Syndicates made billions hacking into system

SEPANG: Syndicates have made billions of ringgit by hacking the Malaysian Immigration System (myIMMs) since 2010.

What’s worse, the breach in the system could mean that national security may have been compromised, said Immigration Depart­ment director-general Datuk Seri Sakib Kusmi.

He said the syndicates may have used myIMMs to facilitate human trafficking and even to allow suspected terrorists to freely move in and out of the country.

According to a source within the department, many blacklisted foreigners have gained entry into the country with the hacking as officers were unable to scan the details of a foreigner when there was a glitch in the system.

“In most cases, we rely on the little information that’s available in real-time and allow the foreigners to enter,” he said.

He added that myIMMs contained all information of foreigners, including their work permits, visa and biometric data.

He said a female student from Kyrgyzstan re-entered the country in 2013 but myIMMs record had no details about her.

“A year earlier, the system showed the 22-year-old had misused her study visa and was blacklisted but the myIMMs had no record of it,” the source said.

Sakib said the agents or syndicates, who are usually based abroad, give corrupt Immigration Department personnel the instructions to assist them in hacking the system.

The hackers would be unable to access the myIMMs system without inside help.

“When these people gain access to the system, they can look into many of our files and even approve or reject any application.

“They can also see all the other IDs (used by Immigration personnel to log in) and even create their own IDs,” said Sakib.

He claimed the hackers used high speed computers to hack into the system.

He added that the department’s intelligence team had been monitoring the matter since 2010 and action had been taken against several officers, including dismissal, pay cuts and disciplinary action.

“The activities were not very serious back then.

It became worse in 2014 and 2015 when it involved the issue of national security and caused the Government to incur losses in the millions.

Sakib said the situation now was very critical and those who had been penalised before were also helping in the sabotage.

“In the two years, equipment used by the syndicates were also found.

We have had many discussions with the vendors managing the system and they always say the system is intact.

“To me, there is no system that is 100% perfect. The deficiencies that I noticed in the early stages was with the management of the IDs.

“This is one of the things I regret not getting accurate information about,” he said, adding that some immigration officers might think of their IDs as a simple thing, not knowing that someone outside could use them to hack into the system.