Internet crimes? Cyber999 to your rescue

Cyber threats are becoming increasingly worrying with the rise in organised crimes on the Internet, said Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Fadillah Yusof.

Most of the cases reported involved system intrusion, fraud and forgery, vulnerability probing, harassment, malicious intent and others, he said.

Therefore, Fadillah said, CyberSecurity Malaysia was formed to provide awareness to the public about the threats posed on the Internet so that the public would be informed and able to act on the proper course of action.

“Sometimes, people do not know where to report when they face a problem of cybercrime,” he told reporters yesterday during a public talk organised by CyberSecurity Malaysia at the State Library here.

“That’s the reason why CyberSecurity provides the service of Cyber999, which is a Help Centre on the Internet for the public to report cyber crime issues,” he pointed out.

According to him, Malaysia recorded an increase of 145 per cent of various cybercrimes for the first half of the year as compared to the corresponding period last year.

“As of January to June this year, total incidents reported is 1,585 cases which is an increase of 145 per cent from the same period last year. The difference is 937 cases,” the Petra Jaya MP said.
He added that total cases for the same period last year stood at 648 cases.

According to him, the public can report any cyber crime by sending an electronic mail to cyber999@cybersecurity.my for the agency to take action.

The role of CyberSecurity Malaysia, which is an agency under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, is aimed at studying the loopholes and from there devise better protection on the information that the public can receive over the Internet.

This, Fadillah said, would enable the public to have a proper channel to report to in the event that they are struck with a cyber threat on the Internet.

On the talk, he said it was organised for students and parents to make them aware of the existence of cybercrime and be prepared if they were faced with one.

About 300 participants from 15 secondary schools, mostly from Petra Jaya here, attended the talk.