KUALA LUMPUR – Investigations are being carried out by the police into claims by a hacker group that they possess data on salaries paid to civil servants, including elected lawmakers and high-ranking government officials.
Having brought up the claims on September 7, the hacker group subsequently demanded a response from the government by September 12, claiming that their payroll system had been breached, as reported by Chinese daily Sin Chew.
“We had informed them that the damage has already been done, and that if we do not get any response, we will make the data available for sale,” said the hacker group in a brief notice to the media.
The group has even sent a screenshot containing salary details of current and former civil servants.
Instead, the hacker group further claimed that the government had immediately shut down their payroll system instead of responding directly to them.
Despite this purported reaction by the government, the group intends to sell the stolen data from next Monday (September 19) onwards.
KLIA district police chief Imran Abd Rahman had confirmed to the Chinese daily that a police report on the incident was lodged by the National Audit Department.
Investigations are being carried out under Section 507 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation by anonymous communication and Section 4(1) of the Computer Crimes Act 1997 (Act 563), which covers unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offence, said Imran.
Imran briefly stated that no arrests have been made so far, with the investigation still ongoing. – The Vibes, September 16, 2022
