KUCHING: More strategic alliances between the public and private sector are needed to address online child safety because cyber crimes nowadays are also targeted at children.
Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof said as more people have internet access and using it to better their lives, the greater exposure they had to various forms of cyber crimes.
“Many of these crimes are targeted at our children. As of June this year, CyberSecurity Malaysia Cyber999) received a total of 5,581 complaints nationwide, out of which 11 involved those below 18 years old.
For improved safety: (From third right) Fadillah, Education Department assistant director Abdul Wahed Rosli, Wee and other VIP guests launching the Digi Cyber Safe at SMK Petra Jaya in Kuching.
“As more children spend more time online these days, they are at risk. I hope telecommunication companies will assist the Government to address the importance of online child safety as a way to reduce cyber crimes,” he said.
He cited the alleged rape of a 13-year-old school girl in Sibu by a 29-year-old married man, whom she befriended through Facebook as cyber crime.
Fadillah said most of the cyber crime cases received by Cyber999 involved intrusion, content- related, cyber harassment, denial of service, spam, fraud, intrusion attempt, malicious codes and vulnerability report.
Compared to the corresponding period last year, Cyber999 received 7,404 of such cases, he said, adding that the high number of cyber crimes were quite worrying.
CyberSecurity Malaysia vice president of outreach Mustaffa Ahmad said social media users should refrain from sharing too much personal information as online criminals might use that information to enter into their internet banking, email and Facebook accounts.
He said social media users, particularly Facebook, should be aware of such dangers because online criminals could figure out passwords by looking at important dates such as birthdays and anniversaries, home addresses and children’s names.
“Nowadays, Facebook users like to share a lot of information including whatever they are doing and where they going.
“And it’s quite common among internet banking users to use their date of birth or children’s and online criminals can summarise password possibilities from the information available in Facebook,” he said.
Earlier, when closing DiGi CyberSAFE Programme at SMK Petra Jaya, Fadillah said 89% of Malaysians were internet users today who had surfed up to 1.3 billion of websites with an average of 1.7 website per day.
He cautioned students to be careful when using the internet for school work and leisure and that there were always online predators.
DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd’s head of Sarawak region Benny Wee said DiGi CyberSAFE Programme was designed to provide students and educators alike with the necessary skills to use the internet responsibly and identify potential online threats.
He said it aimed at raising the awareness on online child safety and equipping students, parents and educators with the right tools to enjoy a secure internet experience.
The DiGi CyberSAFE Programme is held in partnership with Education Ministry, CyberSecurity Malaysia, Childline Malaysia, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and DiGi.