Latest news with #Virage
Straits Times
7 hours ago
- Business
- Straits Times
AI-powered scam simulator: NYP grad turns final-year project into cyber-security solutions business
Mr Rohan Senthil, 20, co-founded his own start-up, Virage Cybersecurity, on Feb 3 this year. He recently graduated with a diploma in cyber security and digital forensics. PHOTO: COURTESY OF NANYANG POLYTECHNIC AI-powered scam simulator: NYP grad turns final-year project into cyber-security solutions business The TL;DR: Having to explain deepfake scams to the elderly as a volunteer inspired Mr Rohan Senthil to create a platform that puts people in realistic scam scenarios, to sharpen awareness. This turned into his final-year project and, now, a budding start-up. ' Hi, this is Daniel calling from the bank. I need to alert you about some suspicious transactions detected in your account.' Those who frequently receive scam calls – particularly from giveaway stilted, unnatural-sounding robocallers – usually hang up instantly. But a convincingly Singaporean accent and conversational tone may lead some to fall for the scam and follow the caller's instructions. Fortunately for those attending workshops or roadshows by Virage, the entire conversation that follows the opening line above is just a simulation. Virage, an AI-powered phishing and vishing simulation platform, is the brainchild of Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) classmates Rohan Senthil, 20, and Xavier Woon, 20. Phishing, typically carried out via e-mails, texts or links, tricks victims into divulging personal information. Vishing, or voice phishing, does the same over phone calls. The duo developed the platform for their final-year project (FYP) in their diploma in cyber-security and digital forensics programme, and almost immediately turned it into a business venture. 'As we were doing the project, we always had the intention to turn it into a company, so we worked at a very quick pace,' said Mr Senthil, who graduated on May 6 with a grade point average of 4. The pair finished their FYP in just a month, by December 2024, and with the help o f business and financial technology student Ezekkious Loo, 21, showcased their platform at various technology-related events in January 2025. They also registered their start-up, Virage Cybersecurity, on Feb 3 this year. Similar to other cyber-security companies in the industry, Virage offers e-mail phishing simulation campaigns to their commercial clients. With a short description of the scam scenario, the artificial intelligence software will generate the e-mail content, which is sent to the employees of their client, to test their company's security readiness. What makes Virage stand out, however, is its use of vishing campaigns. Mr Xavier Woon, co-founder and chief operating officer of Virage, showing a voice scam simulation demonstration to a resident. PHOTO: COURTESY OF ROHAN SENTHIL The concept of a vishing simulation platform was inspired by Mr Senthil's volunteering experience s when conducting classes where seniors could learn about online scams so they can better protect themselves. These were part of the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore's (CSA) Cyber Safe Seniors Programme and the Infocomm Media Development Authority's (IMDA) digital literacy workshops in 202 4. He recalled the confused looks on the elderly residents' faces when he verbally explained advancements in scam techniques, such as deepfakes. 'Sometimes scam-prevention lessons can be a bit dry. Even if I told the elderly to look out for various indicators of scams, they could not picture what I was explaining, so many of them seemed disengaged,' he said. He felt there was a better way of teaching scam prevention, by letting people experience what it was like to be on the receiving end of scam calls. This sparked the idea of using AI to simulate the voices of scam callers, which led to his developing an AI-powered vishing simulation platform. 'When a user responds to the voice of the scam caller in the simulation, their input is sent to the AI model, which generates a realistic reply by predicting the most contextually appropriate response, based on patterns it has learnt from training data,' Mr Senthil explained. The technical process of creating the AI voice simulation was relatively simple, as the team adopted large language models online that were accessible by public users and modified them for better performance, rather than creating their own from scratch, to save time. As few 'Singaporean-sounding' voices were available online for adaptation, Mr Senthil enlisted schoolmates and friends so he could 'create scripts and record (their) voices for hours' to clone their voices into the platform. Mr Rohan Senthil (right) showcasing Virage's voice scam simulator at the New Hope Game Carnival. PHOTO: COURTESY OF ROHAN SENTHIL To mimic the moves of scam callers, Mr Senthil read books on social engineering, such as The Art Of Deception by the late Kevin Mitnick, a world-famous hacker-turned-cyber-security expert. He wanted to understand the tactics scammers use to obtain information, such as invoking a sense of urgency and establishing authority . 'We also referred to the monthly scam bulletins published on the ScamShield website by the Singapore Police Force and the National Crime Prevention Council, which showed monthly scam statistics and increasingly prevalent scams to look out for,' he added. The team also represented NYP in showcasing their platform at AI Festival Asia, a two-day event in January hosted by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Lifelong Learning Institute. A Jan 17 report in The Straits Times that mentioned their start-up caught the interest of a cyber-security company, which became their first commercial client. In Virage's voice scam simulation demo, users will choose a common scam scenario, such as the bank fraud prevention scenario above, before entering a call with an AI-powered 'scam caller'. PHOTO: VIRAGE CYBERSECURITY Corporate clients can subscribe to Virage services that 'test' employees' vulnerability to phone scams. Unsuspecting employees would receive a call from an internet-based phone number, to check if they would unwittingly disclose sensitive information. 