BOTs Team
UNIVERSITI Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), together with Cyber Security Academia Malaysia (CSAM), PDRM, CSM, IEEE WIE, and UM, will organise a special online course for women on cyber security, called Sibernita.
According to the Program Chair of Sibernita, Associate Professor Dr Siti Norul Huda Sheikh Abdullah, the programme is aimed at nurturing women with cybersecurity skillset essentials to suppress the cybercrime rate among women.
"The modus operandi of the cybercriminals are changing rapidly as they usually make personal research of selected hot topics or classified threatened news such as unreported vehicle summon, bank or court warrant, and 'haji badal' by targeting in groups later personalised their misbehavior actions according to individual," she said.
In some cases, an immense amount of money was transacted out of Malaysia using multiple inactive accounts capsized by the cyber-criminal, which has returned defeat to the country. Women are also known for their purchasing power. Another negligence is that women tend to be unmindful towards purchasing fraud," she added.
Unprecedented events such as telecommunication fraud followed by 419 scam, e-commerce, e-financial fraud are showing a very significant loss to the country. The monetary loss has also shown a direct proportionally to the reported number of cases against cybercrime types.
Siti said the outcomes of this professional course are to introduce various cybercrimes to the public that can threaten their daily life.
"We also will educate you on basic cyber law - know the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and your rights. Nevertheless, we enthusiastic about extending your knowledge and skills in keeping yourself safe online, both preventive actions and countermeasures," she said.
"In accordance with the unintentional cybercrime event, we shall advise you to develop situational awareness to deal with dangers in the cyber world based on a psycho-spiritual approach. In a nutshell, you can deliberately enhance professional credibility as proof of cybersecurity awareness personal," she added.
Being naturally full of emotion, women are an easy target to fall victim to cybercrime and fraud. Looking at the current statistical data, International Muslim Women Union (IMWU) Malaysia, led by Associate Professor Dr Atikah Kadri, is also calling for all women to raise their awareness of threats that are lurking in the cyberspace.
"In IMWU we encourage women to take charge and be selective in accessing the internet. Thus, this program would be able to give some guide and preventive measures for a safer online experience," she said.
The Sibernita programme for women in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution entitled 4IR Women Cybercrime-Free (Wanita 4IR Bebas Jenayah Siber) will be held online on July 8 and 9, 2021.