Exam analysis system disabled

> Temporary move will allow probe into possible data breach, says minister

PETALING JAYA: The Education Ministry has suspended its online School Examination Analysis System following an alleged data breach that could compromise personal details of up to five million students.

Education minister Maszlee Malik ( pix) said the temporary shutdown was to allow the ministry to investigate security concerns over the purported attack on the system, that was reported on Saturday.

“On behalf of the ministry, I apologise for any alarm caused. I am personally looking into the issue and have taken immediate action,” he said in a statement yesterday.

“As a precautionary measure, I have instructed the ministry to temporarily shut the system down.

“At the same time, we are conducting an in-depth security analysis to identify weaknesses in our system and will take immediate action once we have a solution.”

He added that all its other websites and applications would be running as usual.

The system was introduced in July 2011 to centralise examination results to allow parents and students to check them online. The attack on the system, known as “SQL Injection”, apparently allows the perpetrator to retrieve personal data of students and parents stored on the site, which covers about 10,000 national primary and secondary schools.

Maszlee said in the long term, the ministry would update the risk management process for all its projects to ensure such issues do not recur.

“I truly appreciate everyone’s feedback and concern over the issue and I strongly believe that the people’s views are crucial in all matters pertaining to the ministry.

“We need continuous input from everyone as we work together to make the necessary reforms in our ministry,” he said.