Countering Cyber Attacks in Malaysian Law: Assessing the Concept of Cyber Attacks and the Countermeasures

An examination of the nature of cyber attacks (meaning attacks on computer systems and the disruption of national security and order through online seditious and defamatory statements) and the appropriate countermeasures under the law of Malaysia and international law are undertaken in this project. This study explores the emergence of cyber attacks as a serious threat to security and a challenge to current legal norms. As such, it uses ontologies to encapsulate and analyse the existence and reality of the cyber attacks phenomenon. It provides an open-ended concept and categories of cyber attacks especially for countermeasures and criminalisation purposes.
This study posits that criminal law is a necessary reaction in dealing with cyber attacks in Malaysia on the basis of effectiveness and fairness alongside other non-criminal law measures. In doing so, it identifies non-criminal and criminal law approaches in countering cyber attacks. Apart from the position in Malaysia, this study investigates the emergence of international norms in relation to cyber attacks. It examines the effectiveness and fairness of the international law in dealing with cyber-attacks.
This study focuses on several approaches to draw out analysis of the effectiveness and fairness of the measures to counter cyber attacks. Besides doctrinal analysis and policy transfer, semi-structured interviews were also conducted with 32 participants in Malaysia including policymakers, law enforcement officers, deputy public prosecutors, legal practitioners and experts in cyber security from the public and private sectors. The results show that there are different variations in the perception of cyber attacks at the national and international level. In that socio-political culture of Malaysia influences the understanding of cyber attacks and countermeasures.