Share less, Net users told as criminals prowl on Facebook
The Malays Mail (26 August 2013)

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 - With cybercrime on the rise, Malaysians should be more cautious about sharing intimate details of their lives on the Internet, an online security agency warned today.

CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab said cyber criminals are targeting humans instead of machines as people are the weakest link in cyber security.

"When you have a problem, face it, don't Facebook it," he said at the briefing on the cyber security scenario in Malaysia for the first half of the year.

Out of the 5,592 cyber security incidents reported, fraud cases were the most reported.

This was followed by intrusion, spam, malicious codes, cyber harassment, content related, intrusion attempts, denial of service and vulnerability reports.

Amirudin also said advanced technical measures such as three-tier security verifications made it harder to penetrate machines and networks.

"Therefore, we advise the public to be wary of ‘social engineering', a tactic used by criminals to befriend their victims before deceiving them," he warned.

The agency, under the purview of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), predicted that the number of cyber security incidents will increase this year compared to previous years.

"The more we are connected, the more connectivity, the more we are exposed to all these [attacks]," Amirudin said.

Citing a study by Microsoft, he said 50 per cent of personal computers (PCs) in Malaysia are infected by malware, which are software intended to damage or take over partial control of a user's computer system.

"If you look at it, one of the possible root causes are... pirated software.

"If the people are cautious, they use the Internet ethically, they use properly, all these things will reduce drastically," he told reporters after the briefing.

"Regardless of the technical matters, even if you have the best firewall, but if humans are the one that open up that possibility, you can't do much," he said.

CyberSecurity Malaysia does not have enforcement powers, Amirudin said, adding that the agency works closely with others that do, namely the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and the police, to reduce the number of breaches.

He said his agency was working to educate and raise awareness among Internet users that they were not totally bereft of help if they found themselves the victim of a cyber crime.

"If you really have problems, despite trying your best to protect and secure yourself, still, you've been infected with malware or whatever, you still have a place to go and that is Cyber999," he said, referring to the agency's help line.