Hacker claims massive data theft from ministries, government agencies

A hacker has claimed to have broken into more than a dozen Malaysian government websites and put them up for sale, in what is feared to be the latest incident of data breach in the country.

A weekend posting on a dark web discussion forum listed at least 11 government websites from which the data originated. The person behind it offered them for sale for US$20,000 (RM85,500).

"First time breach/leak," read the title of the posting by user Bigbrother on the Dark Forums website.

It said the data relates to local VPN account connections, shell access, network and web databases, subdomains and local file sharing.

Shell access refers to command line interface for servers to execute command in servers, while a network database gives details on how it is configured as well as local computer file sharing details.

"We have live access to all of them + dumped data," the post reads, adding that buyers can pay with the Monero  cryptocurrency.

The user listed the websites of at least 11 ministries, government departments and agencies "and so many other gov.mys" from which the data was taken, attaching scores of screenshots as evidence.

They include the National Registration Department, MyGovernment and state broadcaster Radio Television Malaysia.

Also listed are the ministries of health, defence, foreign affairs and higher education.

MalaysiaNow cannot independently verify the claim or the nature of the allegedly stolen data.

An IT expert, speaking anonymously, said the RM85,500 price tag is considered very low by those interested in harvesting private data from government agencies.

"It could indicate that the data is not critical, but it could also mean that the person behind the theft is young and not aware of the real value. In such cases, the culprit could be a group of students looking to make a quick buck," he told MalaysiaNow.

MalaysiaNow has reached out to Cybersecurity Malaysia for a response.

Authorities have reported a 29% increase in data breaches this year.

The Cyber Incident Quarterly Summary report released on June 10 said there were 195 incidents reports on data breach in the first quarter of this year, compared to 151 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The report states that the compromised data included details such as an individual's full name, Mykad number, financial details and address.

Data breach cases are rampant in Malaysia, with many large organisations having fallen victim to hackers.

In 2022, personal data from Maybank, Astro and the Election Commission were reported stolen, with information of millions of customers and voters were said to have been sold online.