The purpose of this study is to assess the level of cyber security awareness among Malaysians who utilize the

digital banking services. In addition to secondary data (such as journal articles, books, websites, and news

Keywords: Cyber security, digital banking, cyber-attacks, multi-factor authentication

Due to the growing digitalization of financial services, improving cyber security in digital banking has become

essential in Malaysia. The risk of cyber-attacks has considerably increased as more Malaysians conduct financial

transactions online or via mobile devices. The Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia) has made

many measures to enhance cyber security in digital banking in order to address these threats. Guidelines for the

Management of Cyber Risk are one of these projects. Bank Negara Malaysia released guidelines in 2013 to help

financial institutions manage cyber risk. These recommendations emphasized the significance of putting

appropriate security measures in place to identify and stop cyber-attacks. In 2018, Bank Negara Malaysia

published a cyber security framework that mandates the implementation of comprehensive cyber security

services 24 hours a day, and they can simply transact and manage their accounts from anywhere in the world

(Dr. S. Nagaraju, 2022). However, despite how simple and straightforward banking-related activities are, cyber

security is one area that needs to be given priority. The information and data banking is quite private. It is

susceptible to online threats including hacking, data theft, and others. As the number of people using digital

banking rises and its use spreads, this is becoming more and more the case. Cyber security threats are a growing

concern for the digital banking industry in Malaysia. According to a survey conducted by the Malaysian

computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT), there was a 102% increase in reported cyber incidents in the

banking and financial sector in Malaysia in 2019 compared to the previous year (Kuan, 2020). These incidents

range from ransomware attacks to phishing scams and can result in financial losses for individuals and businesses

alike. The Malaysian government has acknowledged the importance of cyber security in the financial sector and

intelligence and machine learning. They should also regularly update their security systems and conduct regular

vulnerability assessments to ensure that they are protected against the latest threats. Furthermore, customers need

to be educated on the importance of cyber security and how to protect themselves from cyber threats. Financial

institutions should provide regular security awareness training to their customers and ensure that their digital

banking platforms are user-friendly and secure.

In conclusion, cyber security is a critical issue that needs to be addressed in the digital banking sector in Malaysia.

Financial institutions and the government must work together to implement proactive measures to aware about

cyber security and protect customers’ data from cyber threats. Also, users of digital banking must aware how

important cyber security in digital banking. The aim of this research is to study the cyber security awareness

among digital banking users in Malaysia. The research objectives developed in this study based on the problem

According to Amar Johri and Shailendra Kumar (2023), traditional banks become more exposed to cyber-attacks

after cooperating with Fintech companies. In this era, nothing can save us from cyber-attacks, especially

financially. Nida Tariq (2018) also said cybercrimes as a technological disease are spreading very speedily in the

present era. Nothing is secure now and financial institutions are under great threat.

According to Juan Carlos Crisanto, et. Al (2017), Cyber-security regulations should require banks to develop

effective control and response frameworks for cyber- risk. On the authority of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)

(2020), the Bank endeavors to ensure the regulatory framework remains conducive for enablement of these

innovations in a safe and sound manner that supports transformation of the financial ecosystem to meet future

economic needs of the nation and promote sustainable and inclusive financial sector. According to David Smith

significant financial losses and reputational damage for both the institution and the individual. Therefore, MFA

is an important step in digital banking to enhance the security of customer accounts and maintain trust in financial

institutions. As stated by Amar Johri and et. al, (2022), users must realize that two-factor authentication is a

measure used to defend client bank accounts againts online intrusions.

Fig.1 Theoretical framework developed by Federico Sinigagliaa, et. al (2020)

The conceptual framework proposed for this study aims to visually represent the various constructs and variables

involved, and the connections between them. The independent variable includes three type of awareness: cyber-

attack, policies and regulations, and multi-factor authentications. Through a diagram, the framework outlines the

considerations. It serves as a guide for the gathering, measuring, and interpretation of data. Because it gives the

study direction and identifies what has to be done that may be valuable to the study, researchers believe that

research design is crucial. This study’s objective is cyber security awareness (independent variables) among

digital banking users (dependent variables).

