DSA: It's time to equip military front with sufficient cyber warfare capabilities

Malaysia CyberSecurity chairman Gen (Rtd) Tan Sri Mohd Azumi Mohamed said cyber crimes are fast becoming a serious global issue due to its low operation cost, fast, and cross-border in nature.

"From the disruptions of website defacements to denial of internet services, they are all low costs, easy and effective than the conventional way," he said when delivering his welcoming speech at a round table discussion titled Cyber Warfare: What Does It Look Like and What To Expect in 2022 and Beyond, here, today.

The roundtable talk was held on the sidelines of the Defence Services Asia (DSA) exhibition and National Security Conference Asia (NATSEC) 2022, here.

Apart from that, Mohd Azumi said cyber crimes had slowly becoming the 'crime-of-choice' as it was non-tangible but yet effective.

"When physical damage can be inflicted with no war officially in place, why would you deploy an army when you can spread propaganda or dispatch internal internet trolls to achieve subtle but still tangible gains?, he said.

Meanwhile another speaker Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) vice-chancellor, Lt Gen Datuk Hasagaya Abdullah called for a collective efforts by all countries to tackle the issue.

"We agreed that cyber warfare is indeed a serious problem today and its frequency and intensity will only grow in the course of 2022 and beyond, with no country being spared of its menace in the economic, defence and military as well as security domains.

"For this reason, we as a nation must develop all the strategies and initiatives to further prepare and strengthen the entire cyber security machinery of the country, both governmental and non-governmental, to face these challenges," he said.