KUALA LUMPUR: In the first two quarters of 2022, Kaspersky found a total of 195,032 payment system-related phishing activities in Malaysia, including 108,755 in the first quarter and 86,277 in the second.
The findings match the nation's regional trends. The Inspector-General of Police previously revealed that a total of 48,850 online frauds—or 68 per cent of the 71,833 commercial crime cases—were reported from 2020 through May of this year.
Two of the prominent online payment providers in Malaysia experienced cybersecurity breaches back in August. The Bank Negara Malaysia, on the other hand, has given the assurance that the bank's payment systems remain safe and secure.
In the first half of 2022, the cybersecurity company also discovered and stopped 91,895 attacks of the same kind aimed at Malaysian e-commerce sites and 27,458 bank-related phishing attempts.
These data are from anonymised data based on the triggering of the deterministic component in the Kaspersky's Anti-Phishing system on user computers. As long as links to these pages are found in its database, the component can identify any phishing-related pages that a user has attempted to access online or through an email message.
A recent study showed that seven in 10 Malaysians have tried to go cashless in 2021.
"The first half of the year witnessed the reopening of borders in Southeast Asia but the pandemic habits seem to remain consistent. Despite our regained physical freedom, we know that we still prefer to do our banking, shopping, and financial activities online because of its unparalleled convenience," said Kaspersky's general manager for Southeast Asia, Yeo Siang Tiong.
The data from Bank Negara Malaysia also revealed that the average number of digital payment transactions per capital has more than quadrupled in the last ten years, increasing from 49 in 2011 to over 221 transactions per capita in 2021.
Malaysian electronic payment channels processed 7.2 billion transactions in total in 2021, a 30 per cent year-over-year increase that made it the country's fastest-growing year since 2006.
In order to take advantage of the convenience and benefits of digital transactions, which are a welcome development with significant economic gains, users must be vigilant against cyberthreats.
"It is a welcome development with possible great economic gains, for us and the cybercriminals. With most users here aware of the threats targeting our online money, it is time to act now and secure your mobile devices to enjoy the perks of a more connected, regional financial environment
"Regulators and industry players in the region are all backing a digital-forward Southeast Asia and Malaysia. In fact, countries here are poised to link their QR code payment systems before the year ends to remove currency exchange hassles," added Yeo.