{"id":81979,"date":"2017-11-03T09:54:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T16:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/securingtomorrow.mcafee.com\/?p=81979"},"modified":"2025-08-13T23:11:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T06:11:18","slug":"malaysian-data-breach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/privacy-identity-protection\/malaysian-data-breach\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive Malaysian Data Breach Compromises Over 46 Million Phone Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are data breaches that impact an entire customer group, or even a certain state. And then there are data breaches that impact practically everyone in a nation. This actually happened this week, as practically every citizen of Malaysia, a country that boasts a population of some 31.2 million, was impacted by a cyberattack. A complex data breach compromised<\/a> over 46.2 million mobile numbers, which could mean multiple numbers for one person, as well as exposed details<\/a> such as home addresses and SIM card information.<\/p>\n

This attack<\/a> actually first came to light last month, when Lowyat.net, a local technology news website, reported receiving a tip-off that someone was attempting to sell huge databases of personal data. From there, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) began looking into the matter with the police.<\/p>\n

The police have since claimed to have identified multiple potential sources of the leak, but have yet to name them. However, one researcher speculated at the strategy behind these attacks, telling ZDNet<\/a> that \u201c\u2019low and slow\u2019 attacks could lay stealthily in networks for years without anyone noticing.\u201d Basically, this attack may have been tediously conducted over the course of a few years.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s the damage? This breach impacted both postpaid and prepaid numbers, as well as all subscribers from major mobile carriers in the country, including Maxis, Altel, Digi, and Celcom. What\u2019s more \u2013 in addition to customer data from local telecommunications providers, data was also leaked from various websites containing sensitive information such as Jobstreet.com, Malaysian Medical Association, and Malaysian Housing Loan Applications. Leaked data from Jobstreet.com, for instance, contained the candidate’s login name, nationality, and hashed password.<\/p>\n

This means that the impact of this breach goes beyond simply having phone numbers out in the open — this entire set of data is comprehensive enough for cybercriminals to create fraudulent identities to make online purchases.<\/p>\n

Security Tips<\/h2>\n

So, with this massive breach putting private data as well as personal identities at risk, it\u2019s important all those impacted act now to protect themselves. They can start by following these security tips:<\/p>\n