PETALING JAYA: Only 20 companies have been fined for data breaches in the past six years, communications and digital minister Fahmi Fadzil revealed today.
The companies, he said, were fined RM24,000 each on average.
“As a minister, I think the RM24,000 (fine) on average is low,” Fahmi said on BFM Radio’s Breakfast Grille programme.
“I think we need to review the laws (related to data protection) because our data is a national treasure.”
Last week, a Facebook user claimed that personal information belonging to nearly 13 million Malaysians had been leaked from Maybank, Astro and the Election Commission’s websites.
Subsequently, Astro said initial investigations found its customers’ information had not been compromised, while Maybank said it had not experienced a data breach.
Two agencies – Cybersecurity Malaysia and the Department of Personal Data Protection have been instructed to investigate the alleged data leak.