xA large number of GE candidates and top government officials including Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun have been receiving a barrage of spam phone calls from unknown overseas numbers jamming up communications.
The non-stop calls had marred incoming and outgoing calls from their cellphones to relevant parties.
In a press conference during a security visit in Bangsar, Fuzi said police will conduct investigations on the calls.
“I have received numerous complaints from government officials of such calls. I personally received non-stop calls from unknown numbers between 5am and 8am today. We will investigate this.” he said
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has identified the flurry of the spam calls which hit both the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan leaders on polling day as due to a BOTS attack.
In a statement issued today, MCMC said it had been receiving numerous complaints today of phones ringing before the call dropped.
“This is being experienced repeatedly by all parties. Our initial investigation points to a technical cause of BOTS attack which is initiated anonymously from various sources with differing targets irrespective of the political parties,” the commission stated.
MCMC called on parties behind it to stop this action immediately and refrain from further use of such technical attacks as it could jeopardise the telecommunication network causing inconvenience to the public and a security risk.
“For those getting such calls from unknown numbers please be advised to not answer it. MCMC and the service providers are continuing to investigate and in the event that the initiator or initiators are identified, MCMC will take stern action as provided by the law,” the commission added.
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2018/05/09/mcmc-says-bots-attack-behind-spam-calls