KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia is facing thousands of cyberattack attempts every month, which requires a quicker, more robust level of preparedness from security forces in confronting new-millennium defence threats.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that the country’s security landscape is no longer focused solely on conventional military threats.
Cyberattacks, system intrusions and terrorist cell movements have become the most critical challenges today.
“We face thousands of attack attempts in a single month. Therefore, we must strengthen our defence, and last week I met with the top leadership of the armed forces to discuss strengthening the cybersecurity unit,” he said.
His comments came while answering a participant’s question during the “Temu Anwar” session with the National Young Heroes of the National Service Training Programme at the 515 Territorial Army Regiment Camp on Nov 14.
To illustrate the seriousness of the threat, Anwar referred to a recent airport operational disruption incident in the United States, which stemmed from telecommunications system issues in the major superpower.
“Think about how the United States, with all its sophistication, could not identify the cause, but there was an attack on the telecommunications system that caused it to crash. We are still waiting for the final report,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister emphasised that the pattern of national defence and asset procurement must rapidly adapt…
