KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 15): Newly-listed pawnbroker Well Chip Group Bhd (KL:WELLCHIP) said it has appointed a third-party forensic consultant to investigate a cyber security incident affecting the company's IT servers.

The Johor-based group said it is not aware of any external leakage of data and is in the process of reporting the incident to the relevant authorities.

“The group recently experienced a cyber security incident involving a malware attack to certain IT servers of the group which blocked off access to data contained within such servers,” said Well Chip in a statement to Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday.

“Investigations are ongoing, and the group will conduct a rigorous review of the incident and its IT systems to enhance and strengthen its overall cyber security infrastructure,” it added.

Well Chip said it has initiated a business recovery process to minimise any potential operational disruption to customers. The group also reassured all stakeholders that it takes information security seriously and has placed a high priority on addressing the incident.

Well Chip, which was listed on the Main Market in July, closed down two sen, or 1.44%, to RM1.37 on Tuesday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM834 million.

Compared to its initial public offer price of RM1.15, the counter is up 22 sen or 19.13%.