Home minister: 22 million Malaysians’ data leaked from NRD

Malaysia – According to Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, the purported sale of personal information of 22.5 million Malaysians was not carried out by the National Registration Department (NRD), which was widely reported on across various social media platforms.

“We (at the ministry) have a system to check that the leaked information did not come from the NRD, so you don’t have to worry about that.

“As in previous cases, the sale of data involves several agencies that we have given some leeway (for them) to obtain information from the department,” he told the reporters during the open house hosted by the Home Ministry on May 18. 

According to Hamzah, the ministry is conducting a probe into the matter, and it has been discovered that the data that was sold was a compilation of data collected by sellers from several different sources.

“All persons engaged in the selling of personal data would be summoned in to participate in the investigation and the results would be released shortly,” he added. “The findings would be disclosed in the coming days.”

After that, Hamzah said that the standard operating procedure (SOP) to gather personal data through the agencies that fall under NRD would be subject to a review.

“The NRD considers that there is a need for personal data to be collected directly from the department responsible so that concerns like these do not occur,” he added. “The NRD feels that it is necessary for personal data to be received directly from the department concerned.”

Earlier, a telecommunication and technology portal known as Lowyat.net reported that there were alleged sales of personal data of more than 22 million Malaysians, as well as, identification card verification snapshots of 800,000 individuals belonging to the NRD and Election Commission (EC) via online. In addition, there were alleged sales of identification card verification snapshots of 800,000 individuals belonging to the NRD.