Saifuddin warns that cybercrime was increasing as more users go online during pandemic, with 4,615 cases reported to CSM so far this year. — ART CHEN/The Star
Cybercrime has been rife during the pandemic, with nearly 5,000 cases reported to the national cybersecurity agency, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
He revealed that between January and May 2021, 4,615 cybersecurity incidents were reported to the CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM) Cyber999 Help Centre.
Of those, the main types of cases reported were fraud (3,299); intrusion (765) and malicious code (256).
“In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the movement control order (MCO), Internet usage has increased drastically in the country during these challenging times. As such, we are now more exposed to various cyberthreats and attacks,” he said, in a press release.
He urged Internet users to stay alert and knowledgeable about proper security practices, while also being responsible and polite while online.
The ministry is working with CSM to monitor the nation’s cyber space and provide technical assistance to improve the network security of public and private sectors and even individual users.
To this end, alerts and advisories are also periodically issued to remind system managers and Internet users about best practices to combat cyber attacks and threats.
This information could also be found on the Malaysia Computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT) website, while other queries on cybersecurity could be directed to CMS by calling 1-300-88-2999 or emailing cyber999@cybersecurity.my.
