KUALA LUMPUR: A hacker group calling itself “Gray Hat” has sent a blackmail letter to the Malaysian government claiming it had accessed large volumes of personal information of government department civil servants and members of parliament.

The group threatened that it would make the data available for sale from September 19, if the government does not respond to them.

KLIA district police chief ACP Imran Abd Rahman confirmed with Sin Chew Daily that the police had received a complaint from the National Audit Department, and said the matter would be probed by the Criminal Investigation Department, adding that no arrests had been made. No further details were provided.

The group claimed that it had access to the personal data of more than a million individuals, including full name, identity number, position, department, pay slip number, mobile number and e-mail address.

It said it had contacted the Malaysian government on September 7, and gave the government until September 12 to respond.

Those who received the e-mail from Gray Hat include chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali, chief government security officer Rahimi Ismail as well as the Auditor General Office.

When contacted by Sin Chew Daily, National Audit Department management staff said they had briefed the finance ministry and it would be up to the ministry to issue a statement on this matter.

CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Ts. Dr. Haji Amirudin Abdul Wahab FASc told Sin Chew Daily only the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) or the National Security Council could respond to this matter, as this is within their jurisdiction.

We have contacted NACSA through e-mail but have yet to receive a reply from it.

Click here for the latest statement from Jabatan Akauntan Negara Malaysia.