'The data from these simulations allows the companies to assess their level of 'human risk',' said Mr Senthil. Such vulnerability assessments could be used by companies to attain certifications under the Cyber Trust mark, a national cyber-security certification offered by CSA. Mr Senthil added: 'The weakest link in any system is humans. Whether it is clicking on one wrong e-mail or picking up a scammer's call, human errors provide the entry points for cyber attacks to happen. This is why education and awareness on scams will always remain important.' Virage team members presenting their voice scam simulation demo to Sengkang GRC MP Jamus Lim at a Sengkang Conversations event. PHOTO: COURTESY OF ROHAN SENTHIL While waiting to enlist for national service, Mr Senthil is working full-time on the start-up, which has expanded to a core team of seven members. Four were his schoolmates from NYP who specialise in various fields like AI, cyber security, information technology and infocomm security, and support the app's front-end and back-end development. Mr Senthil was the vice-president of NYP's technopreneurship club and kick-boxing club, and was also in the information security club. He received the Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science this year for his academic excellence, as well as the Ngee Ann Kongsi Award for All-Round Achievement, for his holistic performance in his studies, leadership and community service. As a Digital for Life partner with IMDA, Virage also organises workshops and participates in roadshows on scam prevention, where people can try the AI vishing simulator and see how they fare under various scam scenarios. The team updates their scam scenario options regularly based on emerging scam trends, such as adding an 'Elections Department voter registration' scenario during the recent general election. About 1,000 people have tried their platform so far. 'They were quite amazed at how realistic the voice is, some people even wondered if it was an actual person calling them,' Mr Senthil said. Correction note: An earlier version of the story said that Virage further recruited four of Mr Senthil's NYP juniors as part of their core team. This has been corrected to four of his NYP schoolmates. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
BBC News
05-03-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Teenager swaps racing games for competing on the track
Jude Peters is about to race a car that can do 160mph even though he has never driven on a 16-year-old, from Malmesbury, Wiltshire, was a sim racer, but has gone from racing in his bedroom to a real endurance racing contract in just two contract with Team Virage in the Ligier European Series will see him compete at famous European circuits, including Le Mans and Silverstone."My dream goal was just to be able to do endurance racing, and now I'm doing that at the most iconic tracks in the world," he said. Jude's rise to professional racing has been two years ago he had never driven a racing car of any kind, nor taken part in competitive karting, which is the usual had been racing for years at home with a basic simulator set up in his bedroom - a racing wheel and some pedals that plug into a how much Jude loved sim racing, his parents booked him onto the simulator experience at the Ginetta Race Cars HQ near was immediately quicker than the factory invited Jude to take part in a competition for its Junior Scholarship, which he won, giving him a partly-funded drive in the Ginetta Junior Championship. The next step, the Ligier European Series, is the first on the endurance racing ladder and Jude's new team, Virage, has won the championship for the last three was at the Paul Ricard circuit last week to test his new car."It's a difficult career to get into and there are so many people that want to," said Jude."For the people that make it, it's a small percentage, but it's a goal I have and I'd like to get to the top."Jude's mum, Kirsty, watched nervously through her fingers as her son competed in the Ginetta series."I was terrified the whole time," she said."Jude has put in a lot of time, a lot of dedication and a lot of hard work, and this hasn't come easy to him."We've become his managers, supporting him in making sure he eats the correct food, making sure he's exercising, booking accommodation, doing the PR."It feels like it can be a full time job."
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Buy This Aston Martin That Hasn't Run In 15 Years Because You're Smarter Than The Last Guy Who Couldn't Get It Running
Everybody knows that British automobile manufacturing was at its height in the early 1990s, with quality control and component manufacturing second to none. So the fact that this 1991 Aston Martin Virage with a broken odometer showing 93,000 miles, currently listed on Bring A Trailer, hasn't been running for 15 years is totally an anomaly. There is really only one reason that a seller would list a car like this with a clean Massachusetts title in non-running condition, and that's because they are a big dummy who doesn't know how to make a simple and easy car like this go vroom vroom. But you do, because you're smarter than them, maybe smarter than everyone. The seller has owned this car for 27 years and claims he only put about 1,000 miles on the car before parking it in their collection for the last decade and a half. It's easy to tell that this was a snow-belt car, because the corrosion on the underside is off-putting, but that doesn't deter you, does it? You're probably looking at this no-reserve auction and thinking you can get yourself a pretty cool daily driver for just a few thousand bucks. What could possibly be the downside? It has a 5.3-liter V8 with a 3-speed automatic behind it. This is basically a Corvette, and those are notoriously easy to work on. You might as well put in your bid now, because this whole thing is basically like taking candy from a baby. This Virage needs an entirely new fuel system because it sat for 15 years with old gasoline in it? Come on, you could do that in your sleep. Read more: These New Cars Just Aren't Worth The Money I don't have to tell you about it, but for the normies here who aren't as well-versed in the Aston Martin lineup, the Virage was Aston's flagship-level V8-powered car from 1989 to 2000, positioned above the later DB7 that had an optional V12, but below the high-performance Vantage variant. The hand-built British luxury machine used high-quality German components, like Audi 200 headlights and Volkswagen Scirocco taillights, for example. Aston Martin contracted American hot-rodders Callaway to design dual-overhead cam cylinder heads for its long-serving dry-sump V8, and in this car the engine gained fuel injection. The engine in this beast produced a healthy 330 horsepower and 364 lb-ft of torque, which would have been quite quick when this car was built if it weren't for the fact that it weighs a tick shy of 4,000 pounds. Period tests claim an 8-second 0-to-60-mph time for the automatic (longer for the manual), and a top speed of just 158 miles per hour. This car was more of a stately cruiser than a rapid missile, but that's exactly what you want. You'll prove them wrong when you get this car tuned up just right and it sets a new world record for speed. I bet it'll even jump a coke can off the line. As I write this the bidding sits at just $5,555 with a full day remaining. Do you think you could get it for under $10,000 and rehab it back to health? Give it a shot, you'll probably come out smelling like roses because of how smart and savvy you are. Only about a thousand of these were made in a decade of production, so it's a rare piece of history! Once you're finished with this simple and easy project car, you will probably be hungry, but too tired to cook. Try 30 to 40 olives. It's an easy weeknight dinner. Eat them directly out of the jar with your fingers. You will certainly not regret eating 30 to 40 olives. Read the original article on Jalopnik.
