Govt actively addressing cyber threats, crimes — DPM

PUTRAJAYA: The Government through the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM) is actively pursuing various initiatives to address cyber threats and crimes including strengthening cybersecurity infrastructure and regulating the communications and multimedia ecosystem in the country.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said KKMM’s 2019-2023 Strategic Plan was introduced with a focus on strengthening cybersecurity and raising the people’s awareness on digital ethics.

She said KKMM and CyberSecurity Malaysia were also actively implementing various cybersecurity awareness programmes to educate Internet users on the dangers of cyber threats and crimes, including the National Cyber Etiquette Initiative which was being developed.

Speaking at the the launch of the Malaysian edition of the 2020 Safer Internet Day ( SID) programme here yesterday, Dr Wan Azizah said the Cyber Security Modular Professional Certification pilot project was introduced to increase the number of cybersecurity experts of quality in the advent of Industry 4.0.

“With this project, we can somewhat enhance the competency of existing cybersecurity practitioners, nurture new and trusted cybersecurity professionals and enhance the competitiveness of the country’s cybersecurity sector,” she said.

Dr Wan Azizah said the reliance on technology had also led to many new challenges, including cybersecurity.

Most cybercriminals, she said, engaged in unlawful activities through telecommunications networks using computers to prey on victims.

According to her, cyber threats include the spreading of slander, fake news, and religious or racial incitement.

“Today, cybercrime, cyberviolence and cyber-warfare also have a huge impact on the physical world, which could endanger national harmony and security.

“Social media sites have become the platform (of choice) for cybercriminals as they (social media platforms) have no restriction in terms of information sharing, including personal information that allows users to be exposed to various cyber threats such as fraud, cyberbullying, identity theft and cyber attacks,” she said.

According to a Cyber999 statistics report by Malaysian Computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT), 10,722 cybersecurity incidents occurred last year versus 10,699 recorded in 2018.

The top five incidents reported to Cyber999 were cases of fraud, intrusion, malicious code, content related and cyber harassment, she said.

Among well-known cyber scams in Malaysia were loan/ financing offer scams, the Macau scams, love scams and inheritance scams.

“We need to be on the alert with any offer that we receive through email, SMS and so forth which are too good to be true as most likely they are scams,” she said.

On cyber crimes, Dr Wan Azizah said based on statistics released by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department, 11,875 cyber crime investigation papers were opened last year, compared with 10,753 in 2018.

“Total losses incurred through cyber crimes increased by 24.9 per cent to RM497.7 million in 2019, from RM398.6 million the previous year,” she said. — Bernama