KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Modern societies and governments cannot afford to ignore cyber threats, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said, local media reported on Wednesday.

    Cyber threats were different from common Internet crimes like identity theft and money fraud, he said on Tuesday.

    "It involves the use of technology to divert or destroy systems and infrastructure, causing injury or death and even undermining economies and institutions.

    "It is frightening to imagine the possible human and economic toll if the computer systems that control telecommunications networks, emergency services, nuclear power plants or major dams were to be brought down or thrown into disarray by perpetrators in cyberspace."

    Badawi said this in his keynote address at the opening of the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Terrorism World (Impact) Cyber Security Summit 2008. The three-day summit, which started on Tuesday, had attracted representatives from 30 countries.

    Even if one discounted the risk of human casualties, he said the economic loss that could be caused by cyber-disruption or attack should be the reason for governments to sit up and take notice.

    A cyber-disruption that caused a nationwide blackout or a collapse of financial trading systems could undermine even the strongest of economies.

    To add to the complexity, Abdullah said a cyber-disruption could be planned and executed from anywhere in the world, without the perpetrators having to set foot in the target country.

    "Ironically, the more wired a country is, the more vulnerable it is to cause massive harm," the New Straits Times quoted Badawi as saying.

    As part of Malaysia's commitment towards Impact, the first global public-private initiative against cyber-terrorism, he said the government had approved and disbursed a 13 million U.S. dollars grant.

    "More than half of this initial funding is being utilized by Impact to build its secretariat in Malaysia's high-tech city of Cyberjaya," Badawi said.

    The prime minister also appealed to the private sectors and academia of other nations to assist and contribute to Impact.

    "These contributions need not be financial, they can be in the form of equipment, expertise or people," he said.

    To guide the activities of Impact, a high-level international advisory board has been established and its inaugural meeting chaired by Badawi took place here on Tuesday.