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Please Review And Amend Existing Cyberlaws In Malaysia To Deal With Hackers And Perpetrators Of Viruses Statement by Dr Tan Seng Giaw, DAP National Vice-Chairman and MP for Kepong on the detention of a couple in the Philippines as suspects of ILOVEYOU bug on 9 May 2000 | |||||||
| Last week, the love bug destroyed millions of computer files, causing tens of billions of US dollars worth of damage world wide. Yesterday, a couple in the philippines was detained for questioning by Interpol and Philippine police. Could they be the culprits creating the virus that replicated itself? Do the Philippines have effective cyberlaws against them? Hackers are breaking into computer systems in many countries especially in America. According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, survey, 40 per cent of the 428 corporate, university and government sites that responded, reported at least one unauthorized use of their computers within the last 12 months, with some institutions reporting as many as 1,000 attacks in the period. Malaysia has not carried out this type of survey on computer break-ins and other cybercrimes. As the number of computer users increases, it ought to do similar surveys regularly, in order to detect the incidence and the seriousness of attacks on computers by hackers. Granted there are tens of millions of Internet users in America and Europe. Hence, more computer intrusions are expected. Nevertheless, as the number of computer and Internet users increases in Malaysia, more computer crimes will occur. Even then, the 770,000 Internet users must be protected. Malaysia has enacted cyberlaws such as Digital Signature Act and Telemedicine Act. But, these laws are scarcely enforced. The Government | |
managed to detain one or two Internet rumour mongers during the height of the economic crisis two years ago. New hackers have yet to be discovered in the country. As the cyberworld advances, we must review and amend the existing cyberlaws. Otherwise, cybercrimes will go out of hand. Can the existing laws be enforced on cybercriminals such as the love bug perpetrators? Do victims of computer break-ins and other cybercrimes report the incidence to the police? The Criminal Investigattion Unit, that must be upgraded, ought to look into this. I have been told that a small number of Malaysians lead the world in cloning credit cards and other modern devices including banking teller machines. The police may be able to verify this. It is likely that a few may go for hacking and producing viruses. As Malaysians go for electronic, e's, and knowledge, k's, things, there will be more computer and Internet users. In the future, we may not be able to match China, India and Japan. But, Asia, as a whole, will have a long way to go compared to America. Malaysia must try to achieve a respectable level in the e's and k's world. We lag far behind. We have yet to notice any significant leap in the various programmes including Multimedia Super Corridor. Besides the lack of police reports on computer break-ins, we have yet to prove that we are able to grapple with hackers such as the couple apprenhended in the Philippines.
Dr Tan Seng Giaw | |||||
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