‘Amend PDPA immediately given leak of millions of personal data’

KUALA LUMPUR – A PKR lawmaker has urged for an immediate amendment to beef up the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) after some 100 million sets of personal data were reportedly compromised over the last five years. 

Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil said this amendment is crucial seeing that instances of stolen data continue to be rampant in the country, with the latest leak being recorded just a week ago. 

This is in reference to the 2,000 Excel files containing more than 1.7 million sets of personal data linked to the Pikas programme being easily accessible from the International Trade and Industry Ministry website. 

Pikas is a public-private partnership immunisation programme aimed at employees in the manufacturing sector, coordinated by the ministry. 

Fahmi expressed concern that the data reported as compromised are stolen from companies and agencies under the various government ministries. 

According to Fahmi, attempts to amend the PDPA were made by the previous Pakatan Harapan government under the then communications and multimedia minister Gobind Singh Deo, but there has been no update to the status of the review since the change in administration in March 2020. 

“I urge the current minister and the personal data protection commissioner to explain the status of the PDPA review, as well as measures that have been taken to guarantee the safety of Malaysians’ personal data. 

“The minister must utilise the coming Parliament proceeding beginning July 18 to table the amendment to the act. 

“God willing, I will also submit a private member's bill for the amendment in the same Parliament session,” he said in a statement today. 

The opposition lawmaker went on to highlight eight incidents of data leaks that had occurred since 2017, including the selling of the personal details of 22.5 million Malaysians supposedly stolen by hackers from the National Registration Department. 

Another major incident was in October 2017, when the personal details of some 46.2 million mobile number subscribers in the country were compromised in what is believed to be one of the largest data breaches recorded here. 

Fahmi pointed out that despite the scale of the leaks, only one high-profile case has been brought to court, involving the data breach of around 30 million Malindo Air passengers. “Other high-profile cases involving over 70 million personal data either have not been taken to court or the results of the investigation by the ministries and agencies involved are unknown to the public. 

“This situation does not bode well for the rakyat or economy. 

“Where has all the stolen data gone ? Why is data theft still prevalent? Is the stolen data abused by criminals for scams or other illicit activities?” – The Vibes, June 6, 2022