Worried about the increasing cases of hacking and online fraud, the Government is finalising two Bills that will make online transactions more secure.
There were 300 reported hacking incidents in the first four months of this year. Losses due to online fraud amounted to more than RM1.8 billion in the last five years. The Electronic Commerce Bill and the E-Government Activities Bill will be tabled in Parliament soon, said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal (picture).
"The E-Commerce Bill will strengthen the legal framework for transactions carried out electronically. It will also promote consistency between Malaysia and its trading partners."
Shafie said this when opening the 4th workshop of the Asean-Australia Development Co-operation Programme E-commerce Project at a hotel here today.
Shafie did not give details about the Bills, except to say that the punishment for the offences would be severe.
At present, those charged under the Computer Crimes Act 1997 face a maximum six-year jail term and a maximum RM150,000 fine.
The new Bills will augment the recently-introduced Digital Signatures Act, which aims to develop public confidence in areas such as security, privacy and intellectual property protection.
According to the National ICT and Emergency Response Centre, hacking incidents reported this year consisted mainly of intrusions, threats and denial of service.
A centre spokesman said this was a 100 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of 2004.
"Hacking attempts are very high because they are done within and from outside the country."
Examples of online fraud include diverting funds from one bank account to another, holding out to be a legitimate business, and obtaining payment for goods that are either not delivered or are of significantly lower quality.
Quelle: New Straits Times, 28.07.2005