This investigation was carried out utilising quantitative methods. According to Oberiri Destiny Apuke (2017),

quantitative research begins with the formulation of a problem, the development of a hypothesis or research

question, the evaluation of related literature, and the quantitative analysis of data. The best way to gauge the link

between the independent and dependent variables is through quantitative research. An independent variable

(sometimes called an experimental or predictor variable) is a variable that is being manipulated in an experiment

in order to observe the effect this has on a dependent variable (sometimes called an outcome variable). The

degree of confidence in decision-making, with the trustworthy analysis having a direct link with the occurrences

(Kassu Jilcha Sileyew, 2019). Primary data, according to Syed Muhammad Sajjad Kabir (2016), is knowledge

obtained from personal experience. Primary data, which is more reliable, authentic, and impartial, has not yet

For the purpose of providing the questionnaire to respondents in this study, a self- administered survey approach

is used. The questionnaire is divided into three pieces. Demographic data including gender, age, income,

education and occupation, and etc. were expected to be gathered in Section A. Section B then asks users in

Malaysia questions about cyber security awareness in digital banking using several Likert scale questions. In

addition, section C includes additional questions about cyber security awareness are awareness of cyber-attacks,

awareness of policies and regulations, and awareness of multi-factor authentication. The questions were designed

to ascertain respondents’ opinions on each component linked to cyber security awareness.

answer your research question(s) and accomplish your objectives. Non-probability sampling (or non-random

sampling) offers a variety of sample selection procedures, the majority of which incorporate an element of

subjective assessment.

surveys and serve as a source of data and evaluation.

Malaysia state is the primary focus of the investigation. The rationale for selecting this country is that Malaysia

is quickly expanding its use of digital banking. According to Ong Ching Chuan (2019), the year 2020 would be

an exciting year for Malaysian banking. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has issued rules that allow technology

companies and other non-financial entities to compete directly with traditional banks. Successful digital banks

often identify a market gap with adequate size and growth and develop a business strategy that caters to the

needs of that target group.

The purpose of pilot study is to test the feasibility of the questionnaire whether respondents can understand the

questions. In this study, the researcher select 40 respondents which are 10% of total respondents. Cronbach’s

The item PR2 describe respondents think current regulations in digital banking protect customers. There are

45.1% respondents strongly agree and 50.4% respondents agree on the statement. The table also shows that there

are 3.5% respondents are neutral on the statement. On the other hand, there are 1% respondents disagree and no

respondent strongly disagree.

or education from bank or other trusted sources to stay away and safe online. Next, CS4 states that respondents

will checked on a suspicious link or attachment in an email or message, or downloaded an app from an untrusted

source. There are 2.3% respondents strongly agree and 2% respondents agree on the statement. However, 12.8%

respondents feel neutral on the statement followed by 24.3% respondents disagree with the statement. Majority

of respondents strongly disagree (58.6%) with the statement.

Table 6: Gender

Table 9: Descriptive Statistics

The descriptive statistics of each independent variable (awareness of cyber-attacks, awareness of policies and

regulations, awareness of multi-factor authentications). Based on the table, all the independent variables have

almost similar value of mean. Awareness of policies and regulations has the highest mean at 4.38 subsequently

In contrast, standard deviation specifies how the data spread from the mean. From the study, awareness of multi-

factor authentications has the highest standard deviation at 0.53 followed by awareness of cyber-attacks at 0.44

while the lowest standard deviation is awareness of policies and regulations at 0.38. The standard deviation value

indicate that the data are not deviate from the mean.

positive value represents positive correlation between the variables while negative value represents negative

correlation between the variables. The zero value of coefficient indicate that there is no association between the

variables. The value of Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient is denoted by r.

The table indicates significant correlations ranging from 0.714 to 0.489. Among the three independent variables,

knowledge of cyber-attack has the highest coefficient value of 0.714. The value reflects a significant positive

relationship between knowledge of cyber assault and awareness of cyber security. The p-values for all variables

are less than 0.01 at the significance level, and two asterisks at the two-tailed test indicate that there is a

indicates that has strong positive correlation with awareness of cyber security. Furthermore, the R-value of

awareness of multi-factor authentications is 0.489 which is clearly shows strong positive relationship between

awareness of multi-factor authentications and awareness of cyber security.

0.856 which indicate all the three independent variables are highly correlated. The coefficient of determination,

R square is at 0.731 indicate that 73.1% of total variation in awareness of cyber security among digital banking

user can be explained by the independent variables (awareness of cyber-attack, awareness of policies and

regulations, and awareness of multi-factor authentications). The value of R Square is lower than 0.5 which is

considered a good value because there is high variance towards awareness of cyber security as the independent

variables in regression model. However, there is 26.9% remain unexplained in the variation. Hence, there are

other significant reasons of cyber security awareness among digital banking user not included for this research.

The significance value, p-value is 0.000 which is less than the alpha value, 0.05 is statistically significant. The

F-value is 358.143 is significant because when the F-value is higher, alternative hypotheses are well fit in the

model and accepted. Therefore, the significance of overall model is F (3,395) = 3858.143, p < 0.05. It shows that