Hisham: Data leak won't affect national security

KUALA LUMPUR: The Defence Ministry has systems in place to prevent any issues stemming from the latest data leak from affecting national security, says Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

The Defence Minister said he was confident that the country's relevant intelligence agencies were prepared for any eventuality arising from the leak.

“I think that we are equipped, to the best of our abilities... This sort of threat does not jeopardise national security,” he said Friday (May 20) when met at the pre-launch of the Defence Ministry Housing Blueprint 3.0 at a Satu Anggota Satu Rumah (SaSaR) housing project site here.

ALSO READ: Bukit Aman opens probe into alleged data leak

Earlier, Bukit Aman said it had begun a probe into allegations that a database being sold online contains the personal data of millions of Malaysians.

Local technology portal Amanz reported that the database, 160GB in size, is being sold for US$10,000 (RM43,950) on the dark web.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the alleged data leak containing information of 22.5 million Malaysians born between 1940 and 2004 did not come from the National Registration Department (NRD), despite earlier claims.

ALSO READ: Data leak containing info of 22.5 million Malaysians not from NRD, says Hamzah

On the housing project, Hishammuddin said 3,500 homes will be built on the site in Sungai Besi.

“Of that, 900 units are reserved for veterans,” he said.

The blueprint's full launch is scheduled for July and will be officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.