Malaysia sees cybersecurity industry as economic engine

2 November 2010 (InfoSecurity.com)

Malaysia is focusing on the cybersecurity industry as a potential engine for economic growth, according to Datuk Fadillah Yusof, the deputy minister of science, technology, and innovation. The country recently held a cybersecurity conference that set attendance records.

With the rise of digital cities around the world, Malaysia sees an opportunity to provide cybersecurity technologies to these cities, Yusof said.

"We can clearly see the potential for the emergence of numerous digital cities dotting the globe which are interconnected to each other via multiple channels built upon common technology platforms," he said. It is incumbent on Malaysia to provide technologies that secure these cities against threats, he added.

Malaysia itself has 16 million people surfing the internet on a regular basis, and this number is expected to increase as the government funds deployment of broadband networks throughout the country. "As a result, more than one million premises including homes, offices, industrial parks, institutions of higher learning, ports and airports will have access to high-speed broadband by end 2012," Yusof added.

"With the rise of digital cities, it becomes even more crucial for Malaysia to put in place the policies and mechanism to ensure the government, businesses and individuals can continue to play an innovative and creative role in sustaining our digital cities. Thus, cybersecurity has become an important and significant component of national security, public safety and privacy in all domains," he said.

The Cyber Security Malaysia Awards, Conference, and Exhibition, organized by the government agency CyberSecurity Malaysia, was held Oct. 25–29 in the capital of Kuala Lumur. It was the largest cybersecurity conference ever held in Malaysia and brought together cybersecurity experts and companies from around the Southeast Asian region.

In a related announcement, CyberSecurity Malaysia said that the number of reported cyber crimes in Malaysia almost doubled to 5181 this year, compared with 2642 in 2009. "We are still calculating the growth of the Internet base. if the threat percentage is higher than the Internet base, then it is something to be worried about", observed CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive Husin Jazri.