Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has temporarily suspended access to the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) for all credit reporting agencies, in light of a potential cyberattack.

“BNM has been made aware of a credible threat involving credit reporting agencies in Malaysia. The safety of financial consumer’s data is of utmost importance to BNM. As a pre-emptive measure, BNM has temporarily suspended the access of all credit reporting agencies to the CCRIS database effective immediately,” said the central bank in a statement.

BNM further commented that it will restore access for credit rating agencies once the central bank is able to secure the situation. Meanwhile, financial consumers are allowed to continue accessing their CCRIS reports online like usual.

Prior to BNM’s own announcement and confirmation of the suspension, CTOS Digital Bhd (CTOS) had released a statement on the situation, noting that this move was made to avert “potential cyber threats” and “data leak”. “Upholding customer data security has always been our utmost priority, and we are committed to fulfil the conditions in order for the suspension to be uplifted,” said the company.

In a similar vein, Experian Malaysia has also temporarily paused its CCRIS-related services and reports after BNM communicated the suspension of access. “The temporary suspension of access for all CRAs (credit reporting agencies) is a proactive and necessary measure by BNM [towards the threat]. As a result of this access disruption to CCRIS, we are [also] actively working with BNM towards fulfilling the conditions for the suspension to be uplifted,” it said in its statement on Sunday.

Both credit reporting agencies have also reassured users that their systems are secure, and that they will provide free Dark Web monitoring for Malaysians starting from today (4 October 2021). CTOS will be offering its SecureID free of charge for a month, whereas Experian will offer its JagaMyID identity monitoring service without charge for three months.

(Sources: Malay Mail [1,2], The Edge Markets, The Sun Daily)

• TAGS:
• Bank Negara Malaysia
• BNM
• Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS)
• Credit Reporting Agencies
• Credit Reports
• CTOS
• CTOS SecureID
• Experian
• JagaMyID