KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — The Personal Data Protection Act 2010 needs to be amended to prevent personal data from being stolen and used in fraud, said Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

He said the matter is important considering most fraud incidents occurred after the personal data of the victims were stolen.

"This is important as the stolen information by irresponsible parties was due to carelessness or cyber security weakness by the party handling, keeping and processing personal data.

"I expect the amendments to the act would be carried out as early as December or latest by March next year,” he told a media conference after attending the closing of the Cyber Security, Digital Economy and Connectivity Awareness Campaign at Pantai Permai Housing here today.

Fahmi said when the draft bill is ready, it will be brought to the Attorney General’s Chambers to be studied before being tabled in Parliament.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the bill would be expedited to ensure all legal aspects relating to cyber security are covered.

Apart from that Fahmi said Malaysia needs to establish collaboration with other countries in the Southeast Asian region especially Singapore and Thailand to develop data sharing protocol encompassing aspects of data sovereignty and portability.

According to him, the cooperation will enable Malaysia to become a data processing hub in the region, to process data sets generated abroad on a large scale. — Bernama