Awareness of cyber threats need to start from the top

KUCHING: For organisations to be protected against the growing cyber threat, it takes more than just building a firewall, but awareness at top management levels.

Cyber threat solutions provider BAE Systems highlighted this recently, and pointed out that there are cyber risk assessment tools available that could help Malaysian organisations assess their level of preparedness and understand their areas of weakness.

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence Cyber Defence Asia Pacific & Japan vice president Gundeep Singh Sandhu, said: “In our research we found that 95 per cent of respondents believe their organisation has the right security controls in place.

“Yet more than half (51 per cent) of those surveyed said they had experienced a cyber attack in the past year, with the average cost being at least RM1,712,360.

“Almost every day we learn about new, sophisticated cyber

In our research we found that 95 per cent of respondents believe their organisation has the right security controls in place. Gundeep Singh Sandhu, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence Cyber Defence Asia Pacific & Japan vice president

attacks that have wreaked havoc on targeted organisations. For organisations to be protected against the growing cyber threat, it takes more than just building a firewall, but awareness at top management levels.

“As such, we encourage all organisations to take this simple test to assess the strengths and weaknesses in their cyber security and understand where they might be most vulnerable to attack.

“At the same time, businesses must ensure they have the right people, processes and tools in place so when a major incident occurs, they have the ability to understand, contain and remediate. If action isn’t taken immediately, the price of cyber ignorance – for the company and the wider economy – can be severe.”

BAE Systems introduced its new online cyber risk assessment tool, allowing Malaysian organisations to assess their cybersecurity preparedness and understand areas where they may be vulnerable to attack.

The tool, which measures an organisation’s cyber security preparedness across 10 key elements of ICT security, including incident response and information management, was developed in response to global research indicating the potential weaknesses in businesses’ cyber security measures, including in Malaysia.