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SL’s national cyber security responsibility of Govt: ICTA Chief
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/111023/BusinessTimes/bt022.html
SL’s national cyber security responsibility of Govt: ICTA Chief
By Jagdish Hathiramani
Sri Lanka’s national cyber security is the responsibility of the country’s government and making sure national networks are secure and unpenetrated should be coordinated at all levels by a single body such as the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Response Team (SL CERT), according to Reshan Dewapura, the Chief Executive of the country’s Information and Communication Technology Agency, SL CERT’s parent.
Speaking at the 4th annual National Conference on Cyber Security, a full-day event which was held last week as part of the SL CERT organised Cyber Security Week 2011, Mr. Dewapura also called for law enforcement authorities and the legislature to focus on areas such as protecting critical infrastructure and putting in place a legal structure for regulation.
Additionally, he also signalled the need for the country’s national security policy to be extended to include cyber security, with citizens made aware that cyber security measures taken will be in line with individual rights and freedom of speech, and further noted that this inclusion of cyber security into national defence should be used to actively protect military operations against cyber attacks, while also taking advantage of the capabilities of Sri Lanka’s powerful neighbours. He also suggested that establishment of public private partnerships whereby the government can cooperate with the private sector, especially since the majority of the country’s essential infrastructure belongs to the private sector.
Mr. Dewapura also opined that citizens and organisations needed to come forward and report cyber crimes as these incidents could not be appropriately addressed otherwise. And, as such, it was also important to create awareness about this with regards to government departments, private sector organisations and the general public.
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SL financial institutions face increase in cyber threats
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/111002/BusinessTimes/bt48.html
Sri Lanka’s local government sector has been increasingly targetted by hackers in the post war era while the country’s financial institutions have also proved to be a growing target, particularly in the past two months. The latter resulting in millions of rupees being lost, according to DCS International Director Shihan Annon. When queried about the source of this information, he revealed it was based on DCS’s own analysts’ research.
Further, the local representative for Bratislava-based Anti Virus (AV) company ESET, DCS also stated that ESET has been at the “forefront” of developing software for Sri Lanka-specific viruses such as “Mahasona” and “Reeriyaka” which it said were “made to spread mainly through removable devices such as pen drives, memory cards, etc. and are activated through the autorun.inf file in the removable drive.”
Additionally, comments by Mr. Annon have pointed to DCS’s current involvement with the government’s Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Response Team (SLCERT). This is to develop a special device named “Honey Pot” which he identified as being used to “detect Sri Lankan malware density.”
Meanwhile, according to Julian Sanoon, a Director of DCS’s parent Digital House, a 20-year, Rs. 1.2 billion turnover computer peripherals importer and seller, in its first year of officially entering the local market ESET has grown its market share by 200% mostly through corporate channel solutions providers. This has resulted in ESET capturing a 12% stake of the Sri Lankan market, as per reports by international IT researcher Gartner. He noted these figures while speaking at a local media launch of ESET’s Smart Security 5 and NOD32 Antivirus 5, which have been priced starting from about Rs. 1,800 per licence.
Mr. Sanoon also anticipated a “steady” growth resulting in 25% market share by year’s end. He also revealed that, for 2012, the plan was to rent out security Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) locally as well as accessing schools, rural and the university student audiences. He also indicated that there were plans in place to sign an agreement with one of the country’s mobile communications providers to offer ESET protection for mobile devices. Additionally, responding to a media query, he also noted that ESET planned on releasing protection for Google’s Android mobile operating system by next year.
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Move forward with 2001/2002 petrol reforms, open up imports
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110821/BusinessTimes/bt22.html
The 12th, and most recent, in a series of “economic alert” type reports by local non governmental organisation Pathfinder Foundation seems to suggest that excessive Sri Lankan government involvement in “monopolising petroleum imports to Sri Lanka” has resulted in even commonly used, international practices such as hedging becoming highly politicised, with the local government taking on responsibilities and blame beyond its scope.
Instead, the report indicates, the “way forward is to open up petroleum imports, distribution and retailing to other private sector enterprises in competition with the [Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC)] or other government or semi – government institutions willing to enter into the business. The current downstream petroleum sector legislation provides for entertaining one or more parties entering into the field under similar conditions that were applicable to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).”
