KUALA LUMPUR – The National Registration Department (NRD) has confirmed that there was no leak of its personal database, said Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.
The home minister said the firewall used is highly secure.
“My ministry has always ensured the security and integrity of data on Malaysians under NRD,” he told a press conference at Bukit Aman today.
“So, do not fret about the data kept by NRD. My ministry will ensure all agencies using MyIdentity by NRD take stringent measures.”
Hamzah was commenting on the purported sale of Malaysians’ data, news of which went viral in a forum recently.
“NRD has taken quick high-security actions, and has always complied with the policy of the MyIdentity system’s usage to prevent data breaches by irresponsible parties.”
He said on Monday, the department confirmed having detected a post in an online forum highlighting an allegation on the sale of Malaysians’ data obtained from the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) via the sharing of MyIdentity information.
“The data on four million Malaysians born from 1979 to 1989 was offered for sale at 0.2 BTC (bitcoin), which is equivalent to RM35,495.
“NRD has reported the matter to IRB to investigate whether a data leak had taken place in the (latter) agency.”
He said NRD yesterday lodged reports with police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to enable investigations to be carried out.
“Yesterday, a discussion was held with the National Cyber Coordination and Command Centre and IRB, among others, which touched on the issue, as well as the method of sharing MyIdentity with IRB and security controls pertaining to the related data.
“NRD also confirmed that no such case has happened before.”
IRB in a statement yesterday denied a report claiming that data on four million Malaysians was leaked via MyIdentity’s application programming interface.
The tax authority said it is only a user, and not owner, of the MyIdentity system. – Bernama, September 29, 2021
