Muhyiddin Yassin said with more Malaysians going online for e-commerce and virtual classes, cyber criminals are exploiting the situation.
PETALING JAYA: The number of cyber incidents and cyber crimes reported in Malaysia is expected to increase this year based on the number of cases reported in the first quarter, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said today.
Stating that 3,787 cyber incidents were reported in 2019, he said such incidents increased by 10% to 4,194 last year, and stood at 1,300 in the first quarter of 2021.
According to Muhyiddin, cyber crimes have also shown an upward trend with 4,327 cases reported in the first quarter of this year alone.
“Statistics by the police show that in 2019, the number of cyber crimes reported was 11,875 cases, with RM498 million in terms of losses,” he said in his speech at the opening of the Cyber Defence & Security Exhibition and Conference 2021 (CYDES 2021) today.
“Last year, the number of cases increased to 14,229, with total losses of RM413 million. In the first quarter of this year, the number of cases reported was 4,327 and the losses amounted to RM77 million.”
Muhyiddin said that while the amount of losses associated with cyber crimes has been declining over the past three years, he said that the number of cases is on the rise.
“This proves that cyber crimes are a problem that warrants serious attention.”
He noted that an increasing number of Malaysians are involved in e-commerce and online learning, both of which have opened a floodgate of threats, risks and vulnerabilities which have been exploited by cyber criminals.
Among the various types of cyber crimes include hacking, identity fraud and data breaches. Cyber incidents refer to unauthorised access, or attempted access, to an IT system.