Communications Ministry moves to combat cybercrime

CYBERJAYA: The Communications and Multimedia Ministry (KKMM) and the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) are considering setting up a working committee to expedite the sharing of information and feedback to the public on elements of cybercrime.

Minister Gobind Singh Deo said the committee, comprising representatives of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), financial institutions, telcos and the police, will be formed at the end of this month.

“This move is to combat cybercrime which has developed into a serious threat to the people, involving losses amounting to hundreds of millions of ringgit,” he said at a press conference on cooperation between the ministry and CCID here yesterday.

Also present at the press conference were the ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Mohd Ali Mohamad Nor; MCMC chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak and CCID director Datuk Seri Amar Singh Ishar Singh.

Gobind Singh said a request by the CCID director for telcos to upgrade their systems was also considered to help the police detect the Internet Protocol (IP) address used by the scammers or cybercriminals.

Gobind Singh said about 700,000 prepaid telephone numbers are suspect because of a conflict in the registration details following the implementation of data validation using the records of the National Registration Department.