WITH the MySejahtera app issue raging, an expert urged the Government not take the matter lightly as it involves national security.
“The MySejahtera app not only have data and tracked movements of private individuals but also of our police officers, politicians and intelligence officers, plus their families too.
“And now we are hearing that a foreign company is a shareholder of the company that created the app. The question is, is this foreign company have any ties to their Government or others?
“If the answer is yes, then we may risk the data being compromised to foreigners,” Arunachala Research & Consultancy Sdn Bhd principal consultant R Paneir Selvam told FocusM.
On March 26 health portal Code Blue revealed that the current sole shareholder of Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd – which legally owns the software it used to develop MySejahtera – is a company registered and based in Singapore, Entomo Pte Ltd.
A Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) search showed that Entomo Pte Ltd owns 300,004 shares in Entomo Malaysia, formerly known as KPISoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd, that has issued share capital of RM300,004.
SSM’s record on Entomo Malaysia’s shareholder particulars lists Entomo Pte Ltd, the sole shareholder, as “foreign”, with a Singapore-based address.
According to a company search on Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) yesterday, Entomo Pte Ltd has four directors: Malaysian Raveenderen Ramamoothie; Singaporeans Tan Seng Hong and Finian Tan; and Indian national Naveen Pralhad Deshpande.
But on March 31, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin stressed that the Malaysian Government owns MySejahtera’s intellectual property (IP) rights, modules, and source code, and personal data collected through the COVID-19 app.
He added that among the main terms and conditions of the NDA signed between the National Security Council (NSC) and Entomo Malaysia on April 1, 2020, are that “the Government has full and absolute ownership of all data and information obtained through the usage of the app”.
“I guarantee that all the data stored in MySejahtera’s database is preserved and used only for pandemic control purposes solely by the Health Ministry (MOH),” Khairy was reported as saying.
Touching on matter, Paneir Selvam said that intelligence officers mostly work under the radar to collect information but the pandemic have compelled them to use the app for their daily routine.
“With them scanning their presence everywhere, their movements are now quite trackable. This is why it’s important to have the app being fully controlled by our Government.
“But is this the case with MySejahtera? If it was developed by a Singaporean firm, then we may have a situation where the data can get compromised,” he mentioned.
On Khairy’s assurances that the data is owned by the Malaysian Government, Paneir Selvam reminded the minister on how hackers have evolved over the years.
He then queried whether the Government had tested its technological prowess to check whether the data would never get compromised should hacking takes place.
“The question is, why give the project to a company linked to a foreign firm in the first place? Who approved this?” Paneir Selvam asked.
Probe the matter
On how to remedy the situation, he urged the Government to transfer all the data back to Malaysia, in the event it was not, and mortify it so as to make it inaccessible even to its original developer.
Secondly, Paneir Selvam said the Special Branch and the military intelligence must also investigate whether data stored under the MySejahtera app has been compromised.
“I have also read reports that a local company is willing to replicate and improve the app from scratch for just RM6 mil. It also claims that its software can be enhanced with a Geographical Information System (GIS) which can gather data for visualisation and analysis for pandemic crisis management.
“Plus, the company is willing to transfer all the data back to the Government to be managed. Why not we consider the proposal?
“In any case, we should never allow any firms linked to foreigners to deal with our data,” he remarked. – April 3, 2022
