Published: Thursday November 15, 2012 MYT 5:44:00 PM

RM3.3mil lost through electronic hacking this year

KUALA LUMPUR: Twenty four cases of electronic hacking involving RM3.3mil in losses were reported between January and September this year.

Commercial Crime director Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said government enforcement officers and personnel using smartphones in their work should exercise care and ensure the secrecy of duties remained intact.

He said that although technology could facilitate work in the context of government information management, it was still subject to the Official Secrets Act 1972.

"In managing government secrets and information, government officers and personnel are not allowed to copy such information into personal gadgets, such as smartphones, as hacking such information could be compromised," he told Bernama.

Syed Ismail said government departments had their own standard operating procedure in securing the safety of documents, and they could not be transferred into personal items such as mobile phones or thumbdrives.

Although there had been no report of information leak currently, it was imperative to take precautionary measures from time to time, he said.

He cautioned that the fear of electronic hacking should not be underestimated due to internet cheating by syndicates.

"Thus, it is not impossible for government secrets to become the target of syndicates selling such information to external parties," noted Syed Ismail.

In June, last year, the issue of cyber security was raised when at least 41 government agency websites experienced disruption after being hacked.

However, personal and financial data were secure, according to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. In the attack by a group of international hackers who called themselves 'Anonymous', 51 government agency websites fell victim to the gang.

Earlier, Bernama reported CyberSecurity Malaysia business development chief Mohd Anwer Mohamed Yusoff as saying that the country recorded about RM2.75bil in losses in the last five years, from cyber crimes in the financial sector. - Bernama

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