 million in 2017 and 3.44 million last year. – The Korea Herald

L’Oreal, Alibaba announce AI mobile acne testing app

French personal care company LOreal and Chinese tech giant Alibaba have announced the world’s first mobile acne testing application powered by artificial intelligence at the Viva Technology conference last week.

The app, Effaclar Spotscan, developed by La Roche-Posay, a brand of L’Oreal, and Alibaba allows those that have acne but with limited access to dermatological support to conduct professional skin self-testing and provides them with personalised and solutions.

The app uses AI technology to generate test reports based on three selfies uploaded to it. After testing, the app will provide users with personalised skin care suggestions based on the state of the skin.

It will also recommend the corresponding skin care product combinations and support the purchase of products online. If the app detects more severe skin problems, it can put the user in touch with a skin care expert for one-on-one consultations.

Kevin Chen, vice-president of L’Oreal China and also general manager of Active Cosmetics Division said, “The division’s mission is to create a beautiful future through better health. Effaclar Spotscan is a true beauty tech innovation that is tailored to meet everyone’s unmet health needs. Its precision of skin testing cannot be achieved without L’Oreal’s century-old history of scientific expertise and the professional guidance of hundreds of top dermatologists around the world.”

Added Chen, “We have analysed more than 6,000 images of consumers from various races, with different skin types and varying levels of acne issues, and from different genders, to ensure that there is enough basis for a precise test,” Chen added.

Alibaba’s AI technologies provide Effaclar Spotscan with substantive support. Based on acne images collected and dermatologists’ analysis results, AI scientists adopted deep-learning technologies, including object classification and detection to create a neural network model for acne testing that explains the linkage between visualsed acne information and type of lesions, to generate a comprehensive testing result.

Wang Yeming, general manager of Alibaba Cloud EMEA, said, “Millions of consumers on Tmall and Taobao are plagued by acne. Through AI technology, they can now gain a better understanding of the state of their skin and choose the skin care solution that is right for them in an effective and convenient manner without even having to leave their homes”. – China Daily

Samsung introduces video AS service

Samsung Electronics Service, an aftersales subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, said it will introduce a video consultation service for customers who experience problems.

When customers make contact, a text message with a link to the video system will be sent. It will connect customers with service engineers, allowing them to show problematic parts of their products directly to the engineers.

“The service will help customers explain better the problems they face, while saving their time with no need to visit a store,” said a company official.

The service won’t charge customers, and doesn’t require users to download an extra application.

They can apply for it at the firm’s call centre. – The Korea Herald

New Delhi’s stand on the China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) notwithstanding, Indian software companies are participating in a big way at the expo, where China is showcasing its soft power on the global stage.

The four-day expo, which has attracted 300 companies from more than 30 countries, got off to a spectacular start on Sunday in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, which for long was considered a less-developed area due to its remoteness and isolation. The region has been on a fast lane to build itself into China’s big data valley ever since it hosted the first big data expo in 2015.

The event aimed to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements in big data worldwide, organisers said.

China to dominate cyber technology

Several companies at the expo are from countries that have joined the BRI, the signature initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping to connect different continents through rail and road networks to promote China’s trade and commercial ties.

India has refused to join BRI on the grounds that its flagship project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), runs through the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

However, Indian software companies including NITI Limited, Zoho Corporation and Paramatix Technologies have set up big stalls at the expo and are drawing huge crowds.

A top representative of an Indian company, who did not wish to be identified, told a group of visiting Indian journalists that China could dominate the world in the field of cyber technology in the coming decades, given the infrastructure created by it.

India, he said, currently lacked the infrastructure for big data. In fact, the Chinese were trying to woo Indian companies to set up their bases in China.

Indian companies were being offered incentives like higher income tax relief and the facility to repatriate their earnings in China.

Chinese officials say Xi has been personally very keen on the success of the annual big data expo at Guiyang, as it fits into his aim to make China the world leader in the field of big data.

The fifth edition of the big data expo began only after Xi’s congratulatory message to the participants had been read out.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Weng Chen, a |member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of |China (CPC) Central Committee, said big data was the next stage in the data revolution, which ensures sustainable development.

American cryptologist and security technologist Whitfield Diffie said big data would be everywhere and its security would affect everything – individuals, business, governance and critical infrastructure.

“Artificial intelligence can be used to produce entirely new ways of controlling computers,” he cautioned.