Latest news with #CouncilofEuropeConventiononCybercrime
The Star
28-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Confronting digital threats
PETALING JAYA: The collection and real-time interception of digital evidence proposed by the Home Ministry are essential tools for probing serious crimes and threats, especially in cyberspace, say legal and cybersecurity experts. Computer science expert Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Tengku Mohd Tengku Sembok said that as the Home Ministry reviews the national cybercrime framework, the proposed expansion of enforcement powers, and the magnitude and complexity of today's cyber threats underscore the urgent need for modernised legal instruments. 'For Malaysia, aligning legal authority with these provisions would allow investigators to track sophisticated offenders more effectively,' he said when contacted yesterday. He was commenting on reports that Malaysia is set to sign the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime in October, according to Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail. The Home Minister said on July 23 that the country is also in the process of joining the Budapest Convention, i.e. the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. However, Tengku Mohd said that such powers must be carefully circumscribed as real-time collection should only be permitted with judicial oversight and only for defined serious offences. 'Procedural safeguards such as time-limited authorisations, audit logging and data minimisation must be included in the framework,' he said. Oversight mechanisms, he added, should include independent reviews, periodic public reporting and clearly defined accountability protocols. 'These controls are vital to ensure that public trust and civil liberties are maintained,' he said. Malaysia Cyber Consumer Association (MCCA) president Siraj Jalil said the upcoming legislation should be more inclusive and have stronger enforcement powers to face various ever-evolving cyber threats. 'We hope the police will lead the enforcement efforts through a dedicated cybercrime department, given that cybercrime is among the most reported threats, according to various authorities. 'The most common threats the public is currently facing are online scams, fraud and phishing, with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated phishing links,' he said. He added that cybercrime isn't limited to financial scams, but is also evolving with the misuse of AI and sexual crimes against children. 'People may not even realise that they are victims of such a scam. 'For instance, if their photos are exploited for AI-generated content, that is also cybercrime. 'And there are many cases of those using pictures of VIPs to dupe victims,' he said, adding that the government should consider all of these situations. Malaysian Bar Legal Tech, AI and Sandbox committee co-chairperson Sathish Mavath Ramachandran said that of late, the Bar Council is frequently consulted by federal regulators and government ministries and agencies regarding law reform and legal issues. 'That includes amendments to existing laws and regulations, as well as formulation of new laws and regulations. 'This is a truly transformational development. 'Our suggestions and proposals are not always accepted, but that is to be expected. 'The regulators and our Federal Government must ultimately decide based on their processes, procedures, protocols and policies. 'The consultation over the past two and a half years has been meaningful, especially in the areas of cyber, technology, digital and personal data laws, including AI and cybercrimes,' he said. One of the key longstanding challenges in tackling cybercrime is its cross-border nature, said data protection practitioner Deepak Pillai. 'Cybercrime incidents often involve perpetrators or digital infrastructure that are located across multiple jurisdictions. 'This significantly limits the ability of local enforcement agencies to effectively investigate, gather evidence, recover affected assets or take further enforcement action. 'As such, it is a welcome development that the government is planning to join international frameworks such as the Budapest Convention and the UN Convention on Cybercrime,' he said.
Scoop
25-07-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Space, Spies, Stalking, And Extra Sittings
, Editor: The House The House took urgency on Tuesday evening which extended Tuesday's sitting until lunchtime Wednesday, then it returned on Thursday morning - that time as an extended sitting. As a result, most select committees are not meeting this week. Some have had to cancel their plans or squeeze some work in at lunchtime. With a few exceptions - and excepting bills that committees are given special permission to consider outside normal rules - Select Committees and the House cannot sit at the same time. Spare a thought for submitters and those who schedule them, who have had their plans upended again by urgency. The opposition did ask the Leader of the House last Thursday whether there would be urgency this week but was told to "wait and see". Last minute reveals of urgency are not unusual. Extended sittings (like Thursday morning) are signposted a week or two in advance, but usually little warning is given for urgency. Bills under urgency Tuesday's urgency was aimed at two bills - one relating to space and the other about international crime cooperation. The Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Amendment Bill isn't so much about space as it is about the ground bases for satellites or other extra-terrestrial objects. The Minister for Space, Judith Collins was the bill's sponsor. "This bill introduces a new authorisation regime for ground-based space infrastructure. Until now, these activities have not been subject to a dedicated regulatory framework." The reason for the bill, revealed in the second reading debate, upped the interest. "During the past five years, there have been several deceptive efforts by foreign actors to establish and/or use ground-based space infrastructure in New Zealand to harm our national security. They have deliberately disguised their affiliations to foreign militaries and misrepresented their intentions. To date, these risks have been managed through non-regulatory measures, including relying on the goodwill of ground-based infrastructure operators. These measures are no longer enough." That sounds like the pitch for a thriller just begging to be written. This was a bill that the parties largely agreed on. They even agreed that urgency was reasonable, but opposition speakers complained about the push-push pace of urgency after the Committee Stage, as governing-party MPs worked to abbreviate what Labour's Rachel Brooking called "very civil, thoughtful debates." The pace really started to drag once the Budapest Convention and Related Matters Legislation Amendment Bill was the focus. Its sponsor, Minister of Justice, Paul Goldsmith said the bill "aligns New Zealand's laws with the requirements of the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, also known as the Budapest Convention. The Budapest Convention is the first binding international treaty on cyber-crime, and it aligns members' national laws relating to computer-related offences, improves investigative techniques, and streamlines evidence sharing." Labour supported the bill but played hardball in the Committee Stage, concerned about the possibility of the convention leading to New Zealand accidentally helping countries that don't share our values control their citizens. Duncan Webb put it like this. "We need to be vigilant that we are not being unwittingly used to further either political ends or to allow a foreign state to pursue a proceeding against something that might be a crime in a foreign nation, but it certainly isn't a crime in New Zealand and shouldn't be something for which criminal sanction follows." The opposition made the Committee Stage of the Budapest bill last through most of the rest of Wednesday. The government's original plan was to pass it through all remaining stages, but late on Wednesday evening, they abandoned it after the Committee Stage and moved on to their other priorities. The Budapest Convention Bill was left with just a third reading to complete. Those were not the only interesting bills under discussion this week. Three other bills are of particular interest, relating to Health, Secondary Legislation, and Stalking. Other key bills - Health Tuesday saw the first reading of the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill which will now be considered by the Health Select Committee. Among its measures, that bill enacts health targets, and also alters or removes Māori consultation and obligations from the health administration. The Minister of Health, Simeon Brown described his bill succinctly. "This bill is about cutting through bureaucracy, restoring accountability, and most importantly, putting patients first." Opposition MPs had numerous gripes including this one from Dr. Tracey McLellan, regarding bringing Health New Zealand under the public service obligation for staff neutrality. "That is a chilling thing to do. Frontline health workers who have a professional obligation, an ethical and a legal obligation to call out things that they see in their professional practice. It is not political, it is professional, and they should not, in any way, shape, or form, have this hanging over them, this concept of-the misuse of-public service neutrality." Other key bills - Regulation Also on Tuesday, the Legislation Amendment Bill had a first reading and now heads to the Justice Committee for public feedback. The Legislation Amendment Bill has been in development for a few years, and among its aims are making secondary legislation (e.g. regulations) more easily accessible and more likely to be pruned once obsolete. Secondary legislation includes all of the various kinds of laws that don't come directly from a piece of legislation but from power that legislation delegates to ministers, ministries, agencies, councils etc. There is much more secondary legislation than primary legislation but it isn't as easy to search or access. Primary legislation is all stored on a legislation website managed by the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO); currently secondary legislation is not. In debate, Labour's Camilla Belich observed that, "the main big change will be the single point of access that it