Cybersecurity expert disputes claims of spiking cyberattacks in Malaysia

SHAH ALAM - Cybersecurity expert Fong Choong Fook has challenged assertions of a significant rise in cyberattacks in Malaysia, citing potential misconstructions and hidden agendas.

He specifically questioned statements by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, who recently highlighted increasing cyber threats targeting Malaysia, allegedly driven by both economic and strategic motives.

"Personally, I do not believe in the statements issued by the FBI as they are biased in accusing China of being the mastermind behind the cyberattacks.

"In reality, the US government has long revealed that they engage in cyberattacks, claiming to know the secrets and hacking techniques openly.

"For example, the ransomware attacks exposed using the hacking secrets of the Target Access Operations (TAO) under the National Security Agency (NSA)," he said when contacted by Sinar yesterday.

It was reported that Wray claimed there was a sudden increase in the number and frequency of cyberattacks in Malaysia.

Wray alleged that these attacks were not only carried out for profit but also to gain economic and strategic advantages without considering the amount of damage caused by such actions.

In the meantime, Fong said that cyberattacks carried out by hackers today were mostly driven by economic needs and even North Korea has hacked its own national security system to gain advantages.

"In the cyber world, there is no black and white involving who the hackers are and what is hacked.

"Attacks are economically or politically motivated for personal gain.

"The US is a mastermind in the world of cyber warfare, which is why the media often portrays China, North Korea, Russia, or other countries as the 'villains' conducting large-scale hacking," he said.