Further, Pathfinder also notes that the “first round of petroleum sector reforms that were undertaken during the 2001/2002 period included unbundling of the CPC into storage and distribution/retailing units. In the process, the IOC became an independent operator distributing and retailing petroleum. There seems to be a strong case for the government to proceed- with the next round of reforms whereby new entrant/s will be entertained. Furthermore, as envisaged in the current legislation, the petroleum regulatory function should be assigned to the Public Utility Commission (PUC). The PUC was established with the objective of introducing an independent regulator for electricity, petroleum, portable water resources and other infrastructure services.”
Meanwhile, the report also states; “After the restructuring/reorganisation of CPC it is advisable to list its shares in the Colombo Stock Market, preceded by allocation of a substantial number of shares among the workers and retailers who have made a considerable contribution to the business.”
At the same time, the pertinent line ministry, the Ministry for Power and Energy, was advised to become, at least in the case of petroleum, “an independent watchdog protecting the consumer interest and creating an environment conducive for further investment in the sector.”
As such, signalling the possible shifting of its focus to maintaining strategic petroleum reserves, an area thus far “never discussed in local policy circles.” Or even, developing a “well-targeted fuel subsidy or an income transfer scheme.” The latter, the report says, will result in the CPC and the IOC not being compelled to incur losses for which they bear no responsibility. For example, “[in] the case of CPC, it loses billions of rupees through subsidising the thermal electricity generation by another government-owned loss-making enterprise, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).”
The report also states: “In an environment where profit-seeking public and private enterprises are in competition, imports (refined or crude petroleum) are likely to be based purely on price and quality considerations. In addition to these market-based compulsions, the PUC, as well as the line Ministry can also ensure that the players are not colluding or under/over invoicing so that consumers are further protected.
If the petroleum sector is made more efficient through greater competition, it will benefit all sectors of the economy through its impact on the costs of energy and transport. The proposed reforms are also likely to trigger much-needed improvements in other institutions, particularly the CEB.”
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Average annual IT workforce growth slowing down to 12.5% from 25%:survey
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110703/BusinessTimes/bt34.html
Average annual IT workforce growth slowing down to 12.5% from 25%:survey
By Jagdish Hathiramani
The average annual growth rate of the country’s IT workforce has slowed from to 12.5% or 4,200 entrants each year between 2006 and 2009 from 25% or 4,800 entrants each year between 2003 and 2006, according to a national level IT workforce survey of 510 organisations carried out in 2010 by Sri Lanka’s Information and Communications Technology Agency (ICTA). As at end-2010, the IT workforce was estimated as having a growth rate of 17% per year.
The 2010 survey also predicted there would be a little more than 50,000 people employed as part of the IT workforce by end-2010, a growth of 7,338 entrants over the end-2009 figure, with 56% of this growth comprising IT sector jobs, 29% non IT sector IT jobs, 8% in government IT jobs and 7% in Back Process Outsourcing, or BPO, IT jobs. The survey also showed that, sector-wise, at end-2009, the overall IT workforce was distributed according to 49% non IT sector, 42% IT sector, 5% government and 4% BPO.
Also emerging in the survey, programming and software engineering accounts for the highest percentage of workers in the IT workforce with these being 25% of all IT positions, while technical support was second highest at 17% and system and network administrators was third highest at 11%. The smallest groups in terms of IT careers were digital media and animation workers, technical writers and IT researchers, each at 1%, and solutions and technical architects (2%) and web developers (3%). Further noted, between 2006 and 2009, management information systems and IT management workforce growth rates rose from 5% to 9%, while systems and network administration workforce growth rates went up from 7% to 11%. However at the same time, the numbers of software quality assurance workers fell due to a contraction in the growth rate, to 7% in 2009, compared to 13% in 2006.
The survey also concluded that the average attrition rate across the entirety of the IT workforce was 7%, while the brain drain was 4%. It however also concluded that IT sector specific attrition was also much higher than that the IT workforce average, at 11%. In addition, the survey also predicted that, for the third year running, demand for IT workers would fall short of supply, with 3,970 IT graduates hired out of 4,473 graduating in 2010 (estimated). Comparable figures for 2008 and 2009, respectively, were 3,758 IT graduates in that year, and 3,039 employed, and 3,941 IT graduates in that year, with 2,602 recruited.
