Malaysia faces thousands of monthly cyberattack attempts, says Anwar
The prime minister said he had discussed strengthening the Armed Forces’ cybersecurity unit with its senior leadership.
Malaysia faces thousands of attempted cyberattacks each month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said on Nov 14, calling for security forces to respond more quickly to technology-driven threats.
Anwar said he had met senior Malaysian Armed Forces leaders to discuss bolstering its cybersecurity unit. Cyberattacks, intrusions into systems and terrorist cell activity were now among the most critical security challenges, extending the country’s defence concerns beyond conventional military threats, he said.
He was responding to a participant at a “Temu Anwar” session for National Service Training Programme (PLKN 3.0) participants, held at the 515 Territorial Army Regiment Camp in Kuala Lumpur.
Defence planning and equipment purchases must keep pace with technologies such as drones while retaining conventional capabilities, Anwar said. He added that the government had raised funding for the Ministry of Defence to a record level, placing it among the biggest ministry allocations alongside education and health.
Anwar, who is also finance minister, said the funding was needed to replace ageing ships, aircraft and armoured vehicles. He said the government also wanted procurement to avoid a repeat of problems involving agents and high commissions that had left multimillion-ringgit ship projects abandoned.
