KUALA LUMPUR: The draft amendment to the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) to curb personal data breaches is expected to be presented in Parliament before the end of this year.
Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the Personal Data Protection Department (JPDP) was looking at several improvements to the amendments prepared by the previous government before they were submitted to the Attorney-General's Chambers.
"We are looking at several additions to new aspects that are reasonable and applicable, and can be included as well," he told Bernama here.
Fahmi said the amendments would also look into the mandatory notification of companies or data holders to JPDP in the event of a data breach by any of the said companies.
Furthermore, he said the amount of fines or penalties imposed on data-user companies found to be misusing data should be increased to the maximum level.
He expressed disappointment that since 2017, the average amount of fines or penalties imposed on about 25 companies involved in data leaks was only an average of RM24,000 per company.
"These are disappointing figures, especially when data breaches amounted to thousands or tens of thousands.
"These are fines from 15 years ago and do not necessarily fit the current times."
He said the Communications and Digital Ministry was planning to elevate JPDP as a statutory body to ensure it had enough resources to combat the issue of personal data leaks.
"If we want to develop the digital economy, we cannot be reliant on only one entity. JPDP must be improved for it to have more manpower in terms of enforcement and so on."
On cyberscams, Fahmi said the ministry was constantly looking for avenues to curb the menace, including discussions with telecommunications service providers.
He said measures to enhance digital literacy among users would continue to be implemented to raise public awareness of cyberfraud.
He said there were more than 14 types of cyberscams, and scammers were always looking for other methods once their activities were curbed.
He added that the Information Department would provide as much information as possible to raise public awareness. These include working with communities, including mosques, houses of worship, religious groups and schools. --Bernama