MCMC Describes Bulk Mobile Calls Disrupting Communications in Malaysia

Numerous GE candidates as well as high-profile government officials, notably among others, Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun Inspector-General of Police in Malaysia have been recipients of an enormous bulk of unsolicited phone-calls aptly described as spam from foreign numbers not recognizable, thus clogging communications. MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) reports the spam calls striking the leaders of both the Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional on the voting day are because of a botnet assault.

The constantly coming phone calls resulted in disruption of outgoing and incoming calls to the said officials' mobile phones. Nonetheless, no sooner when the reporter started enquiring the reason for making the calls there was disconnection of the line from the other end.

It was the night of May 8 when political leaders belonging to the opposition as well as the government were hit with an inundating bulk of mobile calls from apparently the U.K. and the U.S. Believably this was a trial for interrupting communications, particularly those with security personnel at the time of GE14.

According to Fuzi, who was at Bangsar for a security checkup, police would investigate the calls. He had got many complaints from officers in the government about the kind of calls. He himself got constant calls from mobile phone numbers he didn't recognize in the morning hour 5am-8am.Fuzi said investigation into the incident would take place.

MCMC urged for halting the calls immediately and asked those responsible from stopping use of the technical attacks because telecommunication networks could then be hampered, thus putting the public into inconvenience and imposing on them security risk. Thestar.com posted this, May 9, 2018.

Phone calls from numbers +150873021530, +125427868230, +150768166481, +115457553331, +16182437257 and +104233214142 were registered in USA while another number +447403926341 in United Kingdom. On May 9, MCMC advised people getting such calls for refraining from answering them.

MCMC believed the calls were a cyber assault for disrupting communication lines. Moreover, answering would as well escalate phone bills astronomically.

Additionally according to MCMC, the Commission along with providers of telecommunication service was continuing the attack's investigation, while strict legal action would be imposed on the attackers once identified.

» SPAMfighter News - 5/21/2018