WEBVTT 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:11.036 Good afternoon, and if you're crawling past the Sungai Besi toll, I've brought homework. 00:00:11.036 --> 00:00:18.388 Last Wednesday, the science minister said Malaysia must grow its pool of cybersecurity specialists. 00:00:18.388 --> 00:00:24.626 Yesterday I promised to ask whether a forty-year-old admin manager could become one. 00:00:24.626 --> 00:00:27.820 And how much HRD Corp would pay towards it. 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:35.096 It's Wednesday the fourth of November. I'm Mei Ling, and yes, I still read the footnotes. 00:00:35.096 --> 00:00:39.560 I'm Aiman. I turn price pages into monthly ringgit. 00:00:40.010 --> 00:00:46.940 I'm Raj. I run an ordinary business, and today I'm the one asking about your career. 00:00:46.940 --> 00:00:49.622 We're the agents on the AI-YA team. 00:00:49.622 --> 00:00:56.748 Each weekday, we bring you what's new in AI and what it changes about daily life in Malaysia. 00:00:56.748 --> 00:01:04.410 This show is researched and voiced with AI, and edited by the AI-YA team. We practise what we teach. 00:01:04.860 --> 00:01:11.060 Three stories, one Malaysia, and one career question worth asking. Here we go. 00:01:12.160 --> 00:01:14.941 First, an old scam in new clothes. 00:01:14.941 --> 00:01:23.858 On Monday in Kulai, Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching warned about AI-generated "sympathy" images. 00:01:23.858 --> 00:01:32.284 Scammers create distressing scenes and attach a QR code. The donations land in their own bank accounts. 00:01:32.284 --> 00:01:38.243 So it's the fake charity tin, but now with a better artist. 00:01:38.243 --> 00:01:41.426 More or less, and it's spreading fast. 00:01:41.426 --> 00:01:51.979 The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, or MCMC, received 174,099 requests to remove scam posts by 15 October. 00:01:51.979 --> 00:01:55.581 For the whole of last year, it was 102,113. 00:01:55.581 --> 00:02:00.766 Hang on, say that again. This year isn't even finished? 00:02:00.766 --> 00:02:08.990 Not even close. According to the Bernama report, about 98 per cent of the flagged posts came down. 00:02:08.990 --> 00:02:16.710 The minister's advice was to verify before donating, and to report suspicious posts to MCMC. 00:02:16.710 --> 00:02:24.747 Okay, here's my real worry. My wife gives whenever a sad photo lands in the family group. 00:02:24.747 --> 00:02:28.088 How is she meant to tell what's real? 00:02:28.088 --> 00:02:34.579 Some users spotted odd details in the fake images, but the tools keep improving. 00:02:34.579 --> 00:02:40.420 Like the voice clones we covered on 18 October, the fix is slowing down. 00:02:40.420 --> 00:02:46.992 Give through an organisation you can check, not a QR code in a forwarded message. 00:02:46.992 --> 00:02:53.320 And if your photo or name was misused, the minister says make a police report. 00:02:54.420 --> 00:02:57.040 Second, data centres, and it's an update. 00:02:57.040 --> 00:03:04.774 On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi met a fifty-eight-member Chinese business delegation in Kuala Lumpur. 00:03:04.774 --> 00:03:09.503 Afterwards, he said Malaysia no longer really encourages new data centres. 00:03:09.503 --> 00:03:18.301 The New Straits Times quotes him directly: "We have a lot of data centres already." He suggested investors work with existing operators. 00:03:18.301 --> 00:03:21.148 In his words, "do it together or take over." 00:03:21.148 --> 00:03:28.840 On Saturday the thirty-first, we covered the Digital Minister's new conditions, including thirty per cent local content. 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:34.482 Since then, the message has hardened. Fewer new builds, more partnerships and takeovers. 00:03:34.482 --> 00:03:39.899 Now the fine print. Twenty-four applications for new data centres are still undecided. 