Latest news with #Vong
Borneo Post
24-05-2025
- Science
- Borneo Post
Sibu school to modernise facilities, embrace STEM, TVET
Lau (fifth right) and Vong (seventh right) join others in the cake-cutting ceremony. — Photo by Peter Boon SIBU (May 25): The management board of SK Bandaran Sibu No 2 is committed to upgrading school facilities and creating a safe, modern and inspiring environment where both teachers and students can thrive. According to the school's management board chairman Temenggong Dato Vincent Lau, these efforts align with education reforms focused on strengthening teacher professionalism, integrating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and technical and vocational education and training (TVET), using technology in teaching, and reducing dropout rates. 'However, while the board is committed to supporting these changes, it still faces limitations and relies on allocations from the Education Department to support the school,' he said during the school's 'Teacher's Day' celebration at a hotel here on Friday. Lau added that the official theme for the national 2025 Teacher's Day celebration, 'Guru Pemacu Reformasi Pendidikan' (Teachers Driving Educational Reform), reflected the evolving role of teachers in leading innovation and student-centred learning in today's fast-changing education landscape. 'Teachers are key drivers of this change, guiding students to meet the demands of the digital era. 'With the support of the community, and the dedication of our staff and students, I believe our school will continue to grow, keep pace with the times, and contribute meaningfully to education reform. 'These reforms also bring challenges, from adopting new tools to addressing students' needs – all of which require strong support and an enabling environment.' Lau also pointed out that although SK Bandaran Sibu No 2 might not be comparable with other larger schools here in terms of facilities, it would be up to the teachers and headmaster to 'turn weaknesses into strength'. Lau also expressed hope that the school would win more awards in curriculum and co-curricular activities in time to come, and urged teachers to find opportunities for students who may not excel academically but possess other talents. Meanwhile, the headmaster Vong Kiong Ming stated that the Ministry of Education had allocated RM450,000 for the school's upgrading works, particularly those on maintenance of the administrative block. . STEM SK Bandaran Sibu No 2 TVET Vincent Lau
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ACR Scales Securely Through M&As with Ontinue's AI-Powered MXDR
Five Years of Partnership: How Ontinue's Microsoft Expertise Helped ACR Accelerate Integration and Reduce Risk REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ontinue, a leading provider of AI-powered managed extended detection and response (MXDR) services and winner of the 2023 Microsoft Security Services Innovator of the Year award, today announced it remains the MXDR provider of choice for ACR. As ACR accelerates its aggressive growth strategy—completing 10 acquisitions since 2016, the company has leaned on strategic technology partners to ensure its operations remain secure, agile, and efficient. Central to this approach is Ontinue supporting ACR's 24/7 managed security operations to help the organization scale confidently. ACR has been an Ontinue customer for 5 years—a testament to the consistent value and high level of service the team at Ontinue delivers. With a product portfolio that spans more than 6,000 items for the food service and hospitality industries, ACR depends on a reliable and secure supply chain. As the pace of mergers and acquisitions accelerates, integrating new companies with different systems and risk profiles has become increasingly complex. In response, ACR has elevated cybersecurity as a core business enabler—embedding it across M&A, supply chain resilience, and digital innovation. This enterprise-wide focus is led strategically by Thai Vong, the company's top technology executive, who serves as Vice President of Technology and Acting CIO, overseeing ACR's full technology portfolio—spanning cybersecurity, architecture, data and analytics, application delivery, and enterprise support functions. "Ontinue has helped us build a secure foundation that protects our environment around the clock," said Vong. "Their team feels like an extension of ours—proactive, responsive, and deeply embedded in our operations. That trust allows us to shift focus to broader business priorities like integrating acquisitions, optimizing the supply chain operations, and driving growth, without constantly worrying about what might be lurking in our environment." "The ability to scale without sacrificing security has become a competitive advantage for us," said Tom Boyles Jr., Director of Infrastructure and Security at ACR. "Ontinue's 24/7 monitoring, AI-driven capabilities, and deep integration with Microsoft tools like Defender and Sentinel ensure our environments remain secure—while freeing up our internal team to focus on high-impact projects. ACR values innovation in its partners, and Ontinue's use of AI is a hallmark of the kind of forward-thinking approach we look for. Their AI-powered capabilities, combined with Thai's strategic leadership, helped us take our cybersecurity program to the next level." Future-Ready Security Investment: Managed SecOps Built to Scale Ontinue's ION MXDR service sets a new standard for MDR by going further to investigate and resolve every incident without customer involvement. This empowers CISOs and their teams to shift focus from day-to-day security tasks to more strategic initiatives. Ontinue has pioneered several key innovations to reimagine how managed