Hisham: Cyber attacks a new challenge

KUALA LUMPUR: : Cyber attacks in the 21st century pose a fundamental new challenge to governments, says Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
He said that there is an urgency to manage these cyber attacks as they become more frequent, with new cases occurring all over the world.
“Cyber threats, including cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, and cyber spying are intangible... (there are) no borders and involved unseen enemies,” he said.
Hishammuddin added that these attacks tend to target symbols of national security and data of security value, thus posing a more serious danger than many existing strategic threats.
“All the limitless possibilities that you see on the internet are being challenged by the question of cyber security. The internet has to be protected,” he said.
“This is a game with no rules and what is more frightening is that those responsible for these acts are often difficult to detect,” he said in his keynote address entitled “Emerging Regional Security Threats” at the Putrajaya Forum 2014 at the Putra World Trade Centre here today.
Hishammuddin also said that malicious hackers are developing new ways to compromise (security) systems.
“Online technology evolves so incredibly fast that our society has not been able to keep pace in agreeing on rules to mitigate cyber threats,” he added.