The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to send a confirmation to it on cyber policy by September 30
A cyber breach in the Union Bank of India’s nostro account was successfully averted some months ago. A nostro account is a bank account established overseas, usually in the currency of that country, for carrying out transactions there. In July, a person tried to transfer $5 crore from a UBI account through the help of Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). Nostro’s security wing in India blocked the transaction. Thereafter, transactions above $5 lakh from Indian accounts to foreign accounts were blocked.
Banks in India have an IT policy, but there is no cyber security policy in place, which can sense unusual activities. The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to send a confirmation to it on setting up a cyber policy by September 30. The cyber security policy, the RBI said, should have methods to tackle cyber threat by strengthening the resilience of the banking system.
The RBI has also observed that banks are hesitant to share information regarding cash security breach with it.
SWIFT, a collective of more than 3,000 financial institutions, is taking initiatives to strengthen its secure messaging system after cyber attackers had initiated bogus transactions worth $850 million, from a Bangladeshi bank account, online, in February this year.
Said G. Padmanabhan, former executive director, RBI, to THE WEEK, “All banks have basic safety measures as of today. But that is not enough. Cyber security is a cat-and-mouse game. It is an ongoing effort. But, we cannot say that everything will be in place if we have a cyber security policy. Let’s hope for the best.”
