Educational institutions must provide practical, hands-on learning experiences to better prepare students for the onslaught of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven scams.
Stressing the need to move beyond traditional awareness talks, Prof Dr Nor Badrul Anuar Juma’at from the Universiti Malaya Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, said institutions should teach scam prevention through realistic scenarios, not just theory.
“Students should practise identifying fake job offers, scholarship scams, phishing pages, investment fraud, mule account recruitment (where students are paid to lend their bank accounts), fake parcel messages, and AI-generated impersonation.
“Short simulations, classroom case studies and campus phishing exercises allow students to experience how scams operate before encountering real attacks,” he said, adding that these lessons should be integrated in digital literacy programmes, student orientations and relevant academic courses.
Urging institutions to establish clear verification procedures, and to encourage students to check official websites, contact verified numbers instead of responding to unexpected messages, avoid suspicious links and report scams promptly, he said varsities and colleges must maintain clear official communication channels on matters such as fees, scholarships, internships, examinations and student records to reduce opportunities for scammers.
“Students have to familiarise themselves with reporting channels, including the National Scam Response Centre 997 hotline, as well as official police and cybersecurity reporting platforms.
“Awareness must be repeated regularly because scam methods change quickly, especially with AI-generated messages, voices and videos,” he said.
Agreeing, CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM) acting chief executive officer Roshdi Ahmad said parents, schools and universities all have important roles to play in building cyber resilience among youth.
He said parents should create a “safe-to-fail” environment so children feel comfortable reporting suspicious links or mistakes without fear of losing access to their devices.
“Schools should integrate practical digital citizenship into existing curricula to teach source verification and critical thinking from an early age, while universities and colleges should make cyber hygiene training compulsory during orientation and ensure fraudulent task-based job advertisements do not target students.
“If there is one cyber safety habit every young Malaysian should adopt, it is to ‘Pause, Verify, Then Proceed’.
“The golden rule is to always perform an ‘out-of-band verification’ before moving money or sharing credentials,” he said.
Rather than focusing solely on identifying whether a message, voice or video is genuine, it is better to carefully evaluate the request being made, Roshdi advised.
“Be careful of messages that create a sense of urgency, promise guaranteed financial returns, request upfront payments, ask for one-time passwords (OTPs) or banking credentials, or direct users to download applications from unofficial sources.
“Most importantly, always verify any request through a separate, official communication channel before taking action.”
Scammers, he explained, rely heavily on creating emotional urgency, whether through panic, excitement or fear of missing out.
“The moment a young person adopts the non-negotiable habit of stepping back to verify, 90% of social engineering scams fail immediately,” he said, adding that CSM provides cybersecurity education, training and professional certification programmes through its CyberGuru platform and other national capacity-building initiatives.
Its programmes, Roshdi shared, are designed to cater to learners at different levels, from students and educators to working professionals and organisations, covering areas such as cybersecurity fundamentals, data protection, AI cybersecurity and other specialised technical domains.
“By combining professional training with recognised certification pathways, we aim to equip Malaysians with the knowledge, skills and competencies required to thrive in an increasingly digital environment.
“We also actively collaborate with universities, polytechnics, technical and vocational education and training institutions and schools to strengthen cybersecurity education through initiatives such as curriculum alignment, Global ACE Certification, industry engagement and internship opportunities,” he said.
