KUALA LUMPUR – The Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (Act 709) is insufficient as it cannot deal with data breaches involving government websites and systems, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said.
It governs personal data in commercial transactions, but needs to be “realigned” to deal with data leaks involving government websites, he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
“There is a need for the law to be realigned to current needs, given the security and data breaches involving government websites and systems recently,” he said.
As such, Fahmi (Lembah Pantai-PH) said the government is mulling the need to create a national cyber security commission to protect the nation’s digital data.
“The commission should include the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa) and Cyber Security Malaysia (CSM), and other bodies needed to ensure that our (digital data) vulnerability is at the minimum – as well as to avoid hackers from misusing our data.
“This will be presented in the Dewan Rakyat soon,” he added.
Fahmi was responding to Lim Guan Eng (Bagan-PH) who questioned what the government was doing in the case of the Penang state government’s website which was hacked and caused the personal data of some 600,000 people to be leaked.
In a supplementary question, Lim also asked about the Auditor-General’s Report 2021 that revealed a “Super Admin” account had downloaded data on three million vaccine recipients from MySejahtera.
Lim also mentioned figures from cybersecurity company Fortinet which said Malaysia recorded over 80 million cyberattacks last year.
At a later press conference in Parliament, Fahmi said he has instructed the CSM to investigate the matter involving the MySejahtera data breach, and the agency will announce the outcome soon.
“This is important. A lot of people are concerned. I believe that the government, especially the police, will conduct a thorough investigation on it.”
Meanwhile, Fahmi advised government ministries, state governments, and agencies to use the service of CSM to tackle the issue of data vulnerability.
Fahmi also said the government has been discussing with other Asean countries on quantum cryptography to increase the security of data by increasing the encryption levels.
“We are also trying to do a national cyber security audit. We hope that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (Tambun-PH) will announce good news about the government’s emphasis on cyber security here tomorrow,” he added.
Later, answering a separate question by Prabakaran M Parameswaran (Batu-PH) about the use of chat applications such as Telegram, Wechat and Michat that could have a negative influence on youth, Fahmi said that the government has yet to have any restrictions to allow or disallow such apps and their online platforms.
“We can take legal action against individuals who upload content that is against the law, but we are not taking action against platform providers.
“These online platforms can be used positively – only when used with malicious intent do they have a very negative impact. Like any app, good or bad depends on our intentions,” he said.
Fahmi said the government is encouraging people to use social media and chat platforms for personal development such as growing their businesses, including those in rural areas. – The Vibes, February 23, 2023
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