Meanwhile, average salary scales for new recruits ranged from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 across all sectors. At the same time, as per the survey, maximum entry level salaries were reported as being around Rs. 60,000 for database administrators, systems ad network administrators and programmers / software engineers in the IT and non IT sectors.
The same positions had around a Rs. 40,000 maximum entry level salary in the government sector. This is in a pool where a Bachelor’s Degree is the preferred minimum academic qualification identified as being required by employers. On the other hand, in the BPO sector, where 43% of the workers have GCE A/L qualifications, 24% have diplomas, 15% have professional qualifications (CIMA, etc.) and only 13% and 2.5% have Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees, respectively; salary scales for employees range between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 300,000 (for executive managers), with junior managers earning a maximum of Rs. 60,000, managers Rs. 100,000 and senior executives Rs. 150,000. Also indicated, IT salaries increased at a faster pace with experience, particularly in the IT sector, while government sector salaries, even with experience, rose at a much slower pace when compared with other sectors.
At the same time, and maybe contributing to lower hiring, most organisations in the IT, non IT and BPO sectors pointed to specific soft skills (team working, English proficiency, communications and presentation, creative thinking, etc.) as being important in recruitment, with employers also stating that the above identified soft skills were lacking in employees, with communication being the most lacking. Further, BPO sector employers identified a lack of technical skills and a positive attitude as being most important, and the most lacking in new recruits.
Regarding IT’s role in business, the survey also noted that nearly 90% of IT and BPO companies use IT for back office operations as well as business with customers (B2C), while the usage for IT for both of these purposes by the other two sectors ranges between 52% and 64%. Also stated, 85% of respondents use IT for financial management, 60% for human resource management and 52% for inventory management in their day-to-day back office operations. Additionally, 63% of organisations using IT for business with customers use it for customer service / help desk type functions, 62% for information gathering and marketing, and 57% use websites as promotional tools. Further, more than 95% of IT and BPO sector companies and 90% of government organisations have websites, with 86.7% of all Sri Lankan websites being in English while 30% of government websites are in all three official languages.
The survey also noted that data suggested limited electronic commerce adoption with the majority of adoption shown to be in Internet marketing, also that high cost of infrastructure followed by high cost of bandwidth were the major barriers to using electronic commerce for B2C. Elaborating, the survey also revealed that 44% of BPO companies and 28% of IT companies had obtained secured transaction certificates (SSL, TLS, etc.). This number was 6% for government sector organisations.
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Financial sector must keep up credit, improve risk and be well capitalised : CB Governor
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110313/BusinessTimes/bt24.html
Sri Lankan financial institutions need to keep up credit standards, improve risk and be well capitalised, while regulators must upgrade prudential and supervisory frameworks and be more vigilant in detecting risks and taking action to maintain stability; according to Central Bank Governor Ajith Cabraal.
In the introduction to the Central Bank’s Financial System Stability Review (FSSR) report for 2010 released this week, a document which he described as being "the collective assessment of the financial system by the Financial System Stability Committee which is chaired by the Deputy Governor, in charge of financial system stability and is generally based on the performance of the financial sector during the first nine months of 2010"; he also advocated "enhancing the capacity of financial system to serve all sectors of the economy with an increased array of products" as well as developing a "vibrant capital market to supplement the banking sector."
Mr. Cabraal also noted that "[conditions] in domestic financial markets improved, as interest rates decreased with the decline in inflation and the easing of monetary policy. The overall soundness of Sri Lanka’s financial institutions was maintained with adequate capital and liquidity buffers and improvements in asset quality and earnings. The decline in interest rates and recovery in the domestic economy and international trade had a positive impact on risk levels in financial institutions."
He also added a "a new law for the regulation of finance business has been finalised to combat unauthorised deposit-taking entities and to upgrade the regulation of finance companies." While the "Banking Act is also being amended to enable consolidated supervision of banking groups and new provisions for mergers and acquisitions and bank resolution measures." Further, he alluded to an "early warning surveillance system" being designed to alert the Central Bank on actionable concerns which could "trigger a negative effect on the financial system."
