Extra tags: Data Sovereignty
Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Huawei Malaysia), together with MyDIGITAL Corporation and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia organised a webinar, ‘Digital Age: Embracing Technology, Preserving Data Sovereignty’. The main objective of the webinar was to raise awareness among the government and its agencies, as well as the public about preserving data sovereignty while using digital technology, such as cloud, in the age of digital transformation.
Government cloud services are a novel invention at the junction of electronic government and cloud computing that has the potential to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of government service delivery. While cloud transformation and improved connectivity are two of the most important emphasis areas for accelerating the nation's digital economy, they have also raised concerns about data sovereignty and security among governments. As a result, the webinar addressed some of these concerns, such as cyber security as a crucial component of Malaysia's digital economy.
Participants from the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia as well as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), MyDIGITAL Corporation, Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU), National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) as well as representatives from State Governments participated in the webinar, which was held both virtually and physically at the ISIS Malaysia headquarters.
In his keynote address, Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad bin Mentek, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, stated that Malaysia is making significant efforts to protect its digital sovereignty, including enacting various policies and frameworks to enact controls and ensure that organisations tighten their data security.
“As of 2021, about 100 countries have some form of existing data sovereignty laws. In Malaysia, the notion of data sovereignty is reflected in some of the existing legal and policy frameworks,” said Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad bin Mentek.
The Secretary-General further added, “All these policies encompass a comprehensive cross-sectoral framework to protect personal data in commercial transactions and play an important role in helping companies address data sovereignty issues, while at the same time ensuring information security, network reliability and integrity, and secure and resilient infrastructure.”
Mr Fabian Bigar, Chief Executive Officer of MyDIGITAL Corporation, delivered the welcome address, emphasising that threats can quickly outpace traditional approaches to data security, so governments and organisations must be proactive in developing and adapting systems to deal with these threats as the economy evolves.
“One of the thrusts in the Malaysian Digital Economy Blueprint (MDEB) is to build a trusted, secure, and ethical digital environment. Today, there is a much greater urgency for our regulatory environment to be anchored on trust and digital-native policies which reflect the world we live in,” he said.
Mr Rahamzan Hashim, NACSA's Chief Executive, stressed that maintaining control over our data and leading with a security-first approach should always be a priority. He emphasised the importance of everyone working together to defend cyberspace and maintain the safety and security of all data flows.
“Seamless cooperation between industries and public sectors must be strengthened and treasured in order to address challenges and opportunities present in this new journey towards embracing the new data-driven technology and digital transformation” he added.
Among the panellists at the webinar included Shamsul Izhan Abdul Majid, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer MCMC, Konesh Kochhal, Director, Industry Ecosystem Engagements Huawei APAC, Raja Azrina Raja Othman, Chief Information Security Officer, Group Information Security, TM, Nur Hidayah Abdullah, ICT Consultant (Information Security) MAMPU and Dr. Moonyati Yatid, Senior Manager, Corporate Strategy & Research, Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation (MPRC).
Well-defined regulations and specific planned steps, according to Konesh Kochhal, Director, Industry Ecosystem Engagements, Huawei APAC, are critical to strengthening incident response and recovery in the future. As a result, he explained, this webinar is an important step for various governing bodies and government agencies to debate and understand their individual and collective roles and functions in maintaining data sovereignty in order to prepare for future unfortunate situations.
He added, “Malaysia is moving firmly into the cloud environment, with the government driving it through a cloud first policy. Huawei Malaysia will continue to strengthen collaboration with dedicated teams, to provide our expertise and consulting services, such as planning for cloud infrastructure, application cloudification, data enablement, and digital transformation to help the government fulfil and complete the overarching ambitions of digital transformation. These services help establish a clear plan and will lead the nation into the future ready digital economy.”
Huawei, the world's top provider of ICT infrastructure and smart devices, has more than 30 years of technological expertise and presently offers more than 220 cloud services. HUAWEI CLOUD has developed a solution that covers security compliance, application acceleration, intelligent localisation, and enterprise services, based on Huawei's own experience with security compliance and global network infrastructure capabilities.
In Malaysia, Huawei is working with Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) on Alpha Edge, a Malaysian-owned Cloud and AI infrastructure that ensures data locality and sovereignty for enterprises and government institutions.
