Bank Rakyat Malaysia website defacement suspected to be cyberattack

Bank Rakyat Malaysia experienced a website defacement incident involving its third-party managed web pages. The disruption affected several banking pages, including the iRakyat online banking login service.

Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil stated that the incident was categorized as a web defacement, meaning unauthorized parties altered the website display without compromising the institution's core banking system operations. In response, the bank blocked access to the affected servers and redirected users to its official iRakyat platform.

While the bank has not officially confirmed a cyberattack or disclosed whether customer data was accessed, a threat actor using the name MARLANWG claimed responsibility. This actor previously claimed to have offered access to the Malaysian Customs Department's database.

Following the incident, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim directed the National Security Council (MKN) to examine hybrid security threats against the nation's digital infrastructure. This comes as the National Cyber Security Agency (Nasca) recently raised Malaysia's National Cyber Security Threat Level from low to medium as a precautionary measure.