KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 (Bernama) — Further measures to curb personal data breaches include amending several articles in the related act to ensure more stringent enforcement, Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said.
At the same time, the use of certain technology can also be evaluated to strengthen efforts to protect personal data, he said.
“Our experience since 2021, we admit almost 100 million data have been proven to have been breached and it has even happened several times and legal action, including fining those whose negligence caused data breaches.
“This issue continues to happen and we understand why it’s rather hard to overcome, but it requires further measures,” he said when asked about the issue at a media conference after chairing the Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation at the Parliament Building here today.
Annuar, who is chairman of the task force, said the ministry was responsible for personal data in the commercial sector while other data fell under the purview of the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) of the Prime Minister’s Department.
Annuar said that at the same time, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry (K-KOMM) needed to see the use of certain technology to further strengthen data protection.
Besides data protection, the ministry is also focused on rampant fraudulent scams that cause significant losses.
“This is also related to amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act that will be tabled at the Parliament soon for certain improvements.
“But I am also looking at, and would like to invite several parties to produce proof of concept (POC) for tools or apparatus for the public to check when there is a call that is considered a scam,” he said.
He said the current situation is that every telecommunications company would keep data involving a number used in scams, but the public had no access to determine if the number was from an actual caller or not.
Annuar said based on the ministry’s investigation, many scammers use numbers of deceased individuals or numbers that are out of service.
“So I’m looking at several approaches to create a platform where there are such calls, the public has access to check what number the call came from.
“Is the number from the police, Inland Revenue Board or other agencies so that we can give early warnings to those who almost become victims of scammers to deny or ignore such calls,” he said.
He also said he was studying measures taken in Indonesia and Thailand regarding methods to curb scams.
“This is being implemented and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) have been informed to invite several parties to produce POCs to create a platform to help the public identify scammers,” he added.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency