KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — Based on the latest cyber security incidents reported by CyberSecurity Malaysia’s Cyber999 Cyber Incident Response Center, 3,837 incidents were recorded from January to August this year.
Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching said the top four incidents being fraud (2,400), intrusion (396), content related (378), and malicious code (359).
These incidents showed the public awareness level among Malaysia’s Internet users needs improvement, as people are still falling victim to cyber threats.
“Armed with the latest technology, cybercriminals now use AI (artificial intelligence) tools to hack passwords, leak information, and scam users, causing data breaches and financial losses,” she said.
Teo spoke in her keynote address at the 10th National ICT Security Discourse CyberSAFE Challenge Trophy 2023 or NICTSeD 2023 grand final held at Auditorium Perdana Angkasapuri, Media City, earlier today.
In Malaysia’s shift towards an information-centric society, prioritising digital safety in the education system was crucial due to the potential risks and dangers, like scams and identity theft, posed by the Internet.
She said discourse like the NICTSeD 2023 cultivates critical thinking, knowledge acquisition, creativity and innovation among students which encompasses cyber security awareness, data privacy, information protection and digital risk management.
Building cyber resilience involves each member of the community practising holistic cyber hygiene, from implementing best cyber security practices to continuous learning, collaboration, and information sharing.
“As for the government and cyber security industry, we need to constantly invest in research and development, incident response planning, regulatory compliance, and international cooperation,” Teo added.
Meanwhile, Board of Directors Cybersecurity Malaysia chairman General (Rtd) Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin, in his speech, said the rapid evolution of AI especially Generative AI, brought significant advancements across key industries and sectors and ironically the same technology that powers our daily lives can now be weaponised by cybercriminals.
“Generative AI uses machine learning to generate human-like text, video, audio, and images. While these tools have numerous beneficial applications and malicious actors are also exploiting them to carry out more effective sophisticated social engineering and cyber-attacks,” he said.
NICTSeD, which was launched in 2013 started off as a national ICT security debate competition on cybersecurity for secondary schools nationwide.
Zulkifeli said for the past decade, NICTSeD has been well participated by 2,264 school children from 693 schools nationwide and 133 schools participated in NICTSeD 2023 of which three teams emerged as grand finalists today.
Sekolah Seri Puteri was announced as the champion of NICTSeD 2023 and won RM5,000 followed by SMK Aminuddin Baki, Selangor as the first runner-up and took home RM3,500, while SMK Kota Kemuning was announced as the second runner-up.
NICTSeD was organised by CyberSecurity Malaysia and the Educational Resources and Technology Division (BSTP) Ministry of Education with partners, namely the Department of Broadcasting, which hosted the venue as well as Institut Penyiaran dan Penerangan Tun Abdul Razak for hosting the accommodation for the participants.
— Bernama
