Ministry studying need to create post of data protection officer - Fahmi

 The Communications and Digital Ministry is studying the need to create the post of data protection officer in organisations through the amendment of the Personal Data Protection Act (Act 709) to protect individual personal data.

Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the matter was among those considered in the amendment of the act which is expected to be tabled in Parliament as early as this October.

“One of the aspects we are looking at is the (need to have) data protection officer, as it is important for an organisation to protect its data… because this matter was also raised by (CyberSecurity Malaysia board of directors chairperson) Zulkifeli Mohd Zin.

“We find that there is a need for data protection but everything is subject to the feedback from stakeholders and the cabinet... if approved by the cabinet, we will bring this amendment in October at the earliest or in March (next year) at the latest.”

Fahmi (above) said this after opening Cyber Digital Services, Defence and Security Asia (CyberDSA) 2023 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur today.

Earlier in his keynote address, Fahmi noted that Malaysia is short of 12,000 cybersecurity professionals, saying the government is working to improve support for professional cybersecurity education to address this shortage.

At the moment, he said there are only 15,248 cybersecurity knowledge workers in Malaysia, while according to the latest study conducted by the Department of Skills Development, the Centre for Instructor and Advanced Skill Training and CyberSecurity Malaysia, the country requires at least 27,000 cybersecurity knowledge workers by end-2025.

“There is an acute shortage of cybersecurity professionals who are not only sufficiently equipped with the right technical skills but also possess creativity and deep understanding of both technology and human behaviour,” he said.

Fahmi said ISC Squared Cybersecurity Workforce Study 2022 also reported the global shortfall of cybersecurity knowledge workers currently stands at 3.4 million.

- Bernama