ISKANDAR PUTERI, June 15 — Integrity and trustworthiness must continue to serve as the cornerstone of every level of the security forces to ensure public confidence in law enforcement institutions is maintained, said Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.

He said the strength of an organisation does not depend solely on physical facilities, buildings or sophisticated assets, but is determined by the integrity and honesty of its personnel.

According to him, an organisation may possess extensive experience, skills and complete assets, but without integrity, all of these hold little value.

“The true strength of an organisation lies in the honesty of each of its members. If integrity collapses, no matter how advanced the facilities it possesses, public trust will be lost.

‘If we lose wealth, we lose nothing. If we lose health, we lose something. But if we lose character, we lose everything. That is why integrity and moral values are so important in life,” he said when officiating the opening of the Iskandar Puteri district police headquarters (IPD) here today.

Also present was Johor police chief Datuk Ab Rahaman Arsad.

Elaborating further, Ayob Khan said the trust placed in every member of the force must always be safeguarded and should never be compromised.

At the same time, he stressed that there would be no tolerance for abuse of power, corruption or any form of disciplinary misconduct that could tarnish the image of the force and undermine public confidence.

“Never use rank as a shield against legal action. Anyone who betrays the public trust must face appropriate action, regardless of position or rank,” he said.

In a related development, he said today’s security challenges are becoming increasingly complex, with authorities no longer dealing solely with conventional crimes but also facing emerging threats such as cybercrime, online scam syndicates, cross-border smuggling and transnational crime.

In this regard, he said the police force must continue to strengthen its operational and investigative capabilities through a more proactive, swift and data-driven approach to ensure public safety remains safeguarded. — Bernama 

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — A total of 66,204 online scam cases have been recorded so far this year, marking an 87 per cent increase compared with last year, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohd Khalid Ismail said.

According to The Star, the sharp rise highlights the growing threat posed by cybercriminals despite ongoing enforcement actions and public awareness campaigns.

Mohd Khalid said the worrying increase in scam cases has also been accompanied by rising financial losses, with victims losing RM2.97 billion last year — an increase of RM1.40 billion compared with 2024.

He said phone scams remained the most commonly reported category, with 28,388 cases recorded.

However, investment scams involving non-existent schemes caused the highest financial losses, amounting to RM1.47 billion.

Mohd Khalid said scam syndicates are becoming increasingly sophisticated, using digital platforms and technology to target unsuspecting victims.

“These figures are not merely statistics. Behind every case is an individual or family that has suffered financial hardship and emotional distress,” he said in a speech at the launch of the Combat Scam campaign on Monday (June 15).

He added that the rapid growth of digital services and online transactions had created new opportunities for fraudsters, making cooperation between authorities, financial institutions and the public essential in tackling cybercrime.

Mohd Khalid also praised the Combat Scam campaign, saying it strengthens collaboration between law enforcement and the banking sector while improving financial literacy and cybersecurity awareness among Malaysians.

“The fight against scams cannot be left solely to enforcement agencies. It requires the collective commitment of banks, government agencies and the public,” he said.

He urged the public to remain vigilant when conducting online transactions and to verify information through official channels before responding to any requests involving money or personal data.

MALAYSIA: In a case involving the non-consensual distribution of intimate content, a woman in Malaysia was fined for sharing an explicit video involving her former husband.

While the court acknowledged her emotional distress with a fine instead of jail time, distributing non-consensual explicit material weaponises digital media.

It leaves long-lasting, devastating damage to the victim’s dignity and privacy. This case is just one of the few that have thrown Malaysia into the dark spotlight of the digital age, proving that while courts can issue fines, the Internet hands down a life sentence.

In this case, a 25-year-old factory worker was fined RM2,800 by the Ayer Keroh magistrate’s court last week for possessing and distributing an obscene video of her former husband and another woman.

The complainant received the video from her sister in December last year, and investigators found it had been sent from a phone number believed to belong to the accused.

In the video, -made without the complainant’s consent or knowledge- the man is seen engaging in sexual intercourse with another woman.

The recording was believed to have been distributed to several of the complainant’s close family members.

The accused, who was unrepresented, pleaded for a lighter sentence, adding that she suffered a miscarriage and that she also had to support her parents.

In another similar case, the ruling is a monumental win for digital privacy in Malaysia, proving the Anti-Sexual Harassment Tribunal (TAGS) has real teeth.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court last week upheld a TAGS award in favour of a woman whose ex-boyfriend shared her intimate photos online without her consent.

In a statement, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) said the court upheld the award dated August 1, 2024, which ordered the respondent to issue a written apology to the complainant.

The accused has to attend counselling sessions and pay her RM60,000 in damages.

By enforcing a hefty sum for damages and a written apology, the High Court cemented a fast-track justice system for victims, showing that non-consensual digital sharing carries immediate, costly real-world consequences.

This article (Two court cases, one message: Sharing intimate content without consent comes at a cost) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

Cyber agency says BlackCore targeted John Swinney, as well as interfering in New York and French elections

France’s cybersecurity agency has accused the Israeli tech company BlackCore of interfering in the Scottish elections earlier this year by targeting the first minister, John Swinney.

The disinformation detection agency Viginum said BlackCore had this year used proxy social media accounts to target Swinney, the Scottish National party, and the Scottish government on four occasions.

A global cyberattack on online learning platform Canvas has compromised the personal information of more than 72,000 students and staff at Hong Kong schools and universities, according to the city’s privacy watchdog.

The data breaches are part of a global attack that hit almost 9,000 educational institutions worldwide, involving data from 275 million users, according to the platform’s developer, Instructure.

Seven local institutions, including three public universities, have reported the breaches to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD).

They are: the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), City University of Hong Kong (CityU), the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Hong Kong Art School, the Hong Kong Institute of Construction (HKIC), and Hong Kong Education City Limited.

The ShinyHunters hacker group allegedly held Instructure to ransom, threatening to leak the information unless the company paid, according to international media.

Instructure said it had reached an agreement with the hacker group to prevent a public leak and gave assurances that no personal information had been compromised.

Student and staff information

The CityU breach involved 28,000 students, according to the university’s report to the PCPD, the privacy watchdog said in a statement on Monday. The leaked data may have included student names, email addresses, student IDs, and messages.

The breach also affected 42,000 students and staff at PolyU, with their names and email addresses potentially compromised, according to the PCPD.

The watchdog “has advised the relevant organisations to notify those affected as soon as possible and to provide assistance as appropriate in each case, in order to prevent the breach from escalating,” it said.

Some 2,500 students and staff at the HKIC and 71 students at the Hong Kong Art School were hit by the breach. The other three institutions have yet to confirm the number of people affected.

Cybersecurity officials have called on institutions to suspend use of the online learning platform and remain vigilant against potential follow-up phishing attacks.

The Hong Kong Productivity Council chief digital officer Edmond Lai said at a press conference on Monday that such attacks could lead to further data leaks or unauthorised transactions.

He also said that the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre is using artificial intelligence tools to identify phishing websites potentially linked to the Canvas hack.

Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Raymond Lam said at a press conference on Tuesday that two police reports had been made in relation to the Canvas hack.

One report was filed by a local institution, while the other involved people who used the incident as a pretence to deceive a resident.