THE cyber security awareness master plan is expected to be completed next year, National Security Council (MKN) director-general Rodzi Md Saad said.

He said MKN and the National Cyber ​​Security Agency (Nacsa) are still gathering views and facts to produce the guidelines for all quarters to improve cyber security in the country.

“We will expedite this matter because this (cyber security) agenda is currently the main priority of the country,” he told reporters after officiating at the Malaysian ICT Security Officers Convention 2022 in Putrajaya today.

Rodzi said Nacsa has found that most cyber incidents were caused by a lack of awareness at the user level, especially using weak passwords that can be hacked easily.

He said the government views seriously the issue of cyber threats in the country, especially concerning information leakage, cybercrimes, technology vulnerability and hacktivism, as it threatens the well-being of individuals, the stability of the country and businesses’ critical infrastructure, damages the reputation of organisations and causes monetary losses.

“Cyber threats that are increasing and complex are capable of paralysing government services. This issue is severe and should be addressed by all quarters,” he said.

“This involves the awareness and responsibility of all levels of society and organisations to defend and protect the country from cyber threats and crimes to create a safe cyber environment.” 

On the alleged theft of civil servants’ data from the ePenyata Gaji system, Rodzi said an investigation is being carried out by Nacsa and teams from various other agencies.

The media previously reported that a group of “grey hat” hackers claimed that they had hacked into the ePenyata Gaji system to show that there are loopholes in the system.

On Sunday, Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa said the government had found a lead regarding the alleged data theft, and a statement will be issued by Nacsa soon.

Meanwhile, Nacsa chief executive officer Rahamzan Hashim said the agency is in the midst of improving the cyber security guidelines to adapt to the latest risks and technological developments.

He said there was an increase in cyber security incidents, with 5,575 cases reported last year, compared with 4,194 in 2020. A total of 4,682 cases have been reported so far this year. – Bernama, September 20, 2022.