A few weeks back, it was reported that an anonymous person had put for sale personal data belonging to 22 million Malaysians.
According to the reports, the personal data was taken from databases belonging to the National Registration Department (NRD) and the Election Commission and included information such as names, NRIC numbers, addresses, mobile numbers and even photos of individuals.
The offer for sale was made on an online forum, and the price put up was about US$10,000 per database. To ‘prove’ the authenticity of the claim, the seller had put up information allegedly belonging to the Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin.
Unfortunately, this was not the first time that such a claim was made. In September last year, four million data said to be taken from NRD and the Inland Revenue Board and put on sale.
At the time, Hamzah denied that there was any personal data leak. A probe was announced, but nothing further was heard about the potential data breach.
Denied the breach
For this latest offer for sale, Hamzah swiftly denied that the breach came from the NRD. According to him, the Home Ministry had confirmed that the leak did not come from the department.
Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein meanwhile stated that the breach would not have any impact on national security.
One wonders how he could come to this conclusion, since if these personal data can be obtained, it would mean that the security and integrity of our country’s databases could also be under threat from outside forces.
The responses from these two ministers could be construed as a tacit admission that there was indeed a data leak; Hamzah said it did not come from the NRD, while Hishamuddin said it was not a security risk.
The police, meanwhile, have announced, again, that they would be investigating the matter.
News of this potential breach has, of course, caused anxiety and concern amongst the people. If indeed the claims of these online sellers are true, then it would expose millions of Malaysians to a whole host of issues, such as identity theft, fraud and breach of privacy. People are questioning the security of the personal data held by various state and government bodies and entities.
Calls from scammers
Many are complaining that they now get calls from scammers and spammers, and they suspect that their personal data is now in the hands of those who are not supposed to have it. It may be unrelated to the date up for sale, or it could be connected, but many have already made up their minds.
What is also clear from the responses to this issue is that many do not have faith that the government can and will do anything about the data leaks.
The response by the authorities has not restored faith in the people that anything substantial will be done.
The government must allay these fears. A full, thorough and transparent investigation must be carried out and the results made known to the public. If indeed there was a data breach, do not sweep it under the carpet. Own up and take steps to ensure that such a thing will not happen again.- Mkini
SYAHREDZAN JOHAN is a civil liberties lawyer and political secretary to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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