Around 70 documents from the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) were uploaded to the Dark Web last month, a report has said.
According to Singapore daily The Straits Times (ST), the uploaded information was understood to be from several sources that hacked into military personnel’s email accounts, but said it was not known if the uploader’s intention was to sell or share such data.
ST said the uploaded documents included information on the number of troops at some Malaysian naval and army bases last year during a holiday; requirements for naval examination; senior and junior officials of the Malaysian navy who had been charged with corruption, taking drugs and being absent without leave.
ST said one of the documents included a US diplomatic letter last July that detailed a US Navy ship’s radar equipment and frequencies used when it asked for the ship to be docked at a port in Sabah in August last year.
Noting that it has alerted the RMN about the leaked data, ST said a spokesman replied that “the RMN has no comment on the issue”.
According to ST, the Dark Web portal where the RMN documents were found also carried links to confidential information obtained from the hacking of email accounts of Nigeria’s navy personnel, European and Indian defence contractors.
The Dark Web refers to a network of sites not easily accessible by regular users of the Internet and which are typically used for illicit activities by those who wish to obscure these from the attention of the public and law enforcement.
Among others, hacked and stolen information are sold and traded for cryptocurrency anonymously.