To allay concerns over any data breach, CTOS offers Malaysians free dark web monitoring tool

• Firm has not experienced any data breach since inception in 1990
• Data security procedures, systems are benchmarked against global standards

In the continued fallout from the alleged data breach of Malaysian public data from the National Registration Dept (NRD), Malaysian credit reporting agency, CTOS Data Systems Sdn Bhd, yesterday confirmed that its data assets are secure. The company also announced that dark web monitoring through CTOS SecureID would be available to all Malaysians free of charge for one month, starting October 4, 2021.  The service would accord customers the peace of mind of knowing if their personal information had potentially been exposed on the dark web.  The public can sign up here.

CTOS Group Chief Executive Officer, Dennis Martin (pic) said, “We would like to assure the public that as of now, there are no indications that our data assets have been breached.  As Malaysia’s leading credit reporting agency, CTOS places paramount importance on cyber security risk and data breach protection, with all data and information in our possession protected with world-class certified data security technology. 

“We have made and will continue to make significant investments to ensure that our IT and data security framework, policies, procedures, and systems are benchmarked against Bank Negara Malaysia’s Risk Mgmt in Technology (RMiT) standard and ISO27001, as well as other global standards.”

He went on to explain that as cyber attacks were becoming more frequent and sophisticated, the company had also stepped up its proactive assessments and processes to protect the integrity of its data.

“Our systems are regularly subjected to comprehensive penetration tests, vulnerability assessment and audits by 3rd party IT security specialist firms to ensure its continued robustness. We are confident that we are well-positioned to defend our data assets against any potential cyber security attacks, which is further affirmed by the fact that there has been zero occurrences of any data breach since our inception in 1990,” he added.

Martin also clarified that Bank Negara Malaysia’s decision to temporarily suspend access to the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) service was applicable to all credit reporting agencies, and not just to CTOS.  The industry-wide move is a precautionary measure to further protect customers’ information.

He assured customers that it was working closely and expeditiously with the related regulators to closely monitor the situation, and was also conducting additional assessments to identify if further security measures are needed.

“I strongly urge all Malaysians to take up our offer of a free CTOS SecureID, which will give you immediate alerts in the event your data has been compromised.  It will give you the peace of mind you need,” he said.

CTOS provides digital solutions to roughly 17,000 corporate customers, including SMEs, mainly in Malaysia. I has about 1.3 million registered users for its CTOS ID, a free service to access credit information. It also claims to have the profiles of about 15 million consumers and eight million businesses.