Probe into data leak ongoing

PUTRAJAYA: An inspection was carried out by the authorities at the AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd office to assist in a probe into the alleged data leak involving five million of the airline’s passengers and staff.

Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said that during the inspection – conducted by the Personal Data Protection Department (JPDP) and Cybersecurity Malaysia (CSM) on Thursday – several documents and equipment were taken by the officers for investigation purposes.

Speaking to the media after his first monthly assembly with his ministry staff here yesterday, Fahmi said he could not comment further on the cause of the alleged data leak as the investigation was still ongoing.

“All I can say is action has been taken and the investigation continues today (yesterday),” Bernama reported him as saying.

Last month, the personal data of five million passengers and all employees of AirAsia was reported to have been compromised by hacker group Daixin Team, with the group claiming responsibility for the ransomware attack that allegedly hit the airline on Nov 11 and 12.

According to a recent report in The Star, the sample of personal data on one of the files reportedly included passenger IDs, full names, and booking IDs, while the second file was said to contain data pertaining to employee details including photos, secret questions and answers (likely for account recovery), nationality, date of birth, country of birth, location and date hired.

Daixin Team was the focus of a joint Cybersecurity Advisory from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Department of Health and Human Services back in late October, following ransomware attacks and extortion attempts aimed at US-based healthcare businesses.

In another development, Fahmi denied that he had issued an order to ban preacher Dr Ridhuan Tee Abdullah from appearing on a television talk show, Forum Perdana Ehwal Islam, saying that the programme was not under his jurisdiction.

“No,” he said briefly when asked by reporters about the matter.