National Service complaints e-mail possibly hacked, says MP

Source: http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=54828 (By Tan Yi Liang, 8/12/2010)

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 7, 2010): It might come as no surprise that online complaints by concerned Malaysians about the Ministry of Defence's National Service (NS) programme have fallen on deaf ears. What might come as a surprise is to find your mailbox flooded with spam instead.

This is because the e-mail provided to the public to complain -- korporat@khidmatnegara.gov.my -- appears to have been hijacked by a third party, as Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng pointed out today. Lim said that upon hearing complaints from concerned parents, he tested out the e-mail provided on the NS website www.khidmatnegara.gov.my and received a reply from "Bank Barclays International London UK". "I sent an e-mail at 2.40pm yesterday (Monday) and I got an immediate response," he told a press conference at his service centre here. "Although the reply thanked me and told me I would hear feedback from them in 14 days and a status report in two months, it was as if the reply was not sent by the NS administrators but by a hacker or a spam syndicate named Bank Barclays International London UK. I believe the servers of the NS Department have been hijacked by a hacker syndicate. This means that NS is not receiving any complaints.

"The intent of the hackers, as far as I can see, is that they are looking for valid e-mails so they can send spam. Additionally, valid e-mails can be sold to companies to be used to promote their products. "The e-mail I sent to the inquiry email ccentre@khidmatnegara.gov.my bounced."

A test by theSun produced the same results -- a reply with the sender listed as "Bank Barclays International London UK" from korporat@khidmatnegara.gov.my and a delivery failure from ccentre@khidmatnegara.gov.my.

Lim said he had received about 10 complaints about the National Service programme from parents since January, including one on the NS general line. "The leaflets given to parents from the NS office listed the number 03 4027 400 as the general line. They said no one picked up the phone. Yesterday, I called the number and there was no reply, only a recording from a machine."

Lim, who said he called the number six times, will try and highlight the problems in the NS Department when he meets the minister or deputy minister in Parliament. -- theSun

Calls to National Service Dept line go unaswered

Souurce: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/12/8 (By JAYAGANDI JAYARAJ, 8/12/2010)
PEOPLE are fed up of trying to reach the National Service Department’s call centre at the numbers given at its website. They are frustrated because they could not reach anyone at the given phone numbers.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, who has received at least 10 such complaints since January, said he had tried to call the number six times at different hours on Dec 6, but to no avail. “Everytime I call, it keeps ringing but no one answers. Sometimes, it goes into voice messaging and gets cut off,” he told reporters yesterday. “How are people going to contact the department for any enquiries?” he asked. Lim also tried e-mailing to the e-mail address on the website.

The address that is meant to receive complaints, immediately bounced off when a message was sent, despite several times of trying.

“The e-mail address for complaints came up with a standard reply, promising action within 14 days. “However, the strange part is the e-mail address that comes in the reply box is that of a Bank Barclays International London. It looks like someone is hacking into the system. Why is it that the reply does not come from korporat@khidmatnegara.gov.my? he asked. “I am asking the Government to look into the matter and upgrade the system’s firewall,” he said.

He added that the department should also look into the problems at the call centre.