KUALA LUMPUR: Police are looking into the possibility of those working with the local telecommunication operators have attempted to sell the data of over 46 million mobile phone subscribers, in their latest investigation.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Noor Rashid said those involved in the leak must have had access to such a huge data.
Noor Rashid said the police Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) are working closely with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and telco companies to solve the case.
He said police need more time to investigate due to the technicality of the matter.
"The case is very technical. We need more time. There's a possibility that the individuals involved have abused their positions to access the data and to sell it," he told reporters when met at Deepavali celebration at the City Contingent Headquarters on Wednesday.
Lowyat.net had reported that about 46.2 million mobile phone numbers registered with Malaysian telecommunications and mobile virtual network operators have been compromised and leaked online.
According to the report, the leak included postpaid and prepaid numbers, customer addresses as well as SIM card details from all major operators, including DiGi, Celcom, Maxis, Tunetalk, Redtone and Altel.
The technology news site said the time stamps on the files it downloaded indicate the leaked data was last updated between May and July 2014.
All details regarding the data that were uncovered, as well as how it managed to obtain all the data, had been shared with MCMC.
Lowyat.net said it also confirmed that a total of three databases belonging to the Malaysian Medical Council, Malaysian Medical Association and Malaysian Dental Association had also been leaked.
On the further investigations into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Noor Rashid confirmed that police had received instructions from the Attorney-General Chambers but he could not disclose details as the investigation is ongoing.
On Tuesday, Attorney-General Tan Sri Apandi Ali said he had instructed the police to probe further into the case as 25 to 30 per cent of the investigation paper (IP) submitted to the AG Chambers had to be reviewed.