Cybersecurity Malaysia Visits Kaspersky’s Transparency Centre to Investigate the Company’s Practices and Strengthen Collaboration

A delegation led by Dato’ Ts Dr Haji Amirudin Abdul Wahab, Chief Executive Officer of CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM), Malaysia’s national cybersecurity specialist agency visited Kaspersky’s Transparency Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Dato’ Dr Amirudin and his delegation were received by Ms Genie Sugene Gan, Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Asia Pacific, Japan, Middle East, Turkey and Africa at Kaspersky. During the visit, the delegation reviewed Kaspersky’s secure software development documentation, threat analysis capabilities, and data management practices.

Kaspersky’s Transparency Centers are trusted facilities, where state agencies and regulators responsible for cybersecurity, enterprise and academic partners of Kaspersky can conduct a comprehensive review of the company’s source code, software updates, and threat detection rules. Transparency Centers are a key component of Kaspersky’s signature Global Transparency Initiative (GTI).

“It is worth noting that Kaspersky is one of the few cybersecurity companies in the world with such transparent data practices. As we play our crucial part in building a safer cyberspace for Malaysia, we are here to visit Kaspersky’s Transparency Center to engage in knowledge sharing, to exchange views, to assess practices of a cybersecurity provider operating in our country to be of good quality and integrity,” says Dato’ Dr Amirudin.

According to its latest report, CSM has detected 4,741 cases of cyber threats in Malaysia in 2022. The Ministry of Communications and Digital also disclosed a loss of RM600 million last year related to cybercrimes.

“Malaysians are more digitally connected, which resulted in more people being exposed to cyberattacks as the Internet of Things (IoT) eases access to various devices. Cybersecurity is the responsibility of every stakeholder in this ecosystem. We believe in building mutual trust and cooperation founded in honesty and transparency,” he added.

Kaspersky is the first cybersecurity provider to offer governments and companies a rare insight into its cybersecurity practices and source codes of its flagship consumer and enterprise solutions.

“We are heartened by Dr Amirudin and his team’s vote of confidence in our transparency practices. We are confident that the practices that form our Global Transparency Initiative have set a gold standard for the industry, and that we have earned our partners’ trust through consistency in action. Our network of Transparency Centers signals our commitment towards the highest levels of integrity, and has been instrumental in providing assurance to our users,” comments Gan.

“We echo the Minister of Communications and Digital’s call for a holistic approach in thwarting cyberattacks, which encompasses people, processes, and technology. Just as Dr. Amirudin has put clearly, these efforts should not be limited to experts; it should involve all stakeholders – the public sector, private companies, and users which include you and me,” she adds.

Kaspersky’s Transparency Center in Utrecht is part of the company’s global network of nine such facilities. The other centers are located in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Madrid (Spain), Rome (Italy), São Paulo (Brazil), Singapore, Tokyo (Japan), Woburn (the United States) and Zurich (Switzerland).

Since the opening of the first Transparency Center in Switzerland in 2018, more than 30 visits by the company’s stakeholders, including key regulators globally, have been organized.
Notably, no visitor has ever raised any red flag about Kaspersky’s source code, software updates, and threat detection rules since this program has started.

Visitors have paid most attention to Kaspersky’s data management practices. While many visitors are also keen to conduct source code reviews, these have happened only occasionally, as organizations would need to build up their cybersecurity capacity before they could properly product security evaluations. To help organizations achieve such technical competencies, Kaspersky started a Cyber Capacity Building Program (CCBP), which government agencies have already participated in. Among these government agencies include regulators and cybersecurity authorities from the Asia-Pacific region.

Companies and public offices interested in visiting Kaspersky’s Transparency Centers can send their requests to TransparencyCenter@kaspersky.com.

To know more about the latest GTI updates, please visit here.