KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, the country’s two top banks in terms of asset, say there are no cyber attacks on their customer accounts as alleged over social media.
In separate replies to the New Straits Times queries, the banks dismissed any relation of alleged unauthorised transactions involving customer accounts to under-fire Zoom Video Communications application.
CIMB Bank denied unauthorised direct debits, reaffirming its recent statement that the transactions were "legitimate purchases made by customers for online services”.
"CIMB operates within strict security guidelines and adheres to all regulatory, legal, compliance, and risk requirements.
"We would like to reassure customers that there have been no untoward or suspicious activities on any of our platforms.
"The safety of our customers' funds and online banking transactions is strictly prioritised at all times to ensure all banking transactions remain safe for customers.
"Should customers have any enquiries they may call our call centre at +603 6204 7788 or email cru@cimb.com (for individuals) or call 1300 888 828 (local) or +603 2297 3000 (overseas), or email mybusinesscare@cimb.com, for businesses,” a CIMB spokesperson told the NST.
The issue viralled on Twitter last weekend, with a number of CIMB customers online claiming that the transactions were unauthorised and money being siphoned from their accounts.
“We would like to reassure affected customers that the recent ‘direct debit’ transactions are legitimate debit card transactions done by customers,” CIMB said in a tweet on Saturday.
Some Maybank customers, meanwhile, claimed that there were also unauthorised transactions made through their accounts.
On Monday, a WhatsApp text circulated claiming that there was a relation between the alleged cyber attacks with the Zoom app.
A Maybank spokesperson said the bank was aware of allegations on social media platforms, including WhatsApp messages, regarding possible security issues when customers use Zoom.
"Rest assured that our systems have not been breached or compromised, and that our online banking platforms remain secure.
"Customers are reminded to continuously protect themselves by ensuring their online banking details are kept safe and be wary with any fraudulent attempts to obtain their banking details through phishing or phone scams,” the spokesperson said.
Zoom, an American remote conferencing services, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently, after it came under scrutiny from the New York Attorney General and the FBI.
Zoom faced questions from security experts about the level of encryption on its platform, and been hit with two class action lawsuits over a feature (which it has since deactivated) that shared some user data with Facebook.
A report quoted an analytics firm SimilarWeb as saying that there was a 535 per cent rise in daily traffic to the Zoom.us download page in the last month, as Covid-19 lockdowns had moved many in-person activities online including working from home.