KUALA LUMPUR: The Cabinet has agreed in principle to the drafting of a Cybersecurity Bill to allocate regulatory powers and enforce related laws, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
According to the Defence Minister, the government plans to table it in the Dewan Rakyat before the end of the year.
“If there is time, it will be tabled during the current Parliament session. We still have about 10 (other) Bills to pass and only a few days left (before the meeting ends).
“Nov 27 is the last day we have to pass Budget 2024 and hopefully we can table the Bill this session,” he said in his speech when launching the Capacity Development Programme and Public Dialogue Session on the Cyber Security Bill 2023 here on Friday (Nov 24).
Mohamad was giving the speech on behalf of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was initially slated to launch the event.
He said up to October this year, 2,674 cyber-related incidents were reported to the National Cyber Coordination and Command Centre (NC4).
This includes activities such as ransomware and advanced persistent threats (APT), which he said were a serious matter.
He said the widespread use of digital devices and technology had increased the risk of increasingly dynamic and complex cyber attacks, such as phishing and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
He said the European Commission had reported that 9.75 million DDoS attacks occurred worldwide in 2021 alone.
“Not only that, every 11 seconds, an organisation faces a ransomware attack. This reflects the challenges of today's cyber threats that are increasingly complex and escalating.
“A study by the European Commission stated that 57% of SMEs would go out of business if faced with a cyber attack.
“In Germany, the cost of cyber attacks on businesses in 2020 is estimated at 220 billion Euros.
“Meanwhile, the conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated the effectiveness of cyber attacks in achieving military objectives. In fact, cyberspace is now a potent battlefield, especially in today's era of hybrid warfare," he added.
With that in mind, Mohamad said Putrajaya is committed to increase the number of professionals in the field, as well as build a skilled workforce in the field of cyber security to perfect the national digital ecosystem.
According to him, Malaysia needs at least 25,000 workers in the field by 2025.
“However, at this point, it is estimated that there are only 13,000 in the market," he said.
It is critical for government, higher education institutions (HEIs) and industry players to collaborate to address this shortage, he added.
“Therefore, I welcome the initiative launched today, through strategic collaboration between the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa), HEIs and industry, to improve and accelerate cyber security readiness, capability and efficiency in Malaysia.
“This initiative is supported through scholarship funding worth RM5mil by the European Commission Council (EC-Council) to Nacsa, to help improve the country's cyber security capabilities and effectiveness.
“I was informed that 2,000 Malaysians will benefit from this scholarship through international cyber security courses, as well as the placement of officers and researchers at Nacsa,” he added.
