KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court here today ordered the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Nuemera Sdn Bhd to file their defence in a civil suit brought by PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil over a massive data leak involving 46.2 million telecommunication companies (telco) subscribers four years ago.
Judge Harmi Thamri Mohamad @ Shaharudin also fixed March 22 for case management.
Fahmi or his real name Mohamed Fadzil filed the suit on Feb 6 through RamRais Partner and named MCMC and Nuemera, a company managing the Public Cellular Blocking Service (PCBS) as the first and second defendants respectively.
Lawyer Louis Liew who represented Fahmi when met after the proceedings said Fahmi found out about the data leak in Oct last year which included his own personal details.
Subsequently several news portals also revealed the leak.
In his statement of claim, Fahmi as the plaintiff claimed that he had registered three cellphone numbers under two telco companies in 2005, 2006, and 2011, of which he had surrendered his personal details including his full name, identification number, and address.
He claimed in 2014, the second defendant was appointed by the first defendant to manage the PCBS - a service to block lost or stolen mobile phones using its unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.
He claimed that all telco companies were instructed by the MCMC to provide their subscribers personal information to Nuemera and MCMC for the PCBS service.
However, he claimed that the information stored by both defendants had been leaked and the issue was highlighted several news portals and websites.
Online website Lowyat.net had reported the breach in October last year but MCMC had asked the forum to take down the news.
The databases comprised mobile phone numbers, identification card numbers, home addresses, IMEI and SIM card data of 46.2 million customers of at least 12 Malaysian mobile phone operators.
The databases were believed to contain private information of more than 80,000 individuals, leaked from the record books of the Malaysian Medical Council, the Malaysian Medical Association and the Malaysian Dental Association.