Ransomware cyber-attacks to become more aggressive
Ransomware is here to stay. It seems that they are driven by profit. They are very organised and they operate from countries where there is no law to prevent them from such criminal cyber activity. Sri Utami Dewi Kasman, Powerbloc Generation Sdn Bhd general manager
KUALA LUMPUR: Ransomware cyber-attacks are not going to stop anytime soon, and will only become more aggressive, said Sri Utami Dewi Kasman, general manager of Powerbloc Generation Sdn Bhd, a local information and communication technology (ICT) security solutions provider.
“Ransomware is here to stay. It seems that they are driven by profit. They are very organised and they operate from countries where there is no law to prevent them from such criminal cyber activity,” she told Bernama in an interview recently.
Ransomware is a malware which would gain access to the computer system through a legitimate channel, such as when a user clicks or downloads any link via a website or email.
“Infection can be prevented via an awareness campaign to discourage people from opening suspicious email and from clicking or downloading unknown links and files,” she said, citing the WannaCry ransomware attack which had affected 300,000 computers worldwide by exploiting the vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows system.
“However, here, we have government bodies and cyber secuSAMSUNG rity agencies working together to fight against the cyber-attack,” she said.
Sri Utami Dewi said the lack of awareness on cyber threat among computer users, outdated ICT security solutions and lack of cyber security experts were among the factors which contributed to cyber-attack cases in the country.
“We don’t have enough graduates with cyber security skills,” she said.
She said the Malaysian cybersecurity was also weakened by the lack of enforcement, funding and feedback from victims who cared more about their reputation.
“One of the reasons why the government cannot take enough action is because the victims did not come forward to report about cyber-attacks at their organisation,” she said, adding that there were about 2,500 cyber-attack cases reported within the first four months of this year in Malaysia.
Sri Utami Dewi advised Malaysian organisations to use a comprehensive cyber-security solution, which not only detects malicious files but also any anomalies in the organisation’s Internet pattern.
Powerbloc is the local distributor of various international ICT security solutions, such as F-Secure, Cososys, Accellion and iBoss.
Its clients include government ministries and agencies, universities and corporate organisations such as the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Home Affairs, Employees Provident Fund, Sirim Bhd, International Islamic University, Bank Muamalat and Takaful Malaysia.