The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) investigated 154 Internet and new media abuse cases from January to September this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told Wednesday.

The Communications and Multimedia Ministry said all the cases were investigated under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

It also said that, at the same time, MCMC empowered consumers and the local communities through workshops, special briefings, camps and awareness campaigns.

"A total of 450 advocacy programmes were implemented during the period to reach 680,000 participants," it said in a written reply in the House.

The ministry was replying to a question from Datuk Abdul Rahman Mohamad (BN-Lipis) who had wanted to know the measures taken by the government to control cyber threats by various domestic and foreign parties in hurling slander against the government.

The ministry said that during the period, MCMC handled 3,868 cyber security incidents, a large portion of which involved web defacement and malware attacks. -- Bernama