PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has seen its fair share of cyberattacks, including data breaches, hacking, and ransomware, over the past few years.
In 2022, it was reported that the information of 22.5 million Malaysians born between 1940 and 2004 was stolen from the National Registration Department (NRD).
The 160GB database was put on sale for US$10,000 (RM43,400 at today’s rates) on the dark web.
Then Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the alleged leak was not from the department, adding that the protocol for agencies to obtain information from the NRD would be reviewed.
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In November 2022, it was reported that the personal data of more than 800,000 Malaysians, allegedly siphoned from the MySPR Daftar website, was being sold on an online forum for US$2,000 (RM8,700).
The payment was to be made in Bitcoin or Monero cryptocurrency.
The seller claimed that the database contained the information of 802,259 users, and included selfies and MyKad photos, which had been provided for online voting registration on the MySPR Daftar website through the electronic Know Your Cus-tomer (eKYC) system.
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A news portal recently reported that foreign hackers have been trying to breach the country’s military database almost daily.
The report claimed these hackers were trying to steal security data, including anything linked to the South China Sea.
In March this year, a hacker group known as SiegedSecurity claimed to have stolen 2.2GB of AirAsia data and uploaded it online to a file-hosting service.
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It made these claims via posts on its Telegram and X accounts, stating that the stolen data included “source code” and “sensitive files”.
Two folders were included in the upload to the file-hosting service, containing 174 files.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said in March that following the Palestine and Israel conflict, Malaysia recorded an average of 3,000 cyberattacks a day.
There was an increase in cyberattacks made against the national security system following Malaysia’s support for Palestine, he said.
