1.8mil Maybank account numbers in data leak are fake, says minister

 

A claim was made by a Twitter user yesterday of a data leak involving nearly 13 million Malaysians from databases belonging to Maybank, Astro and the Election Commission. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The 1.8 million Maybank account numbers which were said to have been part of an alleged data breach are fake, according to the communications and digital minister.

Fahmi Fadzil was referring to claims of a data leak involving nearly 13 million Malaysians from databases belonging to Maybank, Astro and the Election Commission (EC).

The claim was made by Twitter user “Pendakwah Teknologi” yesterday.

“Initial investigations show that the Maybank account numbers are fake and do not exist, and no transactions can be done through them,” he said in a statement.

“The investigation also showed that the alleged data leak is in reference to an incident that took place in 2018.

“However, official confirmation is required from the concerned parties before an investigation is conducted under the Personal Data Protection Act 2010.”

According to the post, a website listed details of 3.5 million Astro subscribers and 1.8 million Maybank customers, as well as 7.2 million voters on Dec 25.

The leaked information allegedly involved the login ID, full name, date of birth, address, and identity card (IC) number of the 12.5 million users.

“The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission has been instructed to block the website,” Fahmi said.

With regard to the leak from the EC database, Fahmi said the National Cyber Security Agency would take over the investigation.

This morning, he said CyberSecurity Malaysia and the personal data protection department have been instructed to investigate the alleged data leak.

Subsequently, Maybank said in a statement that it was “investigating if these allegations are true since it had not experienced a data breach”. - FMT