KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — Based on the latest cyber security incidents reported by CyberSecurity Malaysia’s Cyber999 Cyber Incident Response Centre, 3,837 incidents were recorded from January to August this year.

Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching said the top four incidents being fraud (2,400), intrusion (396), content related (378) and malicious code (359).

Teo said these incidents showed that the public awareness level in Malaysia internet users needs improvement as people are still falling victims to cyber threats.

"Armed with the latest technology, cybercriminals now use AI (artificial intelligence) tools to hack passwords, leak information, and scam users, causing data breaches and financial losses,” she said in her keynote address at the 10th National ICT Security Discourse CyberSAFE Challenge Trophy 2023 or NICTSeD 2023 grand final held at Auditorium Perdana Angkasapuri, Media City here today.

According to Teo, in Malaysia’s shift towards an information-centric society, priotising digital safety in the education system was crucial due to the potential risks and dangers, like scams and identity theft, posed by the Internet.

She said discourse like the NICTSeD 2023 cultivates critical thinking, knowledge acquisition, creativity and innovation among students which encompasses cyber security awareness, data privacy, information protection and digital risk management.

Teo said building cyber resilience involves each member of the community practicing holistic cyber hygiene, from implementing best cyber security practices to continuous learning, collaboration and information sharing.

"As for the government and cyber security industry, we need to constantly invest in research and development, incident response planning, regulatory compliance, and international cooperation,” she added.

Meanwhile, Board of Directors Cybersecurity Malaysia chairman General (Rtd) Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin in his speech said the rapid evolution of AI especially Generative AI, brought significant advancements across key industries and sectors and ironically the same technology that powers our daily lives can now be weaponized by cyber criminals.

"Generative AI uses machine learning to generate human-like text, video, audio, and images. While these tools have numerous beneficial applications and they are also being exploited by malicious actors to carry out more effective sophisticated social engineering and cyber-attacks,” he said.

Zulkifeli said NICTSeD, which was launched in 2013 started off as a national ICT security debate competition on cybersecurity for secondary schools nationwide.

He said for the past decade, NICTSeD has been well participated by 2,264 school children from 693 schools nationwide and 133 schools participated in NICTSeD 2023 of which three teams emerged as grand finalists today.

Sekolah Seri Puteri was announced as the champion of NICTSeD 2023 and won RM5,000 followed by Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Aminuddin Baki, Selangor as the first runner up and took home RM3,500 while SMK Kota Kemuning was announced as the second runner-up.

NICTSeD was organised by CyberSecurity Malaysia and Educational Resources and Technology Division (BSTP) Ministry of Education with partners namely Department of Broadcasting which hosted the venue as well as Institut Penyiaran dan Penerangan Tun Abdul Razak for hosting the accommodation for the participants. — Bernama