KUCHING: When that state’s cyber security is properly developed, it will act as a good foundation for the growth of the digital cluster in terms of technological progress.
This was said by Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Johari Tun Openg while delivering his winding up speech during the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting yesterday.
“In this respect, I see the development of our cyber security expertise as a major source of high-paying jobs for our talented young Sarawakians. There are many frameworks that can be used to ensure that the databases are secure but this is not the place for us to go into detail.
“Suffice to say that one way is to ensure that the softwares used are developed by our own people so that we can modify and improve them ourselves without having to resort to external or foreign vendors. “I think it is all right for our people to be trained externally but we must make sure that our people are of the right caliber both in skills and sound of mind,” he said. Johari added that no cyber security system is fool proof so there is a constant need for upgrading. “A cyber attack, while unwelcome, is a good opportunity for learning to become safer. “The security of a cyber system is no di f ferent f rom the security of a house. No house, however secured, is safe from attacks and probably stands no chance when there is a deliberate attack.
“That is why most cyber systems keep their security issues on a low profile so as not to attract undue attention. But we know that they have to constantly be vigilant in order to watch out for any attack,” he said. He explained that in ICT development, one of the key issues on cyber security is that of the ‘back door’ when the developer built in features that allow it to access the programme for the purpose of sending information back to the developer as well as for troubleshooting from a remote location.
He said that it represents vulnerability in the system which can be exploited by unfriendly parties or for unfriendly purposes.
“This is where the global discussion of the credibility of one infrastructure developer over another is all about and may be a result of the intense fight for business by developers of different countries. “In the case of Sarawak, we shall make it a policy that there should be no ‘back door’ built into our systems as part of our cyber security measures.
“This means that Sarawak must build up our own core of cyber security experts in order to ensure that we have own local resources to build and protect our IT systems,” he stressed.
