KUALA LUMPUR: The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is able to improve the strategy to fight cybercrime in the country since both sectors have their own advantages and skills, said Malaysian Cyber Consumer Association (MCCA) president Siraj Jalil.
He said the two sectors could combine resources and skills to create a more integrated and efficient approach to fighting cybercrime.
“The private sector, especially technology companies, often have the latest tools and technology to monitor and detect cyber threats. Therefore through PPP, the government can take advantage of the technology to continuously monitor the network.
“By getting inputs from the private sector, the government can ensure that the approach and technology used is the latest and relevant to current cyber threats,“ he told Bernama.
He said the government can reduce the cost of technology development in the fight against cybercrime, which is costly, while the private sector can highlight the knowledge, expertise of the workforce and ideas that can be combined with the government, especially the enforcement authorities.
Siraj said the government has implemented several initiatives in detecting and preventing cyber-attacks, including the establishment of the f cyber security agency (NACSA), Cybersecurity Malaysia (CSM) and the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC 997).
This also includes enforcing specific laws and formulation of the Cyber Security Act to address cybercrime, he added.
Despite the rapid development of technology and tactics by cybercriminals, he said, challenges still exist.
“Therefore, it is important for the government to continue to renew its strategy and work with various parties, including the private sector to ensure effective cyber security,“ he said.
He said through the public-private partnership, the public sector can work with the private sector to provide education and cyber awareness programmes to enhance the general public’s knowledge about cybercrime and how to protect themselves.
“For example, the Whoscal application works with PDRM to address the problem of calls from unknown numbers by sharing preliminary information of data that has been confirmed to be ‘scammers’,“ he added.
Through the collaboration, Siraj proposed the establishment of the Cyber Emergency Response Centre which operates round the clock to receive reports related to cyber threats or attacks and provide immediate response.
He also recommended collaboration with educational institutions and private companies to provide cyber training and certification programmes to increase the number of cyber security experts, in addition to holding regular workshops and seminars on the latest cyber threats and how to deal with them.
According to Siraj, joint studies and research between the public and private sectors can also be implemented to understand and develop solutions to new and increasingly complex cyber threats.
“Community awareness is also an important factor in dealing with cybercrime. Through awareness programmes, the community can better understand and protect themselves from cyber threats,” he said.
Towards this end, he suggested the government consider initiatives or encourage the private sector to go to educational institutions to provide consumerism and cyber security education,
Last Wednesday, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the government is committed to forging more partnerships across the public and private sectors to combat cybercrimes.
He said the PPP form a synergistic and neutral platform, where cyber security industry players and government can share cyber breach data more quickly and regularly thus empowering a swifter response to cyber-attacks. – Bernama