APJCR_2022_3_2_17

Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 17-33
Abbreviation: APJCR
e-ISSN: 2733-8096
Publication date: 31 December 2022
Received: 2 November 2022 / Received in Revised Form: 30 November 2022 / Accepted: 15 December 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22925/apjcr.2022.3.2.17

Clustering keywords to define cybersecurity: An analysis of Malaysian and ASEAN countries’ cyber laws

Siti Aeisha Joharry (Universiti Teknologi MARA, UiTM), MALAYSIA; Syamimi Turiman (Universiti Teknologi MARA, UiTM), MALAYSIA; Nor Fariza Mohd Nor (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM), MALAYSIA
Copyright 2022 APJCR

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

While the term is nothing new, ‘cybersecurity’ still seems to be defined quite loosely and subjectively depending on context. This is problematic especially to legal writers for prosecuting cybercrimes that do not fit a particular clause/act. In fact, what is more difficult is the non-existent single ‘cybersecurity law’ in Malaysia, rather than the current implementation of 10-related cyber security acts. In this paper, the 10 acts are compiled into a corpus to analyse the language used in these acts via a corpus linguistics approach. A list of frequent words is firstly investigated to see whether the so-called related laws do talk about cybersecurity followed by close inspection of the concordance lines and habitually associated phrases (clusters) to explore use of these words in context. The ‘compare 2 wordlist’ feature is used to identify similarities or differences between the 10 Malaysian cybersecurity related laws against a corpus of cyber laws from other ASEAN countries. Findings revealed that ASEAN cyber laws refer mostly to three cybersecurity dominant themes identified in the literature: technological solutions, events, and strategies, processes, and methods, whereas Malaysian cybersecurity-related laws revolved around themes like human engagement, and referent objects (of security). Although these so-called cyber related policies and laws in Malaysia are highlighted in the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA), their practical applications to combat cybercrimes remain uncertain. 

Keywords

Corpus Linguistics, Cyber Security, Cybercrimes, Information Security, National Cyber Policy

References

Adolphs, S., Brown, B., Carter, R., Crawford, P., & Sahota, O. (2004). Applying corpus linguistics in a health care context. Journal of Applied Linguistics1(1), 9-28.

Arowosaiye, Y. I. (2013). Evolution of Malaysian cyber laws and mechanism for secured online transactions. Pandecta Research Law Journal8(2), 117-126.

Baker, P., Gabrielatos, C., & McEnery, T. (2013). Sketching Muslims: A corpus driven analysis of representations around the word ‘Muslim’ in the British press 1998–2009. Applied Linguistics34(3), 255-278.

Banaji, S., Mejias, S., Kouts, R., Piedade, F., Pavlopoulos, V., Tzankova, I., Mackova, A., & Amnå, E. (2018). Citizenship’s tangled web: Associations, gaps and tensions in formulations of European youth active citizenship across disciplines. European Journal of Developmental Psychology15(3), 250-269.

Biber, D., Reppen, R., & Friginal, E. (2010). Research in corpus linguistics. In Kaplan, R. B. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp. 548-570). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Brenner, S. W., (2010). Cybercrime: Criminal Threats from Cyberspace. Santa Barbara: Praeger.

Craigen, D., Diakun-Thibault, N., & Purse, R. (2014). Defining cybersecurity. Technology Innovation Management Review4(10), 13-21. 

Fløttum, K., Gjesdal, A. M., Gjerstad, Ø., Koteyko, N., & Salway, A. (2014). Representations of the future in English language blogs on climate change. Global Environmental Change29, 213-222.

Gabrielatos, C., & Baker, P. (2008). Fleeing, sneaking, flooding: A corpus analysis of discursive constructions of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press, 1996-2005. Journal of English Linguistics36(1), 5-38.

Ghasiya, P., & Okamura, K. (2022). A hybrid approach to analyze cybersecurity news articles by utilizing information extraction & sentiment analysis methods. International Journal of Semantic Computing16(01), 135-160.

Hamin, Z. (2004). The legal response to computer misuse in Malaysia: The computer crimes act 1997. UiTM Law Review, 2, 210-234.

Jaspal, R., & Nerlich, B. (2014). When climate science became climate politics: British media representations of climate change in 1988. Public Understanding of Science23(2), 122-141.

Kim, D., & Park, J. (2019). Using keyword network analysis. Journal of Arts Psychotherapy15(1), 1-20.

Koteyko, N. (2010). Mining the internet for linguistic and social data: An analysis of ‘carbon compounds’ in web feeds. Discourse & Society21(6), 655-674.

Leech, G. (1991). The state of the art in corpus linguistics. In Ajimer, K., & Altenberg, B. (Eds.), English Corpus Linguistics (pp. 8-29). London: Longman.

Mat, B., Pero, S., Wahid, R., & Sule, B. (2019). Cybersecurity and digital economy in Malaysia: Trusted law for customer and enterprise protection. International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering8(3), 214-220.

McEnery, T., & Hardie, A. (2011). Corpus Linguistics: Method, Theory and Aractice. Cambridge University Press.

Mohamed Mizan, N. S., Ma’arif, M. Y., Mohd Satar, N. S., & Shahar, S. M. (2019). CNDS-cybersecurity: issues and challenges in ASEAN countries. International Journal of Advanced Trends in Computer Science and Engineering8(1.4), 113-119.

Reyes, A., Brittson, R., O’Shea, K., & Steele, J. (2011). The problem at hand. In Reyes, A., Brittson, R., O’Shea, K., & Steele, J. (Eds.), Cyber Crime Investigations: Bridging the Gaps between Security Professionals, Law Enforcement, and Prosecutors (pp. 1-22). Massachusetts: Elsevier.

Schatz, D., Bashroush, R., & Wall, J. (2017). Towards a more representative definition of cyber security. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law12(2), 52-74.

Skovgaard, J. (2014). EU climate policy after the crisis. Environmental Politics23(1), 1-17.

Supayah, G., & Ibrahim, J. (2016). An overview of cyber security in Malaysia. Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 6(4), 12-20.

Zukarnain, Z. A., Hashim, M. Z., Muhammad, N., Mansor, F. A., & Azib, W. N. H. W. (2020). Impact of training on cybersecurity awareness. Gading Journal of Science and Technology, 3(01), 114-120.

The Authors

Siti Aeisha Joharry is a senior lecturer in the Department of English Language and Linguistics at Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam. Her research interests include Corpus Linguistics, Corpus-assisted discourse analysis, and English for Professional Communication.

Syamimi Turiman is a senior lecturer in the Department of English Language and Linguistics at Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam. Her research interests include Corpus Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, and English for Professional Communication.

Nor Fariza Mohd Nor is an Associate Professor at the Center for Research in Language and Linguistics, UKM. Her areas of research interests are critical discourse analysis, corpus linguistics and digital humanities.

The Authors’ Addresses

First and Corresponding Author
Siti Aeisha Joharry
Lecturer
Department of English Language and Linguistics
Akademi Pengajian Bahasa
Universiti Teknologi MARA
40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA
E-mail: aeisha@uitm.edu.my

Co-authors
Syamimi Turiman
Lecturer
Department of English Language and Linguistics
Akademi Pengajian Bahasa
Universiti Teknologi MARA
40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA
E-mail: syamimituriman@uitm.edu.my

Nor Fariza Mohd Nor
Associate Professor
Center for Research in Language and Linguistics
Pusat Kajian Bahasa & Linguistik
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 Bangi, Selangor, MALAYSIA
E-mail: fariza@ukm.edu.my

DOI QR Code

DOI QR Code

☞ How to submit your manuscript to APJCR.