Meanwhile, the report elaborated further on Mr. Cabraal’s comments regarding domestic financial markets by revealing that these had also become more liquid, mostly as a result of increased capital inflows. Also noted was that the "banking sector recorded an increase in credit growth and remained financially strong and resilient with a high capital position and lower risk levels. Bank lending recovered and rose significantly in the first nine months of 2010 from negative growth in the previous year."
Additionally; "The finance and leasing company sector recorded significant growth in accommodations and earnings, owing to the better macroeconomic environment. The financial soundness indicators of the two sectors, excluding the distressed companies, have shown an improvement. Directions on corporate governance and effective risk management systems have also been introduced. Measures were taken to restructure distressed companies (by bringing in strategic investors and converting a proportion of deposits into of shares) to enable them to continue business and repay depositors."
Speaking of other financial sectors, the report noted "[premium] income of the insurance company sector rose notably, while soundness improved with an increase in profitability and solvency ratios. The soundness of the primary dealer industry was maintained at a high level. The net asset value of the unit trust industry increased significantly bolstered by the upturn in the equity market."
Details were also given about the Central Bank-overseen "mandatory Deposit Insurance Scheme for Licenced Banks and Registered Finance Companies under the provisions of the Monetary Law Act." These included covering all "demand, time and savings deposits" and that "banks and finance companies will be required to insure their deposit liabilities with effect from October 2010." Further noted was that compensation will be paid by the Central Bank, up to a "maximum of Rs.200,000 per depositor per institution… within six months from the date of suspension or cancellation of the licence/registration of the institution by the Monetary Board on or after January 2012."
Also revealed in the report was a forthcoming "guideline on consumer protection setting out the minimum standards of conduct when dealing with customers, so as to reduce unfair and unethical business practices by banks." The report also recommends: "The size and liquidity of the stock market has to be increased with the listing of new companies and public sector enterprises. There is also the need for the implementation of comprehensive public float rules and margining requirements to enhance liquidity and to reduce credit risks.
New products, such as exchange traded funds and financial derivatives to hedge risk should also be introduced. It is proposed that a central clearing counterparty corporation will be established to reduce settlement risk in exchange transactions. The development of the corporate bond market is necessary in order to meet the long-term financial needs of the corporate sector, particularly in respect of infrastructure and other long-term investments. The establishment of a long-term government securities yield curve which is used as the benchmark for the pricing of corporate bonds will facilitate the development of the market."
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Reducing size of Govt. won’t help budget deficits and debt: top intl economist
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110313/BusinessTimes/bt25.html
Reducing the size of government is not the answer for a small country facing the twin problems of budget deficits and debt, according to Dr. Richard Parker, who is part of the three member team, supported by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, which is currently advising Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.
Speaking to a Sri Lankan audience, via the American Centre’s local video conferencing facilities recently, on the occasion of the fifth Harvard Pathfinder Foundation Seminar, Dr. Parker’s presentation titled "Small Countries in a Time of Dramatic Global Change: What Can Greece teaches us?” also emphasised that "fiscal consolidation was essential to address the deficit/debt driven financial crisis and to stabilise the economy," while also calling for a "balanced approach that respected the relative roles of government and business."
Dr. Parker also suggested an approach with a "robust role for government while recognising the need to provide the space for wealth creation by the private sector. He recognised the importance of fiscal consolidation and strengthened debt management for regaining the confidence of both domestic investors and international markets."
In the Greek context, he recommended "transparent and less discretionary decision-making processes" for addressing the Greeks’ lack of confidence in successive governments, as well as "a widespread perception of extensive corruption and a large shadow economy." Problems which he opined were not as serious as popularly believed in that country.
He also "identified restructuring of the public service and building its capacity as a crucial challenge for Greece," indicating it to be integral for stabilisation. Further, he also highlighted "non-income based benefits as a means of raising morale and motivating public servants."
Additionally, Dr. Parker pointed out that fiscal devolution was also a part of the reforms being introduced in Greece, with a move away from the previous highly centralised system where central government accounted for 80% of public expenditure. The devolution process also entails consolidating small local authorities into regional entities to create conditions where there was sufficient capacity in the de-centralised units for fiscal devolution to be effective.
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