FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
KUCHING: In yet another shocking revelation concerning consumer personal data, popular local tech website Lowyat claimed to have evidence that there has been a data leak involving around 220,000 organ donors in the country.
In a post dated yesterday, Lowyat.net founder Vijandren Ramadass wrote that they “can confirm, that files containing complete details of pledged organ donors has been leaked online as early as September 2016.”
The data contained in the file was updated to August 31, 2016, and included crucial information such as full name of donor, name of next-of-kin, donor MyKad number, relationship with next-of-kin, address, contact details and organs to donate, among other things.
Vijandren noted that the information are similar to the online sign-up form at http://dermaorgan.gov.my, but said that they were fairly certain the leaked data did not originate from the online form.
“The leaked data contains sign up data from Government Hospitals as well as National Transplant Resource Centers across the country – which would mean that it has been retrieved from a central database,” he wrote further.
He pointed out that this data leak would have a serious implication as it contains not only the personal information of the organ donors themselves, but also personal information of their next-of-kins, which could expose them to malicious attacks.
He added that the relevant authorities have been alerted to the data leak, and he urged all organisations handling personal data to ensure the safety of the data that has been entrusted to them.
This would be the second major data breach discovery after a massive one involving telco users last October, also first reported on Lowyat.net when it discovered that someone was selling consumer personal data on its online forums.