KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — The Immigration Department’s official website is expected to be restored and accessible to the public later today after remedial action to an earlier cyber-attack, said Datuk Ruslin Jusoh.

The Immigration director-general said the department took the website offline earlier in order to perform repairs as well as implement new security measures.

“The Immigration Department’s information technology division had liaised with the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa) and CyberSecurity to assist in enhancing the website’s security.

“The department’s website is expected to be up and operating normally by this evening,” said Ruslin in a statement today.

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The department’s official website became inaccessible earlier today after it was defaced in a cyber-attack by a person or group named “CaptainSmok3r”.

Ruslin said the cyber-attack was detected at 2am when the front page of the department’s website was defaced and changed to another image display.

“However, the immigration related services such as myIMMs, SSPI and others were not affected by the incident.

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“No information was leaked out. We urge the public to refrain from making assumptions or speculations that may cause confusion and disrupt public order,” said Ruslin.

Earlier, the attacker said the intrusion was done “just for fun.”

Last year, National Security Council director-general Datuk Rodzi Md Saad, citing data from Nacsa, admitted to a rise in cyber intrusion incidents.

He said the council was serious in strengthening cybersecurity and boosting awareness to protect Malaysians from cyber threats.