Yesterday, we covered news where the Sessions Court here granted a businessman, Yew See Tak, RM698,000 in damages as a result of his negligence lawsuit against Luno.
Judge Sazlina Safie, in her online ruling, found in favour of Yew, stating that he had successfully substantiated his claim against Luno Malaysia Sdn Bhd on a balance of probabilities and directed the defendant to reimburse Yew with RM598,000, which was the amount withdrawn by an unidentified hacker from his account, plus an extra RM100,000 in exemplary damages.
Today, the company issued an official statement regarding the court ruling that you can read below:
Luno is aware of the various news reports on the outcome of the Sessions Court Civil Suit No. BB-B52NCVC-43-08/2021, in which the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court found against Luno.
As a regulated digital assets exchange platform registered with Securities Commission Malaysia, Luno has always upheld the strongest levels of regulatory compliance and customer security, following strict procedures to keep cryptocurrencies safe and secure.
In this particular case, the plaintiff’s claim relates to the purchase and transfer of Bitcoins, which he claims took place without his knowledge and approval. In evidence before the court, the plaintiff acknowledged that, unfortunately, he had lost control and access to his personal email account and password and that his mobile device was “hacked”.
As a result, an individual with the plaintiff’s personal information and details was able to carry out the transactions in question. The plaintiff acknowledged that it was his, not Luno’s, responsibility to ensure the security of his email and password.
Similar events occurred on two other platforms. The Luno security features in place worked as they were designed to and these transactions were only possible because an individual had access to the plaintiff’s email, password and security details (including third-party 2-factor- authentication (2FA) codes) and was able to authorise each transaction via an SMS authorisation link sent to the plaintiff’s mobile phone.
Luno nonetheless fully respects the Court’s decision, and will therefore not be making any further comment on the matter while it remains before the courts.
We are in close contact with our external counsel in relation to an appeal against the decision. This is not an issue of the safety and security of the Luno platform. Luno has some of the most intensive security processes in crypto, as confirmed by an April 2023 ranking by CCData, but it necessarily remains the responsibility of the customer to maintain the security of their own email accounts, mobile devices, and passwords.
Luno is committed to following strict procedures to keep our customers’ cryptocurrencies safe and secure. We do our utmost to educate customers on the importance of vigilance in managing personal data and offer a range of educational materials to help customers maintain proper password health.
We also provide all customers with a number of additional security features, such as trusted device security and two-factor authentication, and we regularly encourage customers to use these additional layers of account protection.
Luno
For the TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) version, Luno says the plaintiff claimed these transactions occurred without his knowledge due to a hacked email account and password.
Luno emphasised that their security measures were in place and functional, but the plaintiff’s lapse in personal security allowed unauthorised access.
The company says it respects the court’s decision and is considering an appeal. They stress that their platform’s security is robust, but customers must also ensure the security of their own email accounts, mobile devices, and passwords.
Luno also added that they remain committed to educating customers about security and offer various security features for account protection.
