More information security experts needed
10 FEB 2010 (The Star)

KUALA LUMPUR: Although Internet banking cybercrimes are still at a manageable level, the country still needs to produce more information security experts, according to CyberSecurity Malaysia.

"I do not want to claim we have a lack of experts or that our experts are enough to solve problems but we need to collaborate to produce more experts," said its chief executive officer Lt Col (Rtd) Husin Jazri.

He said with the number of Internet users rising and the trend moving into advanced levels, such as mobile banking, the country needs to be prepared in all areas, particularly with information security experts.

Currently, Malaysia has about 16 million Internet users, he told reporters after delivering the opening speech at the CyberSecurity RSA Seminar 2010 here.

On online banking, Husin said it was the users rather than financial institutions that were most affected by cybercrimes.

"I am not worried about the banks. They have a lot of money to secure their systems. They can have the world’s best consultants to look into their security systems," he said.

"It’s the human part that gets affected, not the technological part. The users become the victims. When the users communicate with the banks, they are exposed to social engineering, online scams and other threats."

According to Husin, online users should be aware that banks never do online maintenance as far as Internet banking is concerned for their customers.

"We need to educate users on this fact which can contribute towards curbing the problem (of social engineering)," he said.

From the total of 3,564 cases reported last year, 1,022 were fraud and forgery cases, which accounted for one-third of the reports, Husin said.

"We should share know-how and identify the necessary strategy to address threats such as the increasing risk of security breaches, identity theft, phishing and cyberterrorism," he said. - Bernama