The federal government believes that most of the cyber-attacks against government websites over the past few days originated locally.

NONE Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Maximus Ongkili (left) claims that initial investigations has estimated that up to 90 percent of the hacking activities came from local sources.

He said that of the estimated 200 affected websites, 60 percent belongs to the federal government but most of these have since recovered.

Ongkili refused to disclose the number of hackers involved instead stated that the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission and the police will investigate the matter further.

He warned hackers to steer clear of government websites and that their actions constitutes serious criminal activity.

“Use it as the weapon of development, not weapon for criminal activities,” he said in Putrajaya today.

An anonymous hacker group claims that the coorinated cyber-attacks its response to Malaysia's decision to block access to filesharing websites. 

It claims that this was a violation of fundamental right. Numerous government or government-linked websites were either defaced or disabled since Wednesday evening.

No radiation contamination

On a separate matter, Ongkili said that there was no risk of radioactive contamination or exposure within the vicinity of the radiopharmaceutical company in Subang, Selangor.

He said that the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) emergency team confirmed that contamination was confined only to the production area of the laboratory.

The four individuals were unharmed because they were exposed to Flourine-18, a man-made radioisotope with a very short half-life and presents less than one percent of the radioactivity administered to cancer patients, he said.

On June 2, AELB sealed off the Austral-Euro Diagnosis Sdn Bhd factory for a suspected radiation leak after the four workers set off radiation monitors.

Ongkili said that this incident will not affect the decision of the government on Australia’s Lynas Corp Ltd, which is seeking to operate a rare earth refinery at Gebeng industrial area, near Kuantan.

He added that the decision of government will depend on the IAEA international review panel report , which is will be released at by month end.