Spike in cyberstalking cases
16 November 2009 (The Star) KUALA LUMPUR: Cyberstalking or online harassment cases are on the rise in Malaysia, according to CyberSecurity Malaysia. "The number of cyberstalking cases reported until October this year was 151 incidents compared to 72 for the whole of last year," said CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Lt Col (retired) Husin Jazri. "This figure could also be higher because not all harassment cases are reported by the victims," he added. Cyberstalking is when an individual or a group of individuals use the Internet or other electronic channels to stalk someone with malicious intentions. The behaviour of a stalker includes making false accusations, slander, threats and sexual exploitation. Compromising and abusing a victim's e-mail accounts, identity theft, and gathering information about victims for the purpose of harassing are also typical behaviours of a stalker, Husin said. In most cases the stalkers are people known to the victims and these may include the victim's former partners, ex-spouse, colleagues, friends and competitors. Husin said although a big chunk of cybercrimes reported until October were related to system intrusion (1,482 incidents) followed by fraud and forgery (812 incidents), the rise of cyberstalking cases is worrying. "Looking at the current trends, computer security is not just a cyber or technical issue but has become a social issue," he said. "Therefore online citizens should take ownership of their safety and security when they are on the Internet," he added. Other cybercrime statistics reported include malicious code (225 incidents), vulnerability probing i.e. exposing the systems weakness (158 incidents), drones i.e. computers that act like zombies (67 incidents), denial of service (27 incidents) and indecent content (15 incidents). World Computer Security Day In view of the current trends that are taking place here, CyberSecurity Malaysia is organising the World Computer Security Day (WCSD) event on November 30. The WCSD is an annual event that is observed worldwide. It was started in 1988 to help raise awareness of computer related security issues. For this year, the theme is "Computer Security is Everyone's Responsibility." The main aim of the event is to remind people to protect their computers and information. To raise awareness on computer security issues, several events will be held this month and in December. These include Infosecurity.my and First-Technical Colloquium seminars, which are knowledge sharing sessions involving information security professionals. Other events include the launch of CyberSecurity Malaysia's malware centre and the commencement of the first Asean Youth Cyber Volunteers course. The latter is aimed at creating a pool of ICT skilled volunteers via cyber innovation for communities, and bridging the digital divide among young people in lesser-developed nations. CyberSecurity Malaysia is a one-stop reference and specialist centre for cybersecurity and comes under the purview of the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry. ++++ www.computersecurityday.org www.cybersecurity.my
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