F-Secure: Malaysia well equipped to combat cyber threats

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is well guarded with cyber security technologies to combat any malware and hacking threats as compared with many other countries, an effort the government needs to continuously work on.

Finland-based cyber security and privacy company, F-Secure Corporation chief research officer Mikko Hypponen said every country was exposed to such threats, nevertheless, Malaysia currently has a thriving cyber security business.

Despite all the necessary system in place, there had been plenty of hacking incidences and malware reports lodged in Malaysia, which showed that perfect cyber security did not exist, he said.

“Hence, persistent efforts are pivotal to keep this in check, and more work needs to be done. We see different kind of attacks targeting Malaysian companies, but I do believe it’s (combating the threats is also) getting better.

I think we have great hope for the future,” he said.

He told Bernama this on the sidelines of the 19th International Anti-virus Asia Researchers Conference here yesterday.

Hypponen said to continuously safeguard Malaysia’s cyber world, as well as attract the best cyber security business, the government needed to be at the forefront of spurring the information and technology industry to a higher level.

“As far as Malaysia is concern, the government is doing just that, be it educating the next generation or providing a conducive business enviroment for cyber security-related companies to have their presence here,” he added.

F-Secure is a global cyber security company with offices in 28 countries worldwide and it has been in Malaysia for over 10 years.

Earlier in a press conference, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation vice-president Norhizam Abdul Kadir said the government and agencies had worked closely to ensure that security threats were being managed properly especially in critical sectors such as financial and telecommunications services.

On 2017 being declared as the Digital Economy Year as announced in the 2017 Budget, Norhizam said that MDEC would continue to aggressively attract investments from both local and foreign investors.

“There will be various initiatives to be taken next year to further increase the importance of digital economy, which contributed about 17.8% to Malaysia’s gross domestic product last year.”

For the past 20 years, the sector has attracted RM283bil in investment. – Bernama