Malaysians worry over ID fraud
4th October 2006 (The Star)
By CHRISTY LEE S.W.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians are most concerned about identity and credit card fraud, the recent Unisys Security Index revealed.

The survey reported that 77% of Malaysians worried about having their personal information stolen or misused while 76% were afraid that their credit or debit card details might fall into the wrong hands.

Other top concerns include the outbreak of serious epidemics in Malaysia (73%) and the country's national security in relation to war and terrorism (70%).

Malaysians, however, are less concerned about their ability to meet financial obligations (48%), e-mail security and viruses (44%) and online banking and shopping (40%).

Conducted by Synovate on behalf of Unisys, the survey is meant to provide a snapshot of the nation's sense of security in four areas - national, financial, Internet and personal.

For this survey, a total of 914 respondents aged 18-64 from both urban and rural areas were interviewed.

The study also found that people above 50 years were less concerned about Internet security issues than those aged 18-24.

"The younger people are probably more concerned with Internet security as they are more likely to use it for communication and transactions in their everyday lives," Unisys Asia South vice-president and general manager Scott Whyman reasoned.

Since it was the first time the survey was performed here, Unisys Malaysia country manager Lalit Gupta said the company could not draw absolute conclusions from its results just yet.

"However, this benchmark results show that Malaysians are indeed concerned about security and that there is an appetite for discussion on security issues," he said.

Unisys plans to conduct the survey three times a year, which will enable it to analyse security trends with more comparative data.

"This will also provide the Government and businesses with feedback, so they have a better idea of whether they should address some of these security issues to reduce concern," Lalit added.

In addition, Unisys also hopes to encourage collaboration between citizens, businesses and the Government to improve current security systems, he said.

Whyman gave an example of the Unisys registered traveller's programme in the United States, which the company has developed for people who frequently travel in and out of the country.

"We help these travellers who register with us to get approval from the Government, so the Government knows they are not a threat and then they can travel with increased convenience and speed," he explained.

"This shows that when the element of trust is extended between these three key parties it creates a situation of convenience while maintaining security," said Whyman.

"The landscape of security has been changing drastically over the past couple of years." Lalit said. "We hope that by doing this, we can contribute positively to raise awareness and engage these three parties in an ongoing dialogue on security issues."