PRIME MINISTER Anwar Ibrahim’s warning that Malaysia could become a target of sophisticated cyberattacks is a timely reminder that national security threats are changing. The National Cyber Security Agency of Malaysia (NACSA) is already acting, raising the cyber threat level from low to medium and directing National Critical Information Infrastructure (NCII) entities to prepare.
Cyberattacks can now threaten the essential services that keep a country running. But cyber is the trigger, not the whole story. Floods, fires, geopolitical tensions and infrastructure failures all put the same question to government: when normal systems are compromised or go dark, can leaders still coordinate through an emergency?
You cannot manage a crisis if you cannot communicate.
Governments worldwide now expect essential services to keep running whatever happens. That makes secure, sovereign communications, the ability to keep talking when normal systems fail, a foundation of national resilience.
The human impact
For Malaysians, the consequences of disruption to essential services are tangible: arriving at a hospital where digital systems are unavailable, being unable to access banking services, or facing a disruption to electricity, water or transport. These are not just technology problems; they are questions of public safety, economic stability and national resilience.
The Prime Minister’s emphasis on preparedness raises a critical question: if essential systems are disrupted tomorrow, how effectively can Malaysia respond?
When disruption becomes a national crisis
Malaysia’s digital transformation is creating enormous opportunities. Growing investment in data centres, artificial intelligence and connected physical infrastructure is strengthening the country’s position as a regional technology hub. With more than RM385 billion in approved data-centre investments and Malaysia controlling 13% of global semiconductor packaging and testing, digital growth makes the national attack surface significantly larger and Malaysia a more attractive target.
Essential services increasingly rely on interconnected digital infrastructure, so a disruption at one organisation can quickly cascade and spread to impact others.
To bolster national resilience, governments must not only aim to prevent attacks, but have the capability to maintain operations when prevention fails.
Operating through a crisis: secure communications
Sovereign, secure communications are essential to national resilience, and consumer apps hosted offshore cannot meet that need.
During a major cyber incident, natural disaster or infrastructure failure, government agencies, emergency responders and critical infrastructure operators must exchange sensitive information, verify instructions and coordinate decisions quickly.
When systems are compromised, operators may have to move into “isolation mode”, disconnecting from networks to contain the threat. But isolation mode does not mean working alone. The ability to communicate securely with colleagues, external partners and regulatory authorities through an out-of-band channel is essential for navigating a crisis successfully and ensuring long-term operational resilience.
Consumer messaging platforms also create a blind spot: metadata. Even when message content is encrypted, metadata reveals who is communicating with whom, when, where and how frequently. During an emergency or national security incident, an adversary using AI to analyse these patterns can map operational hierarchies, command structures and crisis intentions without ever decrypting a single word. Encryption is not the same as trust.
How emergency teams confirm that instructions are genuine, and how officials communicate when usual networks are down, must be answered before a crisis, not during one.
Preparedness requires trusted identities, protected communications, clear responsibilities and alternative channels that remain available during disruption.
Sovereignty is also about control
Digital sovereignty is not just about where information is stored. It is about control: who can access sensitive information, who controls critical systems, and who can switch government communications off.
As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in government and essential services, verifying information and authenticating the people issuing instructions becomes critical. AI-generated voices and deepfake videos are increasingly indistinguishable from reality, so recognising a voice or face on a call will no longer prove identity.
Criminals and threat actors can clone officials in real time, but they cannot clone a cryptographic key. Cryptographic identity verification and trusted, out-of-band channels must be built directly into official communications to protect decision-makers against AI-enabled fraud and misinformation during an emergency.
What this looks like in practice
Malaysia is showing what public and private sector collaboration can achieve, and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has been committed to building national capability.
Since opening its doors in 2024, the MCMC and BlackBerry Cybersecurity Center of Excellence has trained over 12,000 cyber-defenders. It has also become an internationally recognised facility, attracting investment from the Government of Canada to support training for Malaysia’s workforce and cyber-defenders from across ASEAN.
Alongside MCMC and NACSA, industry partners, including BlackBerry, are supporting the Government Secure Communications initiative, helping public sector organisations and NCII entities adopt sovereign, secure communications practices and technology.
The same spirit of collaboration extends to frontline preparedness, with agencies, operators and technology providers working together on inter-agency communications for floods, fires and major events. During the 2025 ASEAN Summit events in Malaysia, the ASEAN Secretariat used secure communications technology, including BlackBerry’s AtHoc and
SecuSUITE, to help securely coordinate hundreds of personnel managing thousands of visitors and world leaders.
Preparedness must become practical
Cyber threats, extreme weather and infrastructure failures do not respect borders or government departments. National preparedness demands coordinated action.
The next step is ensuring that preparedness translates into operational resilience.
That means testing communications during simulated outages and isolation scenarios, establishing secure coordination between agencies, infrastructure operators and regulators, and ensuring decision-makers can continue sharing trusted information when normal systems fail.
The Prime Minister’s warning is not a cause for alarm, but a catalyst for practical preparation. The Government has already shown real foresight, with early action from NACSA, a clear priority on sovereign, secure communications, stronger inter-agency coordination, and investment in capacity-building. These are strong foundations to build upon. – November 9, 2026
***Christine Gadsby is the Chief Security Advisor of BlackBerry Secure Communications