KUALA LUMPUR: A suit has been filed against Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Nuemera Sdn Bhd yesterday over a massive data leak believed to have happened in 2014.
Fahmi Fadzil, who is also PKR strategic communications director said MCMC and Nuemera's failure in protecting the 46.2 million personal data of Malaysians was what prompted him to file the civil suit against the two parties.
"This civil suit is filed on the basis that both parties had failed to secure the safety of personal information of Malaysians," he said, adding that the public should be made aware of the seriousness of the matter.
"In this day and age, the security of personal information becomes important and the general public need to be assured that the institutions entrusted with these information can be trusted with handling our personal information.
"The leakage of 46.2 million personal information has raised many questions," he said.
Fahmi also urged the government and Nuemera to explain why the public was not informed of the breach in 2014.
"We only knew about it three years later and yet we are not given any explanation about this situation," he said.
Fahmi wanted authorities to take actions against Nuemera for their failure to guarantee the safety of telecommunication users.
"I believe we all want to know how this can happen. I also believe we all want to know what measures are being taken by the authorities to curb the situation.
"I hope that through this civil suit, these questions will be answered and measures to improve the situation can be taken," he said.
Online website Lowyat.net had reported the breach in October last year but MCMC had asked the forum to take down the news.
On Jan 23, Lowyet.net also reported another case of personal data breach which involved the personal details of around 220,000 Malaysian organ donors and their next-of-kin that have been leaked online since September 2016.