Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication Jilid 39(1) 2023: 336-352 E-ISSN: 2289-1528 https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2023-3901-19 Security Threats to Privacy Data of Malaysian Youth’s: Online Transaction and Communication SHARIFFAH MAMAT Institute For Youth Research Malaysia (IYRES) WAN AMIZAH WAN MAHMUD ARINA ANIS AZLAN Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ABSTRACT The new norms during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the increased usage of the online medium. The International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that millions of people were forced to stay at home during difficult situations (2020). Both the government and corporate sectors are changing the landscape of their services to online services. Apart from its benefits, the rapid adoption of technology also increases the risk of data breaches among individuals' personal information. This article focuses on the intention factor as a motivation to protect the security of personal data among the youth. A total of 535 respondents in the range of 19 to 30 years old from Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. They are randomly selected using a multistage cluster sampling method. A set of questionnaires were distributed online during the Movement Control Order (MCO) that hit all over the world including Malaysia. To analyse factors affecting the Malaysian youth in protecting the security of personal data the multiple linear regression analysis was applied. This article reports the intention factor has a dominant influence in motivating Malaysian youth to protect the security of their data. Additionally, findings showed that family connection and online banking transactions as the main factors in using online compared to other motives measured in this study. Therefore, Malaysian youths should be given the knowledge and awareness to keep on vigilant and protect their data security. Their motivations need to be nurtured to ensure that Malaysian youth’s personal data remain protected even if they are actively interacting online. Keywords: Intention, threat assessment, coping skills, data privacy, youth, online . INTRODUCTION 2019 was the starting point when the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the pandemic of coronavirus (COVID-19) that had spread throughout the globe (World Health Organization, 2020). Such a health crisis had never occurred in the history of human civilization which caused the world to stall in 2020 (Ahmad, 2022). In its early stages, the outbreak was identified only as an epidemic in Wuhan, China and then unexpectedly spread out rapidly from China to other countries where Malaysia was no exception. On 24th January 2020, WHO reported the precedent case had spread in Malaysia, and the topmost total number of daily cases reported was on 20 August 2021 at 23,564 cases (Ministry of Health Malaysia, 2021). Approaching the year 2022, the daily cases had declined and on January 1st, 2022, 3,386 cases were recorded and cumulatively Covid-19 cases in Malaysia totalled to 2,761,472 (Ministry of Health, 2022). The implications of this pandemic have changed the landscape of entire human life to adapt to the new norms. The coronavirus catastrophe is accompanied by a new change in norms that is so drastic and triggers opportunities for cybercrime or cyber threat that are unprecedented (Gil, Llinares, Moneva, Kemp & Castano, 2021; Ribeiro, Burkhardt &