Banding together against cybercrime
The Star (20 May 2011)

PETALING JAYA: Concerned over rising threats online' Cybersecurity Malaysia is taking a proactive step by collaborating with Fortinet Inc' a global network-security expert' to curb cybercriminal activities.

Under the strategic collaboration' Cybersecurity Malaysia via its Malaysian Computer Emergency and Response Team' and Fortinet's regional R&D and Technical Support Centre will share information and technical know-how.

Cybersecurity Malaysia will gain an even better view of emerging cyberthreats by working with Fortinet' said Adli Abdul Wahid' vice-president of the Malaysian agency.

"The tie-up further strengthens our technical capabilities to identify and respond to cyberattacks more quickly'" he said at a media briefing after both parties inked a memorandum-of-understanding on the collaboration.

Last year' the national cybersecurity specialist centre' which operates under the Ministry of Science' Technology and Innovation' received a total of 8'090 cybersecurity incident reports - a significant leap from the 3'564 received the previous year.

And' it said' the trend is showing that the number of cyberthreats will increase further.

In the first quarter of this year' 3'563 cybersecurity incidents have already been reported' and of those' 1'273 were related to fraud. These include 400 phishing attacks that targeted Malaysian banks.

Adli said the popularity of social networks' the availability of Internet-enabled mobile devices' and the rise in e-commerce are fuelling the increase in threats to enterprise security.

Fortinet's facility in Kuala Lumpur is one of its three main technical centres worldwide and provides round-the-clock threat monitoring' as well as Pan-Asia regional support. The other two centres are in the United States and France.

Cybersecurity Malaysia and Fortinet will also work to develop local IT security expertise' as well as offer real-time online threat intelligence services to the public and private sectors.

The partnership will also address the shortage of cybersecurity specialists in the country' through joint seminars and discussions that will involve management teams in companies and other organisations.