Ditch Waze, NSC tells Malaysians
KUALA LUMPUR: The National Security Council (NSC) has called on civil servants and Malaysians to switch from navigation application Waze to locally developed alternatives, saying security risks involving Israel cannot be compromised.
KUALA LUMPUR: The National Security Council (NSC) has urged civil servants and the general public in Malaysia to abandon the navigation app Waze in favor of locally developed alternatives, citing security concerns linked to Israel. This recommendation came after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim urged civil servants to cease using Waze and encouraged the public to do the same due to fears that the app could expose sensitive government information and personal data to Israel.
The NSC emphasized the importance of safeguarding users' location data, movement patterns, travel information, and device details collected by Waze, particularly given that its Terms of Use allow the application to operate under Israeli law and subject Israeli courts to jurisdiction in disputes related to its use. The council stressed that no security risks involving Israel should be overlooked, and the protection of Malaysians' data and the nation's information sovereignty must remain paramount, even when evaluating the consequences of using applications governed by foreign laws and jurisdictions.
To address this issue, the NSC and the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa) have developed a frequently asked questions document on the matter, which can be accessed via the following link: https://www.nacsa.gov.my/faq-waze.php.
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