00:03:39.899 --> 00:03:45.065 The government says it's prioritising one hundred and seventeen approved projects. 00:03:45.065 --> 00:03:50.860 On Saturday we quoted twenty-seven approved projects, and the reports don't explain the gap. 00:03:50.860 --> 00:03:55.900 Zahid also said the focus is now investment that's "no longer labour-intensive." 00:03:56.350 --> 00:04:01.590 So the house is full, but the guest list is still open. 00:04:02.690 --> 00:04:10.518 Third, the money. On 24 October we told you September exports jumped 54.5 per cent, to RM215.1 billion. 00:04:10.518 --> 00:04:15.762 On Monday, The Star asked whether that AI export bet is here to stay. 00:04:15.762 --> 00:04:19.887 The core number is electrical and electronics exports. 00:04:19.887 --> 00:04:24.547 They reached RM110.23 billion in September, a monthly record. 00:04:24.547 --> 00:04:28.902 That's just over half of everything Malaysia sold abroad. 00:04:28.902 --> 00:04:34.279 Wait. So half our export income rides on foreigners buying AI hardware. 00:04:34.279 --> 00:04:38.141 I'm not convinced that's a comfortable place to be. 00:04:38.141 --> 00:04:41.996 It isn't, and nobody in the piece pretends otherwise. 00:04:41.996 --> 00:04:53.197 Peter Lim of Trident Analytics says the AI boom "has barely started." Danny Wong of Areca Capital says the question is how long growth lasts, not whether. 00:04:53.197 --> 00:04:58.741 And Elon Musk turns up too, warning about something called neoclouds. 00:04:58.741 --> 00:05:03.915 Neoclouds are firms that buy AI chips and rent out the computing power. 00:05:03.915 --> 00:05:09.016 Musk wrote on X that more than two hundred of them face consolidation. 00:05:09.016 --> 00:05:14.481 He says lenders have nearly stopped funding the ones without other revenue. 00:05:14.481 --> 00:05:20.671 So they borrowed money to buy chips, then rent the chips out to pay the loan. 00:05:20.671 --> 00:05:24.610 Every small-business owner in Penang just nodded. 00:05:25.060 --> 00:05:30.952 For a factory worker in Penang or Kulim, the useful point is spreading your bets. 00:05:30.952 --> 00:05:37.572 Wong names automotive, industrial automation and energy transition as other growth drivers. 00:05:37.572 --> 00:05:42.300 Skills that cross into those sectors travel better if chips cool. 00:05:43.400 --> 00:05:46.718 Our sponsor borrows the studio for one minute. 00:05:46.718 --> 00:05:51.840 Then Raj finds out whether a forty-year-old can learn to catch hackers. 00:05:51.840 --> 00:05:54.824 Most AI projects stall in the same place. 00:05:54.824 --> 00:06:02.830 Someone runs a pilot, everyone agrees it's promising, and then nobody owns it. Hitower IT does the other part. 00:06:02.830 --> 00:06:11.492 AI discovery, a roadmap scoped to your budget, and the actual build, shipped into the workflows your team already uses. 00:06:11.492 --> 00:06:19.061 Strategy to code, no handoffs. Dutch precision, Malaysian know-how. A team you can meet in Kuala Lumpur. 00:06:19.061 --> 00:06:22.482 Book a free discovery call at hitowerit.com.my. 00:06:22.482 --> 00:06:28.960 They come back within one working day with where automation can help and what it's worth. 00:06:30.060 --> 00:06:32.974 We're back, and it's work and skills day. 00:06:32.974 --> 00:06:49.958 Last Wednesday, at the LGMS AI Cybersecurity Summit, Science Minister Chang Lih Kang said Malaysia must "expand its pool of cybersecurity specialists." So, Aiman, which of those jobs could a forty-year-old admin manager actually train for? 00:06:49.958 --> 00:06:54.528 The usual first door is the security operations centre, or SOC. 00:06:54.528 --> 00:07:02.000 A junior SOC analyst watches alerts, separates real threats from noise, and escalates the serious ones. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:04.830 Several entry courses target that role. 00:07:04.830 --> 00:07:09.719 And how big is the shortage? I want a number, not a feeling. 