Malaysia Should Embrace IT Security On Commercial Perspectives

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 (Bernama) -- The public and private sectors have been urged to beef up efforts in information technology (IT) security on commercial perspectives. A United States-based IT security consultant said all quarters should take up the matter seriously, in tandem with Prime Minister Najib Razak's emphasis on looking at IT security in a really advanced manner. "The prime minister said he wants to create an IT security business hotspot in South East Asia, namely in Malaysia, and he would like to see businesses start thinking about IT security from the commercial perspectives," said Condition Zebra Inc chief executive officer Drew Williams. He was speaking to Bernama at the International Conference on IT Security and Risk Management here Tuesday. Earlier, Najib had advised the people to keep up with current developments and be alert to the latest cyber scams. "It's worthwhile to follow current developments related to these cyber scams. Be cautious, especially with banking and credit card details," he said on Twitter on Aug 17. Williams said Malaysia should be listening to their own business leaders who knew everything about the problems of security, managing security in this country and how to deal within the culture. United Nations Panelist and Senior Technology strategist from RSA CtO office, Jim Manico, said Malaysia should grab the IT security as a new economy era in business and develop good security methodology. "If you build security early, it costs you much less. If you try to add security after you run a system for some time, it is difficult and costly," said Manico, who is also White Hat Security vice-president (security architecture). -- BERNAMA