Imminent threats to our digital culture

Approximately five hours – or about 20 per cent of a full day – that is how much time an average person spends online either on mobile or computers.

We may not realise it, but most of our waking hours are spent online, statistics by GlobalWebIndex showed. From the minute we wake up to notifications from half a dozen social medias, to the tired hours at the end of the day; streaming one last episode of an online TV show, we have without doubt incorporated the digital culture into our daily lives.

With so much of our personal and social activities as well as working and retail transactions revolving around the digital world, a huge amount of personal data are constantly being transferred and stored online.

And with that much important data, comes the question of keeping that data safe from prying eyes.

This year, data breach and cyber threats, in general, have become major concerns for governments, consumers, and conglomerates worldwide, particularly given the massive, wide reaching attacks seen within the first half of this year. Just last week, still fresh in the wake of the WannaCry ransomware attack earlier this year, the digital world was once again shaken by another global ransomware outbreak.

The latest attack, which IT experts have deemed as a powerful cyberattack called ‘Petrwrap’; a modified version of Petya ransomware, started last Tuesday and similar to the WannaCry ransomware, the virus demanded money from victims in exchange for the return of their data.

In a news report by AFP, Sean Sullivan, a researcher at the Finnish cybersecurity group FSecure, said the attack “seems to be done by professional criminals”, with money as the motivation.

He was reported as saying that unlike the recent WannaCry attack, the new attack had sophisticated elements that could make it easier to rapidly infect many more systems.

Experts also said this latest attack could heighten fears that companies might be more vulnerable to cyberattacks than suspected, potentially putting personal data at risk.

The fight against cyber attacks has sparked exponential growth in global protection spending, with the cyber security market estimated at US$120 billion this year, more than 30 times its size just over a decade ago.

But even that massive figure looks set to be dwarfed within a few years, experts said, after ransomware attacks crippled computers worldwide in the past week.

That is not the end of it. Beyond ransomwares, as frequently as every other week, we would receive news of multinational companies’ systems being hacked, cyber espionages targeting government systems, global banks and financial institutions being under cyber threats, and more.

Cyber criminals are now constantly evolving to find ways to disrupt and manipulate our growing culture of going digital.

For Malaysia, while on average, a Malaysian would spend about two to three hours online daily, this number could rise as the government is on a mission to boost the development of the nation’s digital landscape to push the country into a high-income producing nation.

Furthermore, the government is also looking to expand the digital economy in Malaysia. With the establishment of various tech hubs, agreements with major international companies and more, Malaysia’s government aims to increase the contribution of the digital economy to its gross domestic product (GDP).

According to Treasury Secretary-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, the contribution of the digital economy to Malaysia’s GDP, at about 17 per cent currently, is expected to exceed the projected target of 20 per cent earlier than 2020.

“Seeing the rate at which Digital Economy Corp Sdn Bhd (MDEC) is bringing in the investments, we can achieve it (target of 20 per cent to GDP) earlier than 2020,” he told reporters after officiating the Malaysia Digital Hub and Malaysia Tech Entrepreneur Programme in Kuala Lumpur.

Similarly, in Sarawak, the state government is also aiming to build the state’s digital platform to push the state to the frontier of the digital revolution that is sweeping across the nation.

Hence, it becomes more vital for the Malaysian government as well as Sarawak’s government, businesses and consumers to be highly aware of the current cyber threats trends to better protect the nation, the state and themselves from being victims to these cyber threats.

“With Malaysia’s emphasis to continue growing and developing the Digital Economy, there needs to be an increased awareness on cybersecurity to improve Malaysia’s digital threat landscape.

“Businesses and consumers need to educate themselves about security risks and best online practices,” global IT expert Symantec suggested.

BizHive Weekly takes a look at the cyber threat landscape.

“Seeing the rate at which Digital Economy Corp Sdn Bhd (MDEC) is bringing in the investments, we can achieve it (target of 20 per cent to GDP) earlier than 2020.” Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, Treasury SecretaryGeneral