IPOH/ZURICH • Malaysia has said the devices it bought from Swiss encryption company Crypto - whose equipment has been found to have been used for spying - were not used to transfer any form of important secrets.
The country is among over 120 nations that have bought devices for encoded communications since after World War II to the beginning of this century.
Malaysia's Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday that steps have been taken to ensure that any high-level information is not leaked.
"It's nothing new and not just in Malaysia, but other countries are also involved," he said. "I've discussed the matter with Police Inspector-General Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador, and we have control over important information or secrets."
Tan Sri Abdul Hamid said use of the devices was limited to short-term operations. "The transferring of information is not that of data that is sensitive. We have our own encryption to ensure that we have control," he said.
Senior members of the Swiss legislature demanded a parliamentary investigation into the spying operation in which United States and German intelligence have for decades used Crypto as a front to crack other nations' top-secret messages. The government has appointed a former Supreme Court justice to look into the so-called "Operation Rubicon".
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, REUTERS
