No Affin Bank customer accounts compromised by ATM hacks, says ABM

KUALA LUMPUR: No customer account balances were compromised during the spate of automated teller machine (ATM) hacks in Affin Bank over the weekend, said the Association of Banks Malaysia (ABM).

Chuah Mei Lin, executive director of ABM, of which Affin Bank is a member, said in statement Tuesday that member banks were now stepping up efforts on security to protect customers’ data, following reports of ATMs in Selangor, Johor and Malacca being hacked into.

ATMs of at least 14 bank branches belonging to Affin Bank, Al Rajhi Bank and Bank Islam were reportedly hacked into by a Latin American gang which made off with over RM3 mil.

“The Association of Banks in Malaysia wishes to assure the public that our member banks with ATM networks are collaborating closely with the relevant authorities with regard to the recent cases of ATM heists.

“Members of the public are welcome to contact us at our ABMConnect hotline by dialing 1-300-88-9980 or emailing us at eABMConnect by logging on to our website, www.abm.org.my,” she said.

ABM’s member banks also include Alliance Bank, AmBank, Bangkok Bank, Bank of America, Bank of China, MUFG, BNP Paribas, CIMB Bank, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Hong Leong, HSBC, India International Bank Malaysia Sdn Bhd, ICBC, JP Morgan Chase, Maybank, Mizuho, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Public Bank, OCBC Bank, RHB, UOB, Standard Chartered, SMBC, Scotiabank and RBS.

Al Rajhi Bank and Bank Islam are members of the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions.

In a new development, Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Comm Datuk Mortadza Nazarene told Bernama that the suspects used a computer malware known as “ulssm.exe” to hack into the ATMs.

“The suspects were found to have opened the top panel of the machine without using a key and inserted a compact disc into the machine’s processing centre which caused the ATM’s system to reboot,” he told Bernama, Tuesday morning.

He said they then used a keyboard to hack into the system and take out money. According to him, information obtained from the systems engineer of a bank indicated that up to 40 notes could be taken out in a single transaction using the method.

A special squad comprising officers from Bukit Aman and state contingents have been deployed under Ops Godam ATM.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crimes Investigation Department deputy director (Cyber and Multimedia Crimes) SAC Mohd Kamarudin Md Din said the gang members were still believed to be in the country.