Thailand
Cambodia: Businesses urged to invest more in cybersecurity
Cambodian businesses were yesterday urged to invest more in cybersecurity and also to strengthen their interaction with the government to exchange ideas and share concerns in this area.
Giving his opening remarks on ‘Future of Cybersecurity in Asia’ on the second day of the Digital Economy Forum in Phnom Penh, Phannarith Ou, Director of Information and Communications Technology Security of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) of Cambodia, called for a holistic approach to prevent data thefts and other cybercrimes.
“We need to enhance cooperation at the national level and also at the global level to check cybercrimes and to ensure cybersecurity. At the global level, harmonisation of laws and regulations, cooperation on checking cybercrimes and exchanging of good cybersecurity practices can help this process,” Ou said.
He also noted that cybersecurity is linked to geopolitics these days and cyber warfare and cyber terrorism are emerging threats.
Taking part in a panel discussion, Ou said that more than big businesses, SMEs are the worst hit when it came to cyberattacks and crimes. “Build resilience. We may not be able to prevent cyberattacks completely,” he said.
Ou, however, felt that protecting personal data is primarily the responsibility of citizens and the government’s role is limited to supporting it with legal and technical frameworks. “We need to create more awareness on this…like when we fought Covid-19,” he said.
Neil Ian Cadungog-Uy, Head of the Department of Computer Science, Paragon International University, said that a huge majority of people don’t care about their data. “A survey showed that 91 percent of people are ready to accept legal terms and conditions (for cyber or online/app services) without reading them. As much as 78 percent believe that their data are shared with third parties,” he said.
As businesses are data-driven now, there is a high demand for your travel
data or purchasing habits. “There is in fact a growing black market for private data,” Neil added.
Neil, however, commended the efforts of some countries in Asia in protecting data. “Singapore, Japan and South Korea are notable examples as they are leaders in data security. China is a leader in data localisation,” he said.
Neil also added that 95 percent of data thefts in the world were due to human errors.
The two-day forum that concluded yesterday was part of the programme ‘Promoting the Digital Economy in Asia,’ a private sector advocacy network connecting business chambers in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Thailand. It was organised jointly by USAID, DAI and MangoTango Asia.
The event was attended among others by delegates from the American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, the American-Lao Business Association in Laos, the American Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia, the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar, and the British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand.
The overall objective of the event was to strengthen the digital economies in the Indo-Pacific region, by empowering the private sector to advocate for improving policies for digital trade; advancing cybersecurity knowledge and practices; ensuring the operational efficiency of businesses within the wide regional digital and e-commerce ecosystem; and identifying and advancing digital policies that promote secure, open, and inclusive digital economies in the participating countries.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501265468/businesses-urged-to-invest-more-in-cybersecurity/