Nuemera claims police cleared it over country's largest data leak

Nuemera (M) Sdn Bhd, the firm contracted by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), claimed that police have cleared the company over the country's largest data leak.

"The police investigations, which commenced back in October 2017 when the data leak was first reported, involved multiple parties including Nuemera, MCMC and the relevant telecommunication companies.

"In conducting its investigation, the police also visited the main PCBS (Public Cellular Blocking Service) infrastructure which is hosted at MCMC’s data centre in Cyberjaya.

"As a result of this thorough six-month investigation, we believe the police has cleared Nuemera of any wrongdoings as stated in a letter issued to Nuemera through our lawyer on April 26, 2018," it said in a statement today.

Nuemera said the letter had stated: "To date, the result of the investigation revealed that there was no evidence that Nuemera (M) Sdn Bhd, as well as its staff, was involved in the leak or sale of data on the Internet".

The company said this was an affirmation that there was no evidence that the data leak originated from Nuemera or the PCBS which it was contracted to manage.

Nuemera was responding to a parliamentary written reply dated Oct 14 in which the Communications and Multimedia Ministry said the contract Nuemera had been terminated following the leak.

"Following the investigation, on Jan 26, 2018, MCMC had suspended Nuemera's appointment as it was found that the company breached basic provisions in the contract between MCMC and Nuemera.

"On May 21, 2018, MCMC issued a notice to Nuemera informing of MCMC's decision not to renew the PCBS agreement for another five years as provided as an option in the contract agreement," it said.

On the criminal investigation front, the ministry said JPDP (Personal Data Protection Department) had investigated the matter under Section 9 of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 and the investigation papers are now with the Attorney-General's Chambers.

It was responding to a question from Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil who questioned how personal data for 46.2 million mobile phone accounts could have been leaked.

Nuemera said it preferred not to discuss the matter in the public domain but it needed to address the parliamentary reply to provide a more "accurate depiction".

On the termination, Nuemera maintained that it was in full compliance with all its obligations as per its contract with the MCMC.

"However, as there are contractual disputes pertaining to the same, MCMC and Nuemera have mutually agreed to refer the matter to the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC). As such, we are unable to comment further," it said.