PETALING JAYA: The government should conduct a transparent and thorough investigation into the alleged listing of a mammoth national registration department (JPN) dataset, says an aide to DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.
Tech website Lowyat.net yesterday reported that a JPN dataset, which has the entire population of the country born between 1940 and 2004 – or more than 22 million people – was on sale for US$10,000 (RM43,870) at a database marketplace forum.
The seller claimed the personal data includes the names, identity card numbers, addresses and photographs, with data from the Election Commission (EC) website also allegedly up for sale.
“The government should not take such allegations lightly as it involves the public’s confidence in the security of personal data stored in the databases of statutory bodies, departments and government agencies,” said Syahredzan Johan, who is Lim’s political secretary.
“If it is true that there was a leak of personal data from the databases of departments and public bodies, it is a serious security breach and exposes the public to various risks, including fraud and identity theft – and this also affects national security.”
This comes after a JPN database containing personal details of four million Malaysians was claimed to have been on sale at a database marketplace forum last September, with the database also allegedly containing information from the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) website.
Denying the report, home minister Hamzah Zainudin said there were no data breaches at JPN, stressing that the firewall of the data security control system was secure.-FMT