KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): U Mobile Sdn Bhd on Thursday denied claims that it had suffered a data breach, stressing that a sample of data posted on a hacking forum earlier this week was actually old data.

The telecommunication company was responding to local media reports of an alleged data breach containing names, MyKad numbers, phone numbers and addresses of U Mobile customers. The data was put up for sale for US$5,000 (RM23,365) in bitcoin on the forum.

In a statement, U Mobile said the data sample was linked to an incident reported in 2017, which involved the leakage of personal information of over 46 million users across various Malaysian organisations, dating back to 2014.

“U Mobile confirms that no evidence of unauthorised access into our database was found. We are confident that our data is secure, and we would like to assure our customers that we place the utmost importance on cybersecurity and have implemented extensive measures to safeguard our customers’ data,” the statement read.

On Wednesday, U Mobile said early assessments suggested the data was from the 2014 breach. The company said it was actively working with relevant authorities to address the situation.

“We wish to reassure our customers that we are committed to data security and will continue to enhance the security of our systems to protect their data,” U Mobile said.

U Mobile has also been in the spotlight this week following a Bloomberg News report that Maxis Bhd (KL:MAXIS) is considering acquiring the company to expand its presence in Malaysia.