security is delivered – combining collaboration, intelligent automation, AI and human expertise. Ontinue launched the industry's first Microsoft Teams-based collaboration model that enables real-time, direct engagement between customers and the Ontinue Cyber Defense Center for faster communication and decision-making during incident management. Smart Response further tailors the service to each organization by automating customized rules of engagement and escalation paths that allow the ION MXDR service to seamlessly integrate into a customer's desired operational model. Additionally, to accelerate investigations at scale, Ontinue introduced autonomous investigations powered by agentic AI. Every incident escalated to the Ontinue Cyber Defense Center is automatically investigated by ION IQ, the AI at the core of the ION MXDR service, before being passed to a human for further analysis. For each incident ION IQ uses agentic AI to gather contextual information from disparate systems, form a hypothesis, develop an action plan for testing the hypothesis, conduct the investigation, and provide a detailed summary for review by one of Ontinue's Cyber Defenders – all in a matter of minutes. Together, these capabilities have led to a 50% decrease in the meantime to investigate (MTTI) incidents in ACR's environment, despite the fact that the ACR environment has grown larger and more complex over time. "Our mission is to deliver nonstop security that enables our customers to stay focused on what matters most to their business," said Geoff Haydon, CEO at Ontinue. "As attack surfaces and new threats emerge faster than ever before, CISOs and their teams face mounting pressure. From the beginning, Ontinue has always viewed AI — especially GenAI and agentic AI — as a critical technology, a force multiplier for overcoming scale and speed limitations that legacy MDRs simply can't address. For the first time ever, we are able to leverage human reasoning and problem solving at machine speed and scale. We're incredibly proud to be a trusted partner to ACR as they scale their business through rapid growth." By selecting Ontinue, ACR also found a partner to improve its security posture and reduce enterprise risk. Ontinue's proprietary Security Posture Improvement Framework has helped ACR improve their Microsoft Secure Score (a common metric for measuring security posture health) to 68, 70% higher than the industry average. As part of the ION MXDR service, the ACR team works with their designated Cyber Advisor to identify, prioritize, and implement tactics and controls that systematically reduce the attack surface, even while the ACR environment continues to grow with each new acquisition. ACR is now better equipped to integrate newly acquired companies swiftly and safely, often within a two-month window. "As we integrate acquisitions and expand our digital landscape," added Vong, "we've prioritized building a unified security architecture that doesn't just protect but adapts in real time. Ontinue's Managed SOC services have allowed us to extend Microsoft Defender and Sentinel across our hybrid infrastructure—giving us centralized visibility, standardized controls, and streamlined incident response across every business unit. That consistency is critical when onboarding new companies, especially at the pace we're growing." "With the addition of a dedicated cybersecurity analyst, we accelerated the implementation of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, improved our CIS benchmarks, and began our journey into NIST's AI Risk Management Framework—all while strengthening enterprise risk and business continuity planning," said Tom Boyles Jr., Director of Infrastructure and Security at ACR. "It reflects the shift we've made from reacting to threats to systematically building maturity across our security program." Rather than building an in-house security operations center (SOC), ACR leverages Ontinue's 24/7 SOC to deliver around-the-clock coverage while minimizing internal staff burnout. Ontinue's team acts as an extension of ACR's IT organization, helping them operationalize their Microsoft Defender and Sentinel solutions and maximize the return on these investments. As a result, ACR can scale its operations—both organically and through acquisition—without needing to scale its security team or implement additional tools at the same pace. Key Results of Partnership between ACR and Ontinue 30 hours of analyst time saved in the last 90 days, freeing up ACR's internal talent to focus on high-impact, enterprise-level initiatives rather than day-to-day security tasks. 50% reduction in mean time to investigation (MTTI), significantly accelerating threat detection and response. Increased Microsoft Secure Score to 68 (from 53 since November 2024), which is 70% above the industry average. 28% improvement in Microsoft Secure Score (from 53 to 68) since November 2024, reflecting stronger configuration hygiene and overall security posture. Zero security breaches in 2024, maintaining industry-best standards for proactive threat prevention. 