KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — Telekom Malaysia (TM) said the millions in customer data alleged to have been stolen by a hacker recently was outdated and recycled information.

The telecommunications company said it had conducted an internal investigations into the alleged hack, The Star reported today.

"Our investigation revealed that the alleged materials are pre-processed, recycled and dated. Nonetheless, we are treating the situation with utmost seriousness and are dedicated to resolving this issue with high urgency. Therefore, we have engaged the relevant authorities and lodged a police report.

"TM is steadfast in continuously fortifying our cyber defences and bolstering our resilience against such threats to ensure our customers’ data is secured and safe within our ecosystem,” it was quoted as saying.

Yesterday, a hacker claimed to have TM's entire customer base data and was willing to sell it back to the telco for a fee, in essence making a ransom claim.

TM had filed a police report against the hacker claiming they had received a ransom note which led to the investigations.