CORONAVIRUS | The National Security Council (NSC) has warned that hackers could be listening to their conversations amid increasing use of video conferencing applications during the movement control order (MCO) period.
NSC director-general Mohd Rabin Basir said the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa), through the National Cyber Coordination and Command Centre (NC4), had also detected various forms of cyber attacks during the MCO. Nacsa is an arm of the NSC.
"Throughout the MCO, video conferencing services are widely used by Malaysians working from home.
"One of the video conferencing applications often used, apart from Skype, is Zoom. Zoom is a free web video-conferencing application.
"This application has been found to contain vulnerabilities that can allow hackers to manipulate the software to listen in on a user's conversation," he said in a letter addressed to top civil servants sighted by Malaysiakini.
The letter was addressed to the chief secretary to the government Mohd Zuki Ali and the secretary-general of all ministries.
He added that an increased attack on the websites of government agencies have also been detected.
The attacks also include advanced persistent threats (APT) and breaking into the websites of the government and private sectors.
This is on top of fake applications, email spams and online scams.
It said one such application is an android malware masquerading as a product of the Prime Minister's Department while another used the name of Bank Negara Malaysia.
The letter asked that the civil service take notice of the matter and exercise caution.
In an effort to combat the coronavirus, the country has gone into a partial lockdown since March 18.
The MCO was supposed to end on March 31 but was extended until April 14.
Under the MCO, all non-essential businesses and services must close while people are only allowed to leave their homes for pressing reasons such as to restock on food supply. - Mkini
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