Cybercrime Bill to be tabled at Parliament in Oct, agency says

The National Cyber Security Agency is in the process of drafting a new Cybercrime Bill, set to be tabled at the Parliament in October.

Its chief executive officer Megat Zuhairy Megat Tajuddin said the proposed bill is aimed at replacing the Computer Crimes Act 1997, now considered outdated and less relevant in addressing modern cyber threats.

"A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim expressed support towards the drafting of the new bill in a Facebook post after chairing the second National Cyber Security Committee meeting for 2024.

"Actually, we wanted to revise the Computer Crimes Act 1997 but I think it is more relevant if have a new Act rather than revising the old law, which is more complicated," he said.

Megat Zuhairy said this to Bernama after participating in a Dialogue session titled “Regulating for Resilience: Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection” at the International Regulatory Conference (IRC) 2025 yesterday.

He added that the new bill is a key requirement for Malaysia to join the Budapest Convention and the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime this June, both of which are essential to demonstrate the country’s commitment to combat cybercrime domestically and internationally.

Need more cybersecurity professionals

In a separate dialogue session at the conference, Megat Zuhairy called for action to address the critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals, highlighting the prime minister’s target of achieving 25,000 cybersecurity experts by the end of the year.

He also stressed the importance of retaining local talents to meet this ambitious goal.

“The industry should offer higher salaries to Malaysian talents and not let them go to Singapore or Dubai so that they will stay in Malaysia.

“With a shortage of talents, we are jeopardising national security in a broader perspective.

"We need 10,000 talents this year and if the universities manage to produce 3,000 now, half of it will go to other countries like Singapore, Qatar and Dubai - which offer a lot more (salary). It depends on conventional ways of getting supplies and we have to take a drastic approach in getting more talents," Megat Zuhairy said.

Work flexibility

In addition, he also advocated for workplace flexibility to encourage more women to enter and remain in the cybersecurity workforce.

The dialogue session was moderated by the chief technical and monitoring officer of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Che Juhan Che Mat.

He was also joined by the Chief of Strategic Planning and Membership cum Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union Sulyna Abdullah and the chief operating officer of Digital Nasional Berhad Nasution Mohamed.

The two-day conference hosted by MCMC brings together industry leaders, policymakers and global experts from Asean, Australia, the US, and Saudi Arabia – discussing ways to strike a balance between innovation and consumer protection while fostering trust and global cooperation.

- Bernama

COMMENT | Online Safety Act necessary shield for digital era

Over 2,400 online prostitution-related content removed since 2022 - Fahmi

Online safety laws must protect rights, prevent overreach, group says

M'sian job scam victims still in Cambodia over a month after escape

No more DNS redirection, Fahmi assures after public backlash