KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — Bank Negara Malaysia confirmed today that it has suspended access to the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) after being made aware of a potential cyber attack.

The suspension will be temporary and only apply to credit reporting agencies, the central bank said in a reply to Malay Mail’s query.

"BNM has been made aware of a credible threat involving credit reporting agencies in Malaysia,” it said in an emailed statement.

"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,” it added.

"Access will be restored once the credit rating agencies’ secure access is assured.”

Financial consumers will continue to have access to their CCRIS report from this link: https://eccris.bnm.gov.my.

The suspension was first revealed in an announcement to Bursa Malaysia by CTOS Digital Bhd (CTOS) yesterday evening.

The firm said the suspension was 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,” the company said in the statement.

Several government agencies and ministries are facing mounting public scrutiny over concerns around advertisements by entities that claim they sell government-held databases with personal identification information (PII).

Many of the advertisements have appeared on a website like raidforums.com.