PADU system meets international standards - Rafizi

Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said that despite more than two million attempts daily to access the system illegally, all have been thwarted and the PADU system remains impenetrable.

"I would like to inform (you) that despite records showing attempts exceeding two million accesses daily, especially in the first month, all of them have been thwarted, and the PADU system remains unpenetrated.

"Of course, there are things we need to balance, and we do not allow access from outside the country. Because so far, the records of most access attempts are from outside the country or from locations we consider risky," he said.

He said this when replying to a question from Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Dr Wan Ismail (PH-Bandar Tun Razak), who wanted to know the mechanism for increasing and expediting the registration of Malaysian citizens with PADU and the steps to control PADU data from being misused.

Rafizi said that in terms of PADU system security, the PADU system development team led by the National Digital Department closely collaborates with various agencies managing national cyber security and data privacy.

This involves the Office of the Chief Government Security Officer, National Cybersecurity Agency, Cybersecurity Malaysia, Department of Personal Data Protection, Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Digital.

"This strategic cooperation is to ensure that we reduce the risk of data leakage and ensure that the privacy protection of PADU data is given high priority. In terms of security, there are three main components involving focused data security.

"Among them is data security component involving access control implementation and encryption. I have never mentioned before that actually every data registered in PADU is encrypted.

"This means that even if someone manages to break in and download files, those files need to be decrypted," he said.

Furthermore, as of yesterday, 8,093,336 Malaysians aged 18 and above have already registered, which is 36.8 per cent of the total.

"With registration rates ranging from 350,000 to 400,000 per day in the remaining six days, we project that we will achieve a registration rate of close to 50 per cent by March 31," he said.

Regarding the PADU registration pattern, Rafizi said that so far, states with more rural areas such as Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak have recorded higher registration rates compared to urban areas.

"If we look at the registration pattern, it's actually somewhat 'reverse' from what we expected because states with more rural areas have higher registration ... this is partly due to the Department of Statistics and PADU teams themselves deploying flying squads to those areas.

"In urban areas, due to higher IT literacy rates, we hope they have more opportunities to access and register personally," he said.

At the same time, to prevent the risk of eligible individuals missing out on government assistance, the ministry has acted to match all existing assistance databases such as e-Kasih, Department of Social Welfare and Rahmah Cash Contribution (STR) with geo-pinned locations at risk of omission.

"Actually, more than 50 per cent of the 4,752 locations at risk of omission are in the Klang Valley. Therefore, I myself and the Ministry of Economy, the Selangor state government and the Federal Territories Ministry met with representatives of residents in risky areas to ask for their help in promoting registration," he said.

-- BERNAMA