The recent report on the availability of millions of personal data belonging to Malaysians advertised on a local web portal had many people spooked. The data believed to have been obtained illegally by certain party was put on sale on the said portal has been instructed by MCMC to be taken down immediately.

On how and why such an advertisement is allowed to be placed without proper checking is questionable, if there is someone selling user data even if they belong to another country should not be accepted or referred to proper authorities for clearance. Unscrupulous agents have been mining personal data for some time and using them for illegal activity, victims encounter all sorts of problems from spams to blackmail.

MCMC has refereed the matter to the police who have started investigation on the listed advertisment, the government watchdog has also  advised the public not to speculate and allow PDRM to do their job.