Malaysia looking to improving cybersecurity as cybercrime rises
Malaysia looking to improving cybersecurity as cybercrime rises
Malaysia has experienced a huge rise in online crime, with cases of cyberbullying, fraud, phishing and email scams almost doubling, the latest figures show.
Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin said that in 2019 around 13,000 cybercrime cases were reported involving total losses of RM539 million ($128 million), with the number rising to almost 17,000 cases in 2020.
In 2021, the number of cases rose to more than 20,000, with losses worth RM560 million ($133 million), while as of February 2022 the number of cases reported was 3,273 involving losses of RM114 million ($27 million).
“Many of our current and emerging threats involve new technologies that were unheard of even a decade ago. At the same time, today’s national security landscape is changing at a faster pace than ever before,” said Hamzah.
“As such, keeping up with these changes is one of our region’s biggest defence and national security challenges,” he said at the launch of Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2022 and National Security (NATSEC) Asia 2022 exhibitions in Kuala Lumpur.
At the same event, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the Asean region currently faced a more diverse range of serious threats than at any point in history.
He said: “As countries all over the world continue to focus on recovering from the devastating impact that Covid-19 has brought, we in the security business must remain ever vigilant in facing the threats to our countries and region.
“Traditional and non-traditional threats, in various shapes and forms must be effectively addressed before it escalates to pose clear, present and even catastrophic danger to countries all over the world,” he said.
World events pushing up inflation
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the recent coronavirus lockdowns in China have both fuelled inflation in Malaysia, AmBank Research has found, with both events further disrupting global supply chains.
In a new report it said: “With higher raw material prices, including oil and gas prices, as well as freight charges, it is only a matter of time before we witness transfer pricing from producers to consumers. The question is how much of the transfer pricing will take place.”
AmBank Research said that many businesses have not fully recovered from the impact of the pandemic, and it expects the cost of living to accelerate much faster than the pace of rising inflation. “Overall inflation for 2022 is projected to be around 2.8% to 3%, and the bulk of upward pressure would come from the cost segment as opposed to consumer demand.”
