.jpg)
In recent years, it can be seen that there have been many incidents of data intrusion in Malaysia, including hacker attacks on small and large local companies as well as various government bodies.
Yesterday, Gobind Singh Deo, the Digital Minister has announced that a total of 646 cases of data intrusion have been reported throughout 2023, which is an increase of approximately 1192 percent compared to only 50 cases reported in 2022.
He answered a question from Kota Melaka Member of Parliament Khoo Poay Tiong in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. Gobind said that these hacking attacks and incidents of data intrusion will lead to more serious issues where these stolen data can be used to carry out more severe social engineering attacks against not only company employees but ordinary people in general.
Gobind also shared about data breach incidents that occurred throughout 2024, and said that as of September 2024, a total of 427 incidents had been reported to the government.
To address this issue, the Digital Ministry has collaborated with the Pre-emptive Technology & Services Division at CyberSecurity Malaysia to check for any suspicious activity in local networks. A cyber threat monitoring system has also been established to ensure that government and citizen data are not sold on dark websites.
As a preventive measure, the Digital Ministry has also collected information about data intrusions and digital security vulnerabilities that occur in government ministries and agencies. They will also introduce guidelines and provide training to civil servants to ensure that they do not become vectors of these cyber attacks.