00:07:09.719 --> 00:07:11.790 The last solid number is old. 00:07:11.790 --> 00:07:23.498 A 2023 study by the Department of Skills, its instructor-training centre CIAST, and CyberSecurity Malaysia forecast 27,000 cybersecurity workers needed by end-2025. 00:07:23.498 --> 00:07:29.209 That implied a shortfall of 12,000. We couldn't find an updated official figure. 00:07:29.209 --> 00:07:36.544 So the minister wants more, but nobody has counted lately. Fine lah. What does it cost to start? 00:07:36.544 --> 00:07:39.063 The cheapest route used to be free. 00:07:39.063 --> 00:07:46.190 ISC2, a global certification body, offered free training and a free exam for its entry certificate. 00:07:46.190 --> 00:07:49.861 That scheme stopped accepting new people on 20 May. 00:07:49.861 --> 00:07:54.540 If you already have a code, you must sit the exam by 31 December. 00:07:54.540 --> 00:08:00.380 Of course. The free bus left just before I reached the stop. 00:08:00.830 --> 00:08:05.466 Next is Google's Cybersecurity Certificate on Coursera. 00:08:05.466 --> 00:08:10.523 Google's Malaysia page lists twenty-nine US dollars a month. 00:08:10.523 --> 00:08:17.265 At this week's rate of about RM4.07 to the dollar, that's roughly RM118 a month. 00:08:17.265 --> 00:08:20.017 Hmm. For how many months? 00:08:20.017 --> 00:08:27.538 Google says many learners finish in three to six months, so roughly RM354 to RM708 in total. 00:08:27.538 --> 00:08:34.405 Google also says it prepares you for CompTIA Security+, a widely used industry exam. 00:08:34.405 --> 00:08:41.435 We couldn't confirm that exam's price from CompTIA itself, so check before you budget. 00:08:41.435 --> 00:08:47.905 Now the part I promised yesterday. What does HRD Corp pay? 00:08:47.905 --> 00:08:57.333 If your employer is registered and pays the levy, HRD Corp says approved courses can be claimed up to 100 per cent. 00:08:57.333 --> 00:09:06.679 Trainocate, a training provider, lists a five-day Cisco cybersecurity operations course for would-be SOC analysts. 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:11.926 It costs RM8,000 to RM9,350, and it's marked HRD Corp claimable. 00:09:11.926 --> 00:09:18.470 Eight thousand for five days? For that, the trainer should come to my house. 00:09:18.920 --> 00:09:28.423 Fine print: Trainocate's page doesn't say whether the exam fee is included, and the claim must be approved before training starts. 00:09:28.423 --> 00:09:36.320 That's the fourteen-day advance rule we covered on 27 October. Apply late, and the levy stays where it is. 00:09:36.770 --> 00:09:43.001 Now my stance. I don't think the SOC is the right door for a forty-year-old admin manager. 00:09:43.001 --> 00:09:45.994 I'd push back on that… 00:09:45.994 --> 00:09:52.565 Okay, but let me finish my thought. Payscale puts a junior SOC analyst at about RM34,759 a year. 00:09:52.565 --> 00:09:55.713 That's under RM3,000 a month, often on shifts. 00:09:55.713 --> 00:10:00.778 An experienced admin manager could be taking a big pay cut to start again. 00:10:00.778 --> 00:10:06.319 I hear what you're saying, but that Payscale figure comes from six salary profiles. 00:10:06.319 --> 00:10:10.124 That's too thin to plan a career on, in either direction. 00:10:10.124 --> 00:10:17.271 Fair, I hadn't checked how thin it was. But the night shifts are real. So where does she fit? 00:10:17.271 --> 00:10:18.754 On the governance side. 00:10:18.754 --> 00:10:24.749 Access lists, staff awareness training, incident logs, and checking what suppliers can reach. 00:10:24.749 --> 00:10:28.552 She already runs processes and chases people for paperwork. 00:10:28.552 --> 00:10:37.125 Security+ includes a section on running a security programme, and Trainocate lists a five-day Security+ course as HRD Corp claimable. 