Global IT outage: Audit will be conducted to ensure systems are safe, says Digital Minister

The Star

Following the recent global information technology (IT) outage, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said the companies involved, be it Microsoft or CrowdStrike, need to guarantee that an audit will be conducted to ensure affected systems are safe.   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00Recently, you were shocked by a high-key location in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

00:06Yes, yes.

00:07How did you deal with the situation?

00:12We experienced it on the 19th of July,

00:16when we saw everyone's computer screen turned blue.

00:22Many people didn't know what was happening,

00:25what steps had to be taken,

00:27and we saw that the situation was dire.

00:31Many questions were raised,

00:33but at that time, we didn't know what the root cause was.

00:37So, to me, this shows that the system we have,

00:41even though its safety is at a satisfactory level,

00:46there is still room for us to improve.

00:49This can happen.

00:51And we see that the 19th of July is a clear sign that

00:57even though we feel extremely secure,

01:01cyber attacks can still happen.

01:04But there are weaknesses in the existing system.

01:07This is a weakness in the existing system.

01:09So, in the ministry, I have stated our firm position

01:13that whether it's Microsoft or other companies,

01:16whether it's CrowdStrike or other companies

01:19that are responsible for such systems,

01:21they must provide us with guarantees

01:24that after a problem like this occurs,

01:26an audit must be carried out

01:28to show that the existing systems

01:31will not allow such things to happen again.

01:36So, I think the ministry takes this matter seriously.

01:40We have a firm position that

01:42when we build a wide network,

01:45the network must be safe to use

01:48and any programs that are proposed by any company

01:52must come with responsibility.

01:55If there is a weakness,

01:57the weakness will be dealt with as soon as possible

02:01and a guarantee will be given

02:03that the problem will not recur in the future.

02:06I have also informed the parties involved.

02:09They are in the process of obtaining a report

02:11and after the report is submitted to me,

02:13I will call on the PC to explain what has happened

02:18and move forward,

02:20what steps will be taken to ensure

02:22that it can be avoided from repeating in the future.

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