All civil servants in Malaysia have been banned from using Waze, following a warning by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of security concerns over the Israeli government’s control of the mobile navigation app.
The government announced the decision after a National Cyber Security Committee (NCSC) meeting chaired by Anwar on Tuesday, according to an official circular.
“In this regard, all ministry secretaries-general and heads of department must make sure this decision is communicated to all officers under their supervision, including agencies and related departments for immediate implementation,” said the circular dated October 20 and issued by the chief secretary to the government.
Waze, which evolved from an earlier project called FreeMap Israel, was acquired by search giant Google in 2013 for US$1.15 billion but remains headquartered in Israel’s economic and tech hub of Tel Aviv.