Australia probes data breach, as Malaysia investigates mobile phone leak affecting millions

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Diners check their phones at a restaurant in central Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:59pm, 2 Nov 2017Updated: 9:42pm, 2 Nov 2017

Malaysia is investigating the theft of mobile phone records for 46.2 million customers, while an online security lapse in Australia exposed personal details of almost 50,000 employees.

The Malaysian government is working with carriers and police to investigate the issue and identify possible sources of the leak, the state news agency Bernama reported on Wednesday, citing Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak. A spokesman confirmed his comments. The data may last have been updated in 2014, according to local reports.

Axiata headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Reuters

In Australia, personal records of almost 50,000 workers at several government agencies and companies were left unsecured by a third-party contractor in one of the country’s worst data breaches, according to a report on Thursday by iTnews. Backup databases of employee records including names, passwords, salaries and some credit card numbers were accessible after the misconfiguration of an Amazon.com cloud storage product, it said.

“Companies should assume they will be breached and take steps to limit the impact of these incidents,” said Bryce Boland, chief technology officer for the Asia-Pacific region at FireEye. “The reality is many firms are unknowingly compromised.”

As the scale and frequency of major hacking attacks increases, companies and governments have come under intense pressure to shore up their cybersecurity.