Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Jailani Johari said witnesses had been called in to have their statements recorded by the police and the Personal Data Protection Department as part of the probe.
“The outcome of the investigation will be submitted to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for further action,” he said in response to a question from Teo Nie Ching (DAP-Kulai) on whether action had been taken against those involved.
Last November, the lowyat.net website published an article on the data theft, citing the leakage of 50 million pieces of personal data from telecommunications companies and 17 million from job search sites.
The website also said that 46.2 million mobile phone numbers from various local telecommunications companies had been leaked online.
Jailani said the ministry took a serious view of the data breach and had inspected various personal data systems used by data-handling companies.
“We have held meetings with telecommunications companies and conducted various awareness programmes around the country on the issue,” he added.
In 2017, he said, the courts had meted out sentences in three cases of personal data breach with five similar cases appearing before the courts so far this year.