will allow to secondary legislation. The point of the work that we do is to try and make sure that when either primary legislation or secondary legislation has an impact on people's lives, they have access to that. It shouldn't be something which is hidden away and it shouldn't be something which is difficult to find." Don't confuse the Legislation Amendment Bill with ACT's Regulatory Standards Bill which is also going through parliament and which appears to be trying to do something rather different. The Regulatory Standards Bill has influenced the shape of the Legislation Amendment Bill though, which Opposition MPs were unhappy with in debate, despite supporting the wider effort. Other key bills - Stalking The Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill had its second reading late on Wednesday. It creates a new offence specific to stalking and harassment and the myriad forms that these can take. It includes indirect harassment like undermining reputation, opportunities or relationships. The bill itself is a fascinating read as an example of how much cleverness is required to effectively draft law for crime that is, by definition, quite nebulous. Policy staff at Justice and legal drafters at PCO may have taken to heart the idiom 'to catch a criminal, you have to think like one'. National minister Erica Stanford outlined changes made to the bill as a result of public feedback to the Select Committee. "To be convicted of the new offence, the prosecution will need to prove the person engaged in a pattern of behaviour towards their victim. The committee recommended a broader definition for the pattern of behaviour. The offence will now require two specified acts within two years, rather than three specified acts within one year. This broadens the pattern of behaviour by capturing fewer acts across a longer time frame. I agree that this change will better address strategies such as anniversary-based stalking..." "A further recommendation made by the committee was to add doxing to the list of "specified act". Doxing is the publication of personal information such as addresses or contact details, including whether a stalker claims to be their victim. It encourages third parties to contact, threaten, and intimidate the victim…" "The committee also added two further important amendments to the bill. Firstly, to allow the courts to order the destruction of intimate visual to allow a court to make restraining [orders], firearm prohibition [orders], and Harmful Digital Communications Act orders, where a defendant is discharged without convictions." One more for the road - Espionage There are other bills of note on the Order Paper that the government would have hoped to progress, but progress this week has been slow. Opposition MPs have taken their time working through bills in the committee of the whole House, whether they support them or not. This will likely annoy the government, but thoroughly testing bills is the job of all MPs in the House. That sluggish pace meant the second reading of the Parliament Bill also slipped down the Order Paper (along with the third reading of the Budapest Convention Bill). One bill the House may reach is worth noting. The Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill would be a second espionage-related bill for the week. This one hopes to plug gaps in the law around things like treason, espionage and even incitement to mutiny. *RNZ's The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament's Office of the Clerk. Enjoy our articles or podcast at RNZ.
The Star
23-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
M'sia to sign UN Convention on cybercrime in October, Dewan Rakyat told
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is set to sign the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime in October, says Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail. He said the country is also in the process of joining the Budapest Convention or the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. The Home Minister said these moves are part of the effort to fight the growing threat of cybercrimes, which are becoming more sophisticated and inventive. "The National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) receives an average of about 500 calls a day from the rakyat to report online scams. "There is an increasing trend of reports related to online scams, and we have to respond to the complaints," he told Chong Zhemin (PH-Kampar) in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (July 23). Chong wanted to know the number of cybercrime cases reported last year and the ministry's efforts to enhance digital security for the people. Saifuddin said police recorded a total of 46,085 cybercrime reports last year, with 49% of cases resolved. He said the NSRC was placed under the purview of the police force this month to bolster the fight against cybercrime. The NSRC, comprising representatives from Bank Negara, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the police, will have its own office in Cyberjaya. "At the behest of the Prime Minister, the Public Service Department has also agreed to consider creating 139 new posts for the centre," he added. Saifuddin said Malaysia plans to sign the UN Convention in Vietnam in October. The Budapest Convention, drafted by the Council of Europe in 2001, was the first international treaty to address Internet and computer crime. It went into force in July 2004 and has been ratified by close to 80 states and parties, including several outside Europe, to date. The UN Convention was first proposed by Russia in 2017, with an ad hoc committee formed in 2019 by the UN General Assembly. It eventually produced a draft resolution that was approved by the General Assembly in December last year, with the signing ceremony planned for October. Meanwhile, Saifuddin said the Home Ministry is reviewing the country's cybercrime laws to expand enforcement authorities' investigative powers. "Cybercrimes are getting more threatening and creative. "Our laws cannot remain static but must be dynamic to address these crimes accordingly," he added. Saifuddin said engagement sessions will be held with relevant stakeholders before the proposed amendments are drafted.
