KUALA LUMPUR (May 7): Due to the inherently global nature of the internet, local laws handling cybercrime has its limitations as it becomes increasingly difficult to trace and punish bad actors.

Frameworks and regulations are being designed but doubts are persistent whether it is strong enough to counter cross-border crimes, said experts during the “Tackling online harms — significance of effective policy, regulatory and technological solutions for a safer online space” session at the International Regulatory Conference held at St Regis Kuala Lumpur.

Director of ICT policy department for Cambodia’s ministry of post and telecommunications Sodany Tan — representing regulators on the panel — shared the Cambodian Child Online Protection Guidelines for the digital technology industry has become the standard industry guideline for Cambodia. However, Tan noted that as comprehensive as these guidelines are, they are not law and is difficult to enforce.

The guideline, Tan said, provides a standard for companies to strive towards to protect children when they are online, like ensuring child rights are integrated across all policies, including supply chain, data collected and user privacy. 

Datuk Idham Nawawi, CEO of CelcomDigi, brought the perspective of businesses implementing these regulations in their attempt to bring online protection for their customers, as the telecommunications company have to deal with a rise in scam calls.

Idham said that CelcomDigi blocks numbers that make scam calls using their services, tracking them down to the service centre to prevent the scammer from making more numbers. But more stringent regulations need to be in place to clamp down on nefarious activities. 

Companies are doing what they can, but there are limits, added Idham. A sentiment shared by Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain, who expressed frustrations when dealing with cybercrimes.

Cybercrimes have no borders, no jurisdiction, and that there is no solid infrastructure to deal with it. Unlike regular crimes, it is difficult to find evidence, there is no crime scene to be had. And setting up a nation’s cybersecurity framework is costly. 

To counter this, he calls for more collaboration with allied nations to bolster national cybersecurity, pooling their resources together, at least with Association of Southeast Asian Nations members.