The Cyber-Attacks and Digital Economy in Malaysia during 1997-2016

Abstract

This article focuses on the study of the cyber-attacks and digital economy in Malaysia during 1997-2016, by using data from Malaysia Computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT), in order to (1) to find out the types and patterns of all cyber-attacks in Malaysia during 1997-2016, (2) to compare the cyber-attacks in Malaysia during 1997-2016 according to tourist seasons of Malaysia, and (3) to investigate the relationship between GDP of Malaysia and the cyber-attacks in Malaysia during 1997-2016. Frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, One Way ANOVA with LSD, and Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation are the statistics employed for data analysis. The level of significance was set at.05. The results are as follows: (1) there are 103,423 attacks, or 477 attacks per months during 1997 to 2016 in Malaysia. In each year, there are 6 months (August, September, July, June, October, and November) for high volume attacks due to many top events in Malaysia, (2) the big four in Malaysia during 1997-2016 are Fraud, Abusive content, Intrusions, and Malicious code with three patterns of attacks, (3) tourist seasons of Malaysia affected the cyber-attacks at the.05 level of significance, both overall and categorical level (Abusive content and Fraud). The amount of cyber-attacks in high season is always less than shoulder season and low season, and (4) there are high positive relationships between GDP of Malaysia and the cyberattacks in the overall level, and categorical level (Availability, Intrusion Attempts, and Intrusions) at the.01 level of significance.