Facing The Threat Of Digital Crime, Malaysia Now Strengthens Cyber Army, When Is Indonesia Going To Do The Same?

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, rose to his feet. (photo: between)

JAKARTA – In Malaysia, there have been a large number of cybersecurity breaches and frauds reported to the police resulting in millions of losses.

Now, to protect data, privacy, and keep the digital community safe from new threats, the world of technology in the neighboring country now relies on cyber experts or cybersecurity specialists. They are now called the unsung heroes who are the vanguard of the digital industry in Malaysia.

“We can no longer escape emphasizing cybersecurity elements in every initiative”, Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at the virtual Defense and Cybersecurity Exhibition and Conference 2021

According to a 2021 World Economic Forum (WEF) report, there is a global gap of more than three million cybersecurity workforces, with two million in the APAC region alone.

Cisco, Symantec, Cybersecurity Ventures, ISACA, and Intel have all expressed concern about the global talent shortage, as highlighted in Cybersecurity Ventures' 2018-2021 Cybersecurity Jobs Report.

Together with its industry partners notably MDEC, the Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APU) is now established to respond to local and global talent demands.

“Cybersecurity is one of the main pillars of the digital economy, accounting for more than doubling the overall growth of ICT spending in the country over the next five years, according to the IDC report. With Malaysia Cyber Security Strategy (MCSS) and MyDIGITAL recently launched, it takes 20.000 cybersecurity knowledge workers by 2025 to support the industry's cybersecurity workforce demand", said Chief Executive Officer Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Surina Shukri.

As Malaysia's premier digital technology university, in addition to receiving the Best Cybersecurity Education Excellence Award, APU delivers high-quality, industry-relevant programs in cybersecurity and digital forensics.

These programs comply with international curriculum standards and industry requirements, and provide real-world cybersecurity practice, resulting in a successful track record of employable graduates.

The nation's first state-of-the-art infrastructure and state-of-the-art learning space – CyberSecurity Talent Zone (CSTZ) – combines a military-grade real-time cybersecurity monitoring system, research center, and simulation infrastructure.

The fully equipped Cyber Threats Simulation and Response Center (or Cyber Range) and Security Operations Center (SOC) stream live monitoring data drawn from cyberattack databases worldwide, providing a platform for hands-on practice of ethical hacking and incident response to nurture security professionals.

Upon completion of 50 hours of maintaining the SOC and successful completion of all activities in the assessment, students earn a certificate of completion from APU industry partner TecForte.

The amalgamation of qualified academic professionals, industry-relevant curriculum, and world-class facilities has produced the unsung digital security heroes of APU, who constantly outperform their peers in national and international competitions.

Graduates of the APU digital security program have become part of the global digital security workforce. According to the latest Annual Graduate Tracking Study by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education, 100 percent of its graduates have been employed after graduation.

APU graduates are equipped with the ability to develop related skills and backgrounds such as evaluating design paradigms, languages, algorithms, and demonstrating techniques for developing complex software systems and exploiting new technologies and applications.