Malaysia Ranks Among Top Countries In Southeast Asia For Cybersecurity - Kaspersky

From Muhammad Faiz Baharin

BANGKOK, Oct 10 (Bernama) -- Kaspersky, the global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, commends Malaysia for making notable progress in beefing up its cybersecurity measures against the rising threats, both online and offline.

Kaspersky general manager for Southeast Asia, Yeo Siang Tiong, said Malaysia has emerged as one of the leaders in the cybersecurity regulatory framework within Southeast Asia.

“Malaysia has been catching up with cybersecurity very quickly, with the two leading agencies NACSA (National Cyber Security Agency) and CSM (CyberSecurity Malaysia), along with the new Cybersecurity Act 2024 (came into force) in August, I think these are commendable steps moving in the right direction.

“Malaysia has now a law in place, along with policies, the Act, and empowered agencies responsible for cybersecurity, to enforce and push things to be done. So, I would say Malaysia is leading compared to some Southeast Asia countries,” he told Bernama, today.

Yeo said this when met on the sidelines of the three-day Kaspersky Industrial Cybersecurity Conference APAC 2024, which began yesterday.

Nevertheless, according to him, Malaysia needs to focus more on supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which appear to be lacking in cybersecurity measures.

“The mechanisms are in place; the CSM Helpline (for SMEs) has existed for many years, and is one of the earliest initiatives in the region, but the sad reality is that cybersecurity may not be a priority for these businesses, (likely) due to budget constraints. So they require more help.

“Perhaps we should focus more on providing cybersecurity training for them (SMEs), and there is a need for more educational providers. Providing training is on the supply side, while the demand side - specifically the SMEs - also needs to foster awareness of the importance and necessity of cybersecurity protection,” he explained.

Earlier in his opening speech, Yeo emphasised that comprehensive and holistic cybersecurity strategies and solutions are essential for establishing reliable protection, for both Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT).

The Kaspersky Industrial Cybersecurity Conference APAC 2024 brought together hundreds of leading information security experts, researchers, industrial automation suppliers, system integrators, and customers from more than 20 countries, to discuss current threats and advanced methods of cyber protection.

-- BERNAMA