KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil wants Malaysians to know that the government's recently-launched Central Database Hub (Padu) is very secure and has never been hacked.

Fahmi assured them that the data security is being constantly monitored by the Personal Data Protection Department and CyberSecurity Malaysia, so that those who have yet to register can do so safely.

"It’s not this Padu, but the one before this, what was identified was the Padu from a file server that belonged to the National Population and Family Development Board.

"So it's not the one under the Economic Ministry. They are two very different systems. But there are some parties who are trying to play as if the system has been hacked. That is far from the truth,” he told reporters after attending Friday prayers at the National Mosque here this afternoon.

Fahmi said tight security has been confirmed by Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.

He added that government cybersecurity officials have also assured him that "there is no problem with the main or solid database system” managed by the Department of Statistics, which falls under the Economy Ministry.

"The government guarantees the safety of the data and I ask and I implore everyone to continue the registration,” he added.

Response to Padu’s registration drive has been slow to pick up, and Malaysians have grown more jittery after an international hacker group calling itself R00TK1T claimed to have hacked the "Padu organisation” last Tuesday.

R00TK1T claimed that it managed to gain access to around 27 terabyte of information on a file server that belonged to the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN), which it shared on its Telegram channel.

But local tech news site SoyaCincau later reported that the "Padu organisation” claimed by R00TK1T was actually LPPKN’s Management and Service Delivery Unit.

The department’s name has been mentioned in several LPPKN’s documents, including its 2021-2025 Strategic Plan as well as several social media posts.