Cybersecurity literacy advocated for students and teachers

CYBERSECURITY literacy should be improved not only for school students but for teachers as well, to protect them from any potential attack or intrusion.

Malaysia Cyber Consumer Association president Siraj Jalil said a lack of knowledge was the main reason that someone would fall victim to phishing or cyber attacks such as ransomware.

“When we surf the Internet, there is always a chance that a user will come across a site that may contain a phishing link, which when the user clicks on will expose them to malware that can damage or gain protected data.

“So we need to stress the importance of cyber protection early in a student’s education so that schoolchildren and even teachers do not click on any suspicious link sent to them either via email, WhatsApp or any other form of social media,” he said when contacted by StarMetro.

He said phishing usually happened because of the Internet user’s mistake and not from any intrusion or attack from hackers.

“As such, teachers need to constantly update themselves on some of the types of cyber attacks, aside from reminding their students to protect themselves when using the Internet, especially now that online learning is widespread,” he added.

Meanwhile, Universiti Kebang-saan Malaysia (UKM) cybersecurity researcher Tajul Azhar Mohd Tajul Ariffin said ransomware attacks were motivated by the increase in cryptocurrency value and usage globally.

“The increase in cryptocurrency usage (Bitcoin, Ethereum) around the globe is the motivation behind ransomware attacks, he said, adding that the Covid-19 pandemic also created more opportunities for such attacks as almost everyone used online communication for work, education and social interaction.

According to Tajul Azhar, a total of RM18.3mil loss to cyber crime was recorded from January to September last year.

He said the best form of protection for Internet users was awareness of the system’s weaknesses.

“Always make sure every software or application used is always updated, and avoid using any pirated software.

“These attacks can also occur when using email or any form of online messaging that may carry links to suspicious file downloads when one clicks on it,” he cautioned.