Payment card company Mastercard and the ASEAN Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to roll out a range of programs to improve cybersecurity in the region. Or more specifically, to improve the cybersecurity capabilities of both public sector entities as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
As per the press release sent by the former, the initiative will focus on three main pillars – raising awareness, providing skills and training, as well as using technology in the process. That being said, these involve making use of tools that payment processor already has in place. One is the Mastercard Trust Center, which is described as “an online self-service portal that provides free education, resources and tools to support their cybersecurity journey”.
The release ends by mentioning that “one-third of Malaysian organisations reported a 50% or more increase in cybersecurity incidents over the past year with ransomware and malware causing the greatest concern”. This is despite suspicious transactions of more than RM380 million having been successfully intercepted. Which is likely where the two tools above are meant to come in.
