PETALING JAYA: The police have launched a probe into a claim by a group of hackers’ who said they possessed personal data and payroll details of several ministers, MPs and civil servants.
The group had alerted Putrajaya on Sept 7 that the salary data system for civil servants had been breached and asked the government for a response by Sept 12, Sin Chew Daily reported.
The hackers said they had also emailed Chief Secretary Zuki Ali, government security director-general Rahimi Ismail and the office of the auditor-general over the matter.
However, they claim that the government decided to shut down the civil service’s salary data system instead of contacting them.
“We had informed them that the damage has already been done and that if we do not get any response, we will make the data available for sale,” the group said in an apparent notice to the media, the daily reported.
The hackers reportedly plan to sell the personal data they claim to have from Sept 19 onwards.
KLIA district police chief Imran Abd Rahman was quoted as saying they had received a report on the incident from the national audit department.
He said the case was being probed under Section 507 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation by anonymous communication and Section 4(1) of the Computer Crimes Act 1997 for unauthorised access with intent to commit further offence.
While no one has been arrested yet, Imran said he could not disclose further information since the matter was still being investigated.
According to the daily, the group had shared pay slip screenshots of several government figures, from civil servants, former government figures and existing officials in Putrajaya.
FMT has reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office, home ministry and Bukit Aman for comment.