Malaysia probes apparent hacking of MH370 data

Malaysia is investigating the alleged hacking of computers and email accounts of officials involved in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a news report said on Wednesday.

The hackers siphoned off classified information related to the plane a day after it disappeared on March 8, and transferred the data to a location in China, Amirudin Abdul Wahab, CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive, was quoted as saying.

The head of the government cyber security agency told The Star newspaper that 30 computers belonging to those involved in the international search for the jet were infected by malware. The malware was disguised as a news article about the disappearance of the plane, and sent to ranking officials, he said.

The hacked emails “contained confidential data from the officials’ computers, including minutes of meetings and classified documents,” The Star quoted Mr. Amirudin as saying. “Some of these were related to the MH370 investigation.” CyberSecurity Malaysia said it shut down the infected machines, and asked Chinese internet providers to block the transmission of the data, but the request was made a few days after the hacking was discovered.

The agency was working with Interpol to identify the people behind the incident.

Following the disappearance of MH370, Malaysian authorities were accused of hiding information about the Beijing—bound flight which carried 239 people, including 153 Chinese nationals.

Amirudin said that all the information related to MH370 had now been released to the public.