POLICE today said there is possible negligence in the missing magnetic tapes case involving CIMB Group Holdings Berhad.

The tapes, containing backup data, were lost in transit during routine operations.

Some of the tapes contain information on customers of CIMB Bank and its subsidiaries.

Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said investigations were carried out after a report was lodged three days ago at the SeaPark station.

“We have yet to get a lead on the case, but there is possible negligence involving the staff who handled the tapes.”

The investigations are being carried out by the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters, with the case currently classified as theft.

“We will reclassify the case and possibly add a new section later,” said Fuzi.

He dismissed suggestions that it was an act of sabotage.

“I do not think so. CIMB has taken all the safety and security steps. This is the bank’s internal matter. We are helping as much as we can to investigate the case.”

The bank, in a statement on Monday, had said following a thorough and ongoing assessment, there was no evidence that any of the information on the tapes had been compromised.

“The tapes don’t contain authentication data, such as PIN numbers, passwords or credit card CVV numbers,” said CIMB.

It said in adopting a conservative approach to data protection and security, it was working with the authorities and taking the necessary measures to protect customers.

“As these are backup tapes, CIMB still has all customer information.”

The bank has heightened security measures across all channels, including temporarily suspending some services via its call centre, such change of address, telephone number and/or email address for banking/credit cards; third-party funds transfer or payment for customers without a T-Pin; and, T-Pin creation or request.

CIMB said while no action was required of customers, it recommended that they be extra vigilant, and if in doubt, refer only to official CIMB channels, such as its website, call centre and branches.

“We take our responsibility to our customers very seriously, and we are confident that the measures we have in place will maintain the safety of customer transactions,” said CIMB Group chief executive officer Tengku Zafrul Tengku Aziz.

“Although this is an isolated incident, we have reviewed and further strengthened our security and internal processes to ensure that we remove the possibility of it recurring.

“We apologise for the inconvenience that our heightened security measures may cause to our customers in the interim.

“Know that we are working very closely with the relevant authorities to mitigate any risk arising from this incident.” – November 16, 2017.