KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — While Malaysia tries to contain the spread of Covid-19 during the movement control order, the country is also facing an increase in cyber threats. According to internal documents made available to us, the government ministries have been warned about several cybersecurity issues by the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa) and the National Cyber Coordination and Command Centre (NC4).

During the MCO period, it was reported that the NC4 had detected several threats which include advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks as well as hacking of government and private websites. There are also online phishing incidents that use emails and fake applications.

These could be attempts by scammers that want to take advantage of those applying for Bantuan Prihatin Nasional cash aid and i-Lestari withdrawal facility by EPF. Some of the discovered apps were designed to fool victims into providing their bank account details and TAC codes.

The NC4 has urged the public not to access or install any suspicious apps that are sent from unknown sources, especially via SMS and instant messaging. They advise everyone to download apps only from official "App Stores” such as Google Play Store, Apple AppStore, Huawei AppGallery and Samsung Galaxy Store.

On top of that, the ministries were also warned about Zoom, a video application that has gained popularity recently. The cybersecurity agencies warned that the free video call app has security vulnerabilities that will allow attackers to access your private conversations.

It was recently reported that Zoom doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption and it would also allow malicious parties to access your Windows login credentials. The founder and CEO of the app have recently apologised for the security blunder and have promised to put more emphasis on privacy and security. For the time being, it is probably best to stick to Skype, Microsoft Teams or other established video conferencing applications. — SoyaCincau