Act of malicious intent not ruled out in KLIA disruption


PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is not ruling out the possibility that the recent network failure at the KL International Airport (KLIA) and KLIA2 was caused by an “act of malicious intent”.

MAHB group chief executive officer Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin said the organisation would let the authorities handle the situation.

On its part, he said MAHB remained committed to providing the highest quality of service and would continue to monitor the situation and ensure smooth operations.

Raja Azmi said despite the network disruption in the last few days, the group wished to reassure the public that security at the airport remains intact.

“This is possible due to the close cooperation with the Immigration Department and the police. While we have extended all possible assistance to the airlines during this period, the same level of assistance and understanding was also given to us by the airlines.

“We would like to take this opportunity to once again express our sincere gratitude to our airline and agency stakeholders for coming together and providing the best fall-back solutions,” said Raja Azmi, who also thanked passengers and the public for their patience.

The systems disruption, which began last Wednesday, affected key functions at the airports such as WiFi connection, flight information display system (FIDS), check-in counters and baggage-handling. Scores of flights were delayed.

The National Cyber Security Agency said there was no evidence of a cyberattack, adding that the preliminary findings by MAHB indicated that the disruption was due to network equipment failure.

Meanwhile, the Immigration Department has rubbished claims that foreigners, including three million Chinese nationals, had slipped into the country during the chaos.

“When the MAHB system at KLIA suffered issues, the process of inspecting the entry of foreigners was conducted by the department manually, and all visitors had to adhere to standard operating procedures.

“All security measures had been increased, including surveillance and enforcement action at the arrival and departure halls, as well as the satellite area,” director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud said in a statement yesterday.

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