Data breach: LowYat and JobStreet admins were called in probe

KUALA LUMPUR: The administrators (admins) of technology portal LowYat.net and recruitment site JobStreet were among the witnesses called in the investigation into the massive data leak first reported in October. 

“It is still too early to identify the mastermind behind the incident. The police have called several witnesses who have been identified to give their statements,” said Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Jailani Johari. 

“Among the witnesses called were the administrators of the websites LowYat.net and JobStreet.my, the telecommunications companies, the Malaysian Medical Association, and other individuals who can help in the investigation,” he said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara sitting here on Tuesday. 

Jailani was replying a question from Senator S. Chandra Mohan who wanted to know the outcome of the investigations into the leakage of the personal data of 46.2 million mobile phone users recently. 

The leak of personal data involving 46.2 million mobile phone subscribers occurred in 2014 and did not involve the latest data, Jailani confirmed. 

He said investigations were conducted by the police, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the Personal Data Protection Department under Section 4 of the Computer Crimes Act 1997 (Act 563) and Section 130 of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (Act 709). 

Jailani said MCMC had also contacted each of the telecommunications companies and instructed that they check every system transaction to ensure that there was no hacking or leakage of data.

The data breach was first reported by LowYat.net on Oct 19, after somebody tried to sell the data on its forums. -Bernama