Sharp rise in Malaysian hacking cases

By Firdaous Fadzil

There has been a sharp spike in computer hacking cases detected by CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM) over the past two years, says Malaysia’s Science, Technology and Innovation Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah.

“There were only three cases detected by MyCert in 2014. One involved Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) and two involved private companies,” he said.

“However, the number skyrocketed to a shocking 20 cases involving CNII, 43 private corporations, three higher learning institutions (IPT) and 21 home users in 2015,” he said.

Dr Abu Bakar of Malaysian political party BN-Tangga Batu was answering a question raised by Datuk Nawawi Ahmad, of BN-Langkawi, at the Dewan Rakyat in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday.

He added that in 2016 so far, there had been 23 cases involving CNII, 18 private companies, three IPT’s and six home users.