PARLIAMENT The government has skirted on a questions as to whether or not it has purchased citizen-spying software.

Charles Santiago (DAP-Klang) submitted a question on whether the government did buy the spying tools from Milan-based IT company Hacking Team, and if so, why.

However, Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak dodged the question in his written reply, .

Salleh only stated that the private date of Malaysians are protected from abuse.

"In Malaysia, the public's personal and private data are protected from misuse. Strict action will be taken through existing laws to ensure that Malaysians' rights are always protected," he said.

Salleh ( photo ) also said that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission monitors cyber attacks.

Hacking Team's website was hacked in July, and its data was leaked online,

The treasure trove of data showed the Malaysian Military Intelligence (MI), the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to be among Hacking Team's clients.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/304293

The documents showed MACC to be the biggest payer to Hacking Team, followed by MI and PMO.

The MACC has paid €789,123 (RM3.32 million) to Hacking Team, including maintenance for the year 2016.

This is despite initial reports that MACC's software licence had lapsed in 2014. It is not clear if the report is based on the most up-to-date documents

The spyware sold by Hacking Team is a Trojan which, once activated by opening the file, can track, eavesdrop and download information from the victim's computer.