Fear of cyber security

ACCORDING to the MCMC, the main cause for the lack of online financial activities among local internet users is due to concern regarding change and cyber security issues.

“Internet users were prudent over online financial activities as the adoption of e-banking and online shopping was stationary for the past few years.

“This was due to security issues and their hesitance to learn complex systems,” the MCMC reported revealed.

This comes as no surprise, seeing as how the recent number of consumer data leaks and hacks from corporations around the world has increased rapidly in recent years as hackers become more and more sophisticated in their craft.

Combine that with fear mongering from news and social media outlets and sceptics around the world, it is of little surprise that we would have second doubts whenever we are asked to upload our financial or personal details online, even if it’s from a trusted and well-known entity.

However going off this, people and businesses around the world would all be equally affected by this so it still doesn’t explain the disparity between us and the rest of the developed world.

Why are we just as willing to use the net for social media and educations purposes like everyone else but not as willing to use it for our commercial purposes?

One possible answer is the perceived lack of regulation over ecommerce and e-business activities from authorities.

Because of this, consumers and merchants are hesitant to commit to engaging in online financial and business activities as they might feel that there not enough mechanisms in place to protect themselves.

The reality however, is that Malaysia does boast a rather comprehensive suite of ecommerce and e-business laws which are based on a combination of the Electronic Commerce Act 2006, the Electronic Government Activities Act 2007, the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 and a few amendments and added regulations into the Consumer Protection Act 1999 that focuses specifically on transactions made electronically.

And while these laws seem to have some effect on reducing rates of cyber-crime rates as reported by the Malaysia Computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT), perhaps it is still not enough to combat the ever evolving art of cybercrime activities as these activities remain rampant around the world.

Though it sounds like depressing scenario, it’s the same for every other country and all we can really do is move forward and adapt to our environment, because it would far costlier for us to get left behind as the economies of other countries advance.

For Sarawak’s economy which seems have already fallen behind on times however, Wong notes that trailing behind is also positive as we as State can easily catch up by learning form the failure and successes of others.

“This (cyber security and crime issue) is a worldwide problem, it can happen anywhere and a good thing is that more developed countries have already attempted instituting rules and regulations to control them.

“And so our process of getting our system regularised and protected will much easier as it would be easier to identify the key needs that we need and come out with a set of rules and regulations to effectively govern our e-commerce activities and or any digital transactions.”