News & Reviews:   data leak

Back in March 2019, Malindo Air suffered a data breach which compromised the passenger records of over 45 million of its customers. While the airline (which has since been rebranded to Batik Air following the pandemic) announced that it has successfully contained the leak in September 2019, the consequence of the cybersecurity issue was not known until today, whereby the leaked data has been spotted in an online forum known for selling personal data.

Cybersecurity has been a hot topic in our country recently following a series of high-profile data leaks that have unfortunately affected Malaysians. If you’re in the dark about what to do to protect yourself in the digital world, then the following advice from global cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kaspersky could do you a world of good. 

Read on to learn of the measures that you can take to safeguard yourself from the adverse repercussions of a cybersecurity breach.

Previously, we reported that the federal government is investigating the iPay88 cybersecurity breach in which Malaysian consumers’ card data may have been compromised. Now, even Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has issued a statement regarding the incident, reassuring the people that the nation’s payment system remains safe and secure.

The Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Tan Sri Annuar Musa has confirmed that the government is aware of the cybersecurity breach affecting online payment provider iPay88. Moreover, he revealed that the government has begun investigating the matter.

Just recently, there was a huge personal data leak from a website that was trying to sell information from JPN and MySejatera. Although the website is no longer active, it was a worrying issue that the website allowed any Malaysian to be searched from their IC number to even if they are working in the police/military.

The Malaysia Computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT) has warned Malaysians of cybercriminals that are using malicious Android apps to target internet users in our country. Through a campaign called ‘SMSSpy’, these cybercriminals are utilising mischievous tactics to steal and obtain users’ private banking information.

Shockingly, it's reported that the personal data of millions of Malaysians by birth year from 1998 to 1979 have been leaked. According to an IT expert from Twitter, the data is currently on sale on a forum that can only be accessed using a virtual private network (VPN).

Cybersecurity is so important these days, but some platforms just can't do it well. It's worse when financial sites are the ones with poor security, as the consequences can be dire. This was proven when it was found that E-Pay Malaysia got hacked.

Data breaches are never fun, but it's not always the hackers that are at fault. Sometimes it's a mistake on a company's end and that's the case for Razer in a recent goof up. A security researcher discovered that the data of over 100000 Razer customers were recently exposed.

If you still remember the "Remove China Apps" news, looks like it's not over yet. According to sources, it seems that the India intelligence officials have taken this matter into their own hands and actually prepared a list of apps that are deemed "dangerous" in terms of security risk.