Education Ministry confirms online school exam analysis system suspended

PETALING JAYA: The Education Ministry's online school examination analysis system, Sistem Analisis Peperiksaan Sekolah (SAPS), has been suspended due to security concerns over an alleged attack on the system.  

Its Minister Dr Maszlee Malik apologised for the alarm caused by the issue, adding that he was personally looking into it.  

He said the ministry has taken immediate action and is currently analysing the claims that were sent to them on Saturday (June 9).  

"As a precautionary measure, I have instructed the ministry to temporarily shut down the system.  

"At the same time, we are conducting an in-depth security analysis to identify weaknesses in our system and will take immediate action once we have a solution in place," he said in a statement on Sunday (June 10).  

The Star received an anonymous e-mail claiming that the site, introduced in July 2011 to centralise examination results from all states, was vulnerable to an attack called SQL Injection.  

This technique, according to the tip-off, allows an attacker to retrieve student data stored on the site, covering approximately 10,000 national primary schools and secondary schools.  

The e-mail alleged that 4.9 million student details, along with their parents' MyKad numbers, could be compromised.  

The e-mail also carried a large attachment containing multiple text files with what looked like student records.  

Dr Maszlee said that in the long term, the Ministry would update its project and risk management process for their projects to prevent the recurrence of such an incident.  

He said that all their websites and applications will run as usual.  

"I truly appreciate everyone's feedback and concern over the issue.  

"I strongly believe that the rakyat's views are crucial in all matters pertaining to the Ministry. We need continuous input from everyone as we work together to make the necessary reforms in our Ministry," he said.  

The SAPS aims to measure students' academic performance and enable better administration.  

Teachers are required to key in students' examination results into this database, allowing parents to have real-time access to their children's academic results.