5-year partnership milestone, underscoring the sustained value and trust ACR places in Ontinue's managed security services Innovation & Collaboration Builds Trust The partnership with Ontinue extends beyond technology. Embedded collaboration through Microsoft Teams enables seamless communication during incident response. Ontinue's high-touch approach fosters transparency, trust, and faster decision-making across both organizations. This close working relationship has also strengthened ACR's broader enterprise risk management and cybersecurity framework, supporting continuous improvement and resilience. "Cybersecurity is no longer just about defense, it's about enabling the business to move faster with confidence," said Thai Vong, Vice President of Technology and Acting CIO. "As we continue to scale through acquisitions and digital transformation, having a partner like Ontinue, who understands our pace, our architecture, and our priorities, has been invaluable. Their seamless integration with our Microsoft ecosystem and real-time responsiveness through Teams allow us to navigate complexity without slowing down. Together, we've strengthened our risk posture while creating space for continuous improvement and innovation." As ACR continues to evolve and expand, its partnership with Ontinue remains a critical enabler—ensuring every new acquisition, system upgrade, or operational change is underpinned by modern, resilient cybersecurity. While ACR accelerates its digital transformation and navigates an increasingly AI-driven threat landscape, the company remains focused on building a cybersecurity program that is both scalable and deeply integrated. In today's environment, adapting in real time—without slowing business momentum—is essential. "At ACR, cybersecurity is part of our business model, not just a defense mechanism," said Vong. "Modern cybersecurity is not a bolt-on. It's embedded in how we operate and grow. It's the foundation for every digital move we make, whether we're onboarding a new business, launching a new platform, or protecting the trust our customers place in us. Ontinue's approach gives us the clarity and assurance that our environment remains protected." Vong's leadership continues to define how ACR embeds cybersecurity into the fabric of its operation, aligning innovation, trust, and resilience at scale. For more information on how Ontinue helps organizations like ACR protect and scale their operations, visit About Ontinue: Nonstop SecOps As a leading provider of AI-powered managed extended detection and response (MXDR) service, Ontinue is on a mission to be the most trusted security partner that empowers customers to embrace and accelerate digital transformation by using AI to operate more at scale, and with less risk. The combination of AI and human expertise is essential for delivering effective managed security that is tailored to a customer's unique environment, operational constraints, and risks. Our MXDR service combines powerful proprietary AI with the industry's first collaboration with Microsoft Teams to continuously build a deep understanding of our customers' environments, informing how we prevent, detect, and respond to threats. Our Microsoft expertise allows customers to achieve these outcomes with the Microsoft Security tools they already own. The result is highly localized managed protection that empowers security teams to be faster, smarter, and more cost efficient than ever before. Continuous protection. AI-powered Nonstop SecOps. That's Ontinue. Ontinue PR Contacts: Alison Raymondaraymond@ ICR LuminaNathaniel HawthorneOntinue@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Ontinue
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Miami Herald
13-05-2025
- Miami Herald
Injured man left in police holding cell falls into coma and dies, PA lawsuit says
The family of a Pennsylvania man has filed a lawsuit saying he died after police failed to provide medical care while he was in their custody. The federal lawsuit was filed May 5 against West Mifflin and several officers. 'No comment on behalf of the West Mifflin Borough including the police chief, borough manager, mayor and board members,' Phil DiLucente, co-solicitor of West Mifflin Borough, told McClatchy News in an email. According to the civil complaint, in the early morning of July 5, Timothy Duc Tho Vong was physically assaulted, then left at a gas station in West Mifflin. Just before 3 a.m., Vong went to some nearby homes to try and find medical help, the lawsuit said. That's when police were called. Vong had 'visible injuries to his face, head, and neck including lacerations, bleeding, and bruising' and despite him being 'injured, disoriented, delirious, and seeking medical attention,' he was arrested, the complaint said. Vong was not given any medical attention, but instead was taken to a holding cell at the police station. Between 3:17 and 5:17 a.m., officers watched Vong call for help, crawl around the cell floor injured, unable to stand and kicking and flinching in pain, the lawsuit said. Vong was in the cell until 12:17 p.m., and at no time did an officer provide an in-person check on him, according to the complaint. After nine hours in the holding cell, Vong was found unconscious on the floor. Still, officers did not try to perform CPR, provide first aid or check for a pulse, the lawsuit said. This inaction allowed Vong to fall into a coma, according to the complaint. He died three days later. 'Timothy was known for his hard work ethic and his infectious sense of humor. He touched the lives of many with his kindness and generosity,' a GoFundMe page said. Vong was a father of two and 'was fiercely protective of his loved ones,' his obituary said. He was generous, selfless and would help anyone, the site said. An autopsy report said Vong died from 'untreated trauma to the face and head causing abrasions, lacerations, swelling, bruising, and hemorrhaging to those areas.' The lawsuit said officers did not comply with holding cell policies, refused Vong's requests for medical care and 'arrested him and then took away and denied his ability to obtain medical attention while under their custody.' The lawsuit is asking for an undetermined amount in damages. No arrests have been made in connection to the assault on Vong, his family's attorney, Alec Wright, told West Mifflin is about a 10-mile drive southeast from Pittsburgh.
