.jpg "Fahmi Fadzil (left) addresses members of the media during a press conference at the Lembah Pantai Parliamentary Office, Kuala Lumpur February 7, 2018. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Zuraneeza Zulkifli")
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 ― PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil filed a civil suit against the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Nuemera (M) Sdn Bhd yesterday for alleged failure to protect 46.2 million personal information.
The suit was triggered by a massive date breach that is believed to have occurred in 2014.
“In this digital era, our personal infomation has become the basis of our day to day transaction. The public needs to know that they can trust and feel confident about the institutions and parties who are entrusted of such duties, can stay true to their responsibilities.
“The massive data breach questions the fidelity and integrity of the safety mechanism in place to protect our personal data and those who are responsible for it,'' he said.
Fahmi said it is incomprehensible that such a breach of 46.2 million personal data, almost 1.5 times of the Malaysian population, was leaked online and news of the incident was only made public last year.
“To date there has yet to be any arrest or parties prosecuted on the matter. In a mature democracy, such a scandal would have led to the people responsible resigning or contract of the entrusted company terminated. However, it seems to be business as usual.
“This issue is a great matter of public interest. Private data such as our identification card numbers, home addresses and phone numbers at the time of the breach were leaked. This puts us all at risk,” he said.
“I believe the public wish to know how the theft occurred and what are the measure taken by the authorities to contain the breach. We hope through the suit, such questions can be answered as we seek justice for all Malaysians,” Fahmi added.
It was reported that the police investigation the case have traced the breach to Nuemera who handles the Public Cellular Blocking Services (PCBS).
PCBS was launched by MCMC in 2014 to block lost or stolen mobile phones using its unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.
The breach was reported in October last year by online website Lowyat.net but MCMC later asked the online forum to take down the news.
In January 23, Lowyat.net also reported another case of personal data breach which involved the personal details of around 220,000 Malaysian organ donors and their next-of-kin that have been leaked online since September 2016.
Lawyer Syahredzan Johan is acting for Fahmi Fadzil.
