Gobind: Malaysia to update data protection laws

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is looking to update its data protection laws to prevent data breaches, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo (pic).

"The law has to be on par with European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, as data breaches nowadays not just occur locally, but stretch across globally," he said.

“We need to put in place a system to ensure data breaches don’t happen, and find ways to stop a breach immediately before it gets out of hand," he said. 

“We have to reinvent departments that work with these (regulations)," he added.

“It’s not enough to have a small team of people to deal with enforcing the Personal Data Protection Act 2010," he said at The Future of Digital Advertising In A Privacy-First World at Menara Star.

He said the Ministry is looking to work with other Asean countries to develop a framework on data protection too.

"The ministers in Asean met in June to discuss the issue. We will be meeting in December in Bali. Hopefully, we can come up with something," he added.