KUALA LUMPUR: CyberSecurity Malaysia is honoured to be entrusted with the responsibility of safeguarding and accelerating the country's cyber security to greater heights.
Its chief executive officer Datuk Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab said cyber security plays an important role in creating a competitive national development environment, especially in the current era of digital economy.
"However, technology today is also likened to a 'double-edged sword' especially in terms of security, where the misuse of technology by irresponsible parties through cyber platforms has become a medium of behaviour, threats and brings new challenges in the form of cybercrimes and security breaches.
"Based on the cyber security incident statistics gathered through the Cyber999 Assistance Centre (operated by CyberSecurity Malaysia), Malaysia has recorded 9,042 reports of crime crimes, fraud and malicious codes up to October this year.
"Whereas for the same period last year, there were only 8,770, this is an increase of 3.1 per cent," he said.
CyberSecurity Malaysia is the national cyber security specialist and technical agency under the purview of the Communications and Multimedia Ministry. It provides specialised cyber security services such as Cyber Security Emergency Services, Security Quality Management Services, InfoSecurity Professional Development and Outreach, and Cyber Security Strategic Engagement and Research.
Amirudin said the allocation that has been set aside for CyberSecurity Malaysia clearly shows that the government is committed to addressing and preventing cyber crime threats.
"It is timely for us to take the necessary safety measures to ensure that we have a safe and conducive cyber security infrastructure in Malaysia.
He said with the current level of risks, types of threats and the number of cyber-attacks, cyber security approaches need to be addressed holistically between individuals (users), processes and technologies, without creating any risk of cyber attacks.
"Thus, this provision will support efforts and initiatives of the development of cyber security programmes including awareness programs, capacity and technology development as well as infrastructure for the purpose of dealing with threats and cybercrime," he added.