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Friday 30 December 2011

M'sia needs to produce own cyber security software, says expert

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia needs to produce its own cyber information security software as depending on foreign software may risk information leaks and intelligence breaches, said a software expert.
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Computer Science and Information Technology Faculty dean Prof Dr Ramlan Mahmod said infiltration could happen covertly as currently there was a lack of understanding on source code logic streams used by foreign software.
"At the moment, there is no software capable of checking the source code of software to ensure the software used is confirmed safe.
"For the realisation of this information technology, the country needs to acquire 'technical knowhow' in information security and expertise in various fields such as computer science, mathematics and engineering," he told Bernama.
He said to acquire the expertise, the nation needed to carry out the foundation work such as training more experts in information technology and by bringing in more external technologies into the country.
Dr Ramlan said information leaks could happen in two situations - when the data is in transmission and hacking of existing data in storage.
"To prevent hackers from attacking data in transmission or unauthorised access to data storage, the information could be encrypted or hidden.
"This is the basis of information and software development important to ensure our cyber defence," he said.
He said the government needed to play a major role to set up a strong system of cyber defence as it needed financial commitment, expertise, legislation and continuous monitoring.
"Cyber security is the same as national security involving many operational aspects such as prevention, defence, detecting, intelligence and attack.
"It also needs sophiscated technical knowledge in information security and continuous upgrading of capability considering hackers are also improving their attacks," he said. BERNAMA
Sources : The Star

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