1. Cyber-security accreditation : Singapore recently attained the status to authorise cybersecurity certificates, and locally based companies can easily get their products certified without sending them overseas.

“Former Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim had said in March 2017 that the cybersecurity sector here is projected to grow around S$900 million by 2020.

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) has set up a CC certification body, which is responsible for ensuring that product evaluation undertaken conforms to the strict requirements of the technical standards, it added.

This body is also responsible for maintaining a pool of approved testing laboratories that perform the product evaluation.  There are currently three such labs – An Security, Brightsight and T-Systems International – in its approved list, according to CSA’s website.

The ministry also said that with the CC certificate authorising nation status, Singapore can create more job opportunities for skilled cybersecurity professionals spanning from IT product evaluators and certifiers to product architects, designers and developers.”

Read the full article on Channel NewsAsia: Singapore’s growing cybersecurity sector gets boost with accreditation status

 

  1. Moneylending: Domestic helpers are increasingly borrowing money from moneylenders, perhaps reflecting deeper issues such as a lack of financial literacy and receiving low salaries.

“Some domestic workers are themselves lending money. On average, he counsels about five helpers a week who say their peers have lent them money – with a 20 per cent interest rate plus an upfront fee of 10 per cent.

One helper, who declined to be identified, said she would rather pay the exorbitant interest than visit licensed moneylenders, as she feels uncomfortable providing them with her work permit, passport and contract details as well as employer’s number and address.

She has borrowed hundreds of dollars from a fellow helper since last year, but is not worried that it is illegal or that there is no formal contract.

“This is (based on) trust. I’ve known (the lender) for quite some time,” she said.”

Read the full article on Channel NewsAsia: Borrowing, brokering, lending: Inside the tangled web of maids and moneylenders

 

  1. Loneliness: There are four different types of loneliness, according to research, and it is more effective to curb loneliness by enhancing the quality of networks rather than promoting larger social networks.   

“The researchers found a clear gradient of psychological distress across the classes. People in the low loneliness class were, predictably, least distressed, followed by people in the “social loneliness” class, then the “emotional loneliness” class, and finally the “social and emotional loneliness” class. In fact, people in both these last two classes had levels of symptoms of depression, anxiety and negative psychological wellbeing that were reflective of a psychiatric disorder.

In other words, quality of relationships appears more important to mental health than the sheer number of them.“These results indicate that while the experience of social loneliness is associated with slight diminutions in overall mental health, relative to the low loneliness class, the experience of emotional loneliness has a substantially greater, and more negative impact on overall mental health status,” the researchers write. “The combination of social and emotional loneliness is associated with the poorest mental health status,” they note.”

Read the full article on World Economic Forum: There are four types of loneliness, according to researchers

Picture credits:https://pixabay.com/illustrations/cyber-security-technology-network-3374252/