By Mohd Fharkhan Abdul Ghapar

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 -- The country's cyber security needs to be constantly refined and strengthened, inline with the advent of the ever-changing and complex digital age.

As such, more attention should be paid to the development of the field through more funds allocated in the 2020 Budget which will be tabled this Friday.

CyberSecurity Malaysia Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Datuk Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab said the government should provide appropriate funding to encourage the development of a broader sector including protection technology, system governance and human-development capabilities.

He said, the technological advancement of technology and the capabilities of its protection system must move in tandem to counteract the attacks and threats to the technology.

"The risk is very high if we only focus on the development of digital technology without increasing the protection of the technology itself. In the context of the digital world, we must always be prepared for the ever-increasing cyber-threat, hopefully this budget, focus can be given to the cyber security industry," he told Bernama .

Amiruddin said that many of the initiatives and policies introduced by the government are now based on digitisation including online management system that requires multi-layered protection features.

He said through the funds provided, various efforts to develop the sector could be implemented including research and development (R&D) activities and the provision of more sophisticated cyber protection systems.

In last year’s Budget, the digital field was one of the largest fund receiving sectors through the implementation of the National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP) with an allocation of RM1 billion to promote the digital economy.

Through the budget, the government also allocated RM10 million to the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to develop and promote the E-Sports industry.

Meanwhile, in order to meet the country's needs in the face of the challenges of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, the 2020 Budget also needs to focus on enhancing digital technology skills.

Speaking to Bernama at the #mydigitalmaker Fair 2019, MDEC Vice President for  Talent Development and Digital Entrepreneurship Dr Sumitra Nair said large funds needed to be allocated to enhance existing skills in line with the needs of the technology world

She said more new job opportunities would emerge as the digital revolution unfolded, and cited the World Economic Forum's estimate that 65 percent of the workforce will work in the yet to be created job sector because it requires digital skills.

"We hope the government will allocate more or at least give more focus on improving the skills of the  existing workforce so that they are always relevant," she said.

Sumitra said in addition to raising funds, changing the mentality of the community was also important to ensure that the digital transformation era was fully integrated, with the community practicing lifelong learning to equip them with the skills they had in mind.

“Usually, we are satisfied after graduating and having a job. But we need to remember that the demands and skills in the job are constantly changing and we need to improve our skills. Although the government gives out incentives, nobody might want to do it, so we need to find a way to create a lifelong learning mentality,” she said.

--BERNAMA