Malay Weasel range coincides with the distribution of Sundaic evergreen broad-leafed forest: most records come from this habitat. It is possible that it strictly avoids more seasonal areas: there are no records from southeast Borneo (most of which has a distinct dry season), although this might simply be an artefact of limited survey there (Duckworth et al. 2006). Many records come from lightly to heavily encroached areas. There are also several from plantations and even peri-urban fringes, although there is insufficient information to determine whether such areas are permanently occupied, let alone capable of supporting subpopulations in isolation from native forest. Little is known about the species' natural history, although it is evidently diurnal (Ross et al. 2013). It is probably similar to other weasels in other aspects: it is likely to be solitary, mostly ground-dwelling and so potentially exposed to generalised snaring and other forms of trapping. However, the distribution of recent records in deforested areas, even urban sites, indicates a high tolerance to human activities (Duckworth et al. 2006).

Malay Weasel is confined to three large land-masses of Sundaic Southeast Asia: the Thai-Malay peninsula, and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo; in all three, it is widespread (Duckworth et al. 2006). Confusion about the existence of this species on Java stems from an error in the original description, which is occasionally still repeated today, e.g. by Wilson and Reeder (2005), where the holotype was said to come from Java (Duckworth et al. 2006). The northernmost record is from Thailand at 10°N (Chutipong et al. 2014). This species is altitudinally wide-ranging, with records from sea-level up to 1,700 m asl, including many records up to 1,400 m asl (Duckworth et al. 2006, Ross et al. 2013).

As of 2006, Malay Weasel was protected in Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, but neither in Sarawak nor in Indonesia (based on the ARCBC database). This species has been reported from many protected areas within its range (Duckworth et al. 2006, Ross et al. 2013, Chutipong et al. 2014). There are no identified conservation needs other than the maintenance of the protected area system across its range.