Mint
29-04-2025
- Mint
No degree, and over ₹8 crore earnings? The shocking remote work fraud that a 40-year-old man pulled off
A 40-year-old man from Maryland, US has pleaded guilty to pulling off a jaw-dropping wire fraud that fooled over 13 US companies, and even the US government agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The twist? Not only did the man, Minh Phoung Ngoc Vong land the jobs without any formal degree, and worked remotely, he earned nearly $970,000 (~ ₹ 8.26 crore) over a period of three years, by making others do the work. Vong now faces up to 20 years of prison. The FBI Baltimore Field Office is investigating the case, stated the US Department of Justice's press release. The Maryland man teamed up with unknown individuals—one of whom went by the name John Doe, also known as William James, a foreign national based in Shenyang, China—to trick US companies into hiring him as a remote software developer. Going by court documents, Minh Phoung Ngoc Vong's journey as a 'software professional' started when a fake resume—listing a college degree Vong never earned and 16 years of made-up software experience—landed him a job at a Virginia tech firm. That firm had a government contract with the FAA, giving Vong access to sensitive national defense software. Vong got through security checks using his real US passport and Maryland driver's license. The Virginia-based company provided Vong with a laptop to use in connection with his employment, and the FAA authorised Vong to receive a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card to access government facilities and systems. Vong installed remote access software on the laptop to facilitate Doe's access to it and conceal his location in China. In his statements, Vong admitted he had scammed more than just one company. Between 2021 and 2024, he and his co-conspirators duped at least 13 US firms, raking in over $970,000 (~ ₹ 8.26 crore) for software work that was secretly done by overseas operatives, including one in China.
Mint
29-04-2025
- Mint
No degree, and over ₹8 crore earnings? The shocking remote work fraud that a 40-year-old man pulled off
A 40-year-old man from Maryland, US has pleaded guilty to pulling off a jaw-dropping wire fraud that fooled over 13 US companies, and even the US government agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The twist? Not only did the man, Minh Phoung Ngoc Vong land the jobs without any formal degree, and worked remotely, he earned nearly $970,000 (~ ₹ 8.26 crore) over a period of three years, by making others do the work. Vong now faces up to 20 years of prison. The FBI Baltimore Field Office is investigating the case, stated the US Department of Justice's press release. The Maryland man teamed up with unknown individuals—one of whom went by the name John Doe, also known as William James, a foreign national based in Shenyang, China—to trick US companies into hiring him as a remote software developer. Going by court documents, Minh Phoung Ngoc Vong's journey as a 'software professional' started when a fake résumé—listing a college degree Vong never earned and 16 years of made-up software experience—landed him a job at a Virginia tech firm. That firm had a government contract with the FAA, giving Vong access to sensitive national defense software. Vong got through security checks using his real US passport and Maryland driver's license. The Virginia-based company provided Vong with a laptop to use in connection with his employment, and the FAA authorized Vong to receive a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card to access government facilities and systems. Vong installed remote access software on the laptop to facilitate Doe's access to it and conceal his location in China. In his statements, Vong admitted he had scammed more than just one company. Between 2021 and 2024, he and his co-conspirators duped at least 13 US firms—raking in over $970,000 (~ ₹ 8.26 crore) for software work that was secretly done by overseas operatives, including one in China. Some of the companies that Vong had worked for, had contracts with US government agencies, who unknowingly granted Vong's co-conspirators access to sensitive US government systems, which they accessed from China. First Published: 29 Apr 2025, 09:43 PM IST