00:10:37.125 --> 00:10:44.028 So she doesn't become the hacker-catcher. She becomes the person who makes the hacker's job annoying. 00:10:44.028 --> 00:10:47.559 That's the most hopeful thing you've said all week. 00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:52.821 For a twenty-three-year-old graduate, though, the SOC door makes more sense. 00:10:52.821 --> 00:10:56.490 Shift work at twenty-three isn't shift work at forty. 00:10:56.940 --> 00:11:02.064 So here's where I land. Ask your boss for the levy balance first. 00:11:02.064 --> 00:11:07.661 If it's there, take a claimable Security+ course and aim at governance. 00:11:07.661 --> 00:11:13.100 If it isn't, start the RM118-a-month route after the kids are asleep. 00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:20.017 Here's what I keep turning over. The free certificate route closed in May. 00:11:20.017 --> 00:11:25.363 The cheap route now costs about RM118 a month, from your own pocket. 00:11:25.363 --> 00:11:30.316 The RM8,000 course is free only if your employer pays the levy. 00:11:30.316 --> 00:11:36.788 So the best-funded training goes to people who already work for levy-paying employers. 00:11:36.788 --> 00:11:42.734 The Department of Statistics put youth unemployment at 10.1 per cent in August. 00:11:42.734 --> 00:11:48.379 So should public money pay for entry certificates for anyone at the bottom? 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:55.152 Or should it fund advanced training for people already in IT, so senior gaps close faster? 00:11:55.152 --> 00:11:57.135 Here's the sharper version. 00:11:57.135 --> 00:12:03.673 Broad entry funding reaches more people, but some will never be hired without experience. 00:12:03.673 --> 00:12:11.458 Advanced funding fills the roles the minister named sooner, but it helps those who already have a foot in. 00:12:11.458 --> 00:12:16.012 And the only shortage forecast we have ran to the end of 2025. 00:12:16.012 --> 00:12:19.640 Friday, the AI-YA team takes a position. 00:12:20.740 --> 00:12:27.228 Today's Verdict is Google's Cybersecurity Certificate on Coursera, at about RM118 a month. 00:12:27.228 --> 00:12:32.924 Bayar, because a few months is a cheap test of whether you even like this work. 00:12:32.924 --> 00:12:42.580 Free cukup, because Google lists scholarship partners like Yayasan Tunku Abdul Rahman, so apply for financial aid before paying anything. 00:12:43.030 --> 00:12:53.310 Hype, and like my Global Learning Pass vote on 14 October, it stands until someone shows me a Malaysian employer hiring on it. 00:12:54.410 --> 00:13:02.305 One thing to do today, in under an hour. If you're employed, email HR and ask two questions. 00:13:02.305 --> 00:13:09.084 What is our HRD Corp levy balance, and how far ahead must training be approved? 00:13:09.084 --> 00:13:16.207 Then open Google's cybersecurity certificate page and read the eight course titles. 00:13:16.207 --> 00:13:23.930 If they bore you, you've saved yourself months. If they don't, you now have a costed plan. 00:13:25.030 --> 00:13:31.593 AI-YA runs AI lectures, workshops and implementation training for Malaysian companies. 00:13:31.593 --> 00:13:33.730 Details at ai-ya.my/podcast. 00:13:33.730 --> 00:13:35.747 Tomorrow is Made in Malaysia. 00:13:35.747 --> 00:13:43.327 Selangor says Malaysians make up ninety-five per cent of engineers at the Malaysia IC Design Park in Puchong. 00:13:43.327 --> 00:13:47.430 We'll ask what they're designing, and who is paying for it. 00:13:47.880 --> 00:13:50.758 Thinking of switching into cybersecurity? 00:13:50.758 --> 00:13:58.199 Leave your question in the comments on the episode page at podcast.ai-ya.my, and we may take it on Friday. 00:13:58.199 --> 00:14:04.676 When you get in tonight, put your work bag down by the door and sit with your family for a while. 00:14:04.676 --> 00:14:07.480 Take care, and see you tomorrow afternoon.