The State Bank of India on Wednesday notified the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) about a suspected data leak at the bank. The bank said it received alerts from its Threat Intelligence Service Provider, the Defence Cyber Agency and CERT-In of an alleged exposure of the bank’s customer data on the dark web.
During a preliminary analysis of the 375,000 records available on the dark web, 3,897 customer records containing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) were identified. The exposed information reportedly included customers’ registered mobile numbers, dates of birth, names, gender, email addresses, residential addresses, branch and customer information file identifiers, lead IDs, and metadata associated with loan records and other related files.
SBI said a detailed investigation was required to verify the authenticity of the available data and determine the possible source of the leak. An independent CERT-In-empanelled cybersecurity agency was appointed to conduct an assessment and investigate the extent of the alleged compromise. SBI reiterated that the bank’s core business functions will continue to operate normally. The bank clarified that neither its financial performance nor its business continuity will be affected.
The bank also said that it has activated a cyber incident response and containment protocol.
Is your bank account safe?
Under Indian cybersecurity protocols, when data breaches are noted, banks are required to notify the affected customers via their registered email or SMS.
In case a customer’s account is affected, they do not have to close the account. However, they should be wary of targeted phishing calls, banking statements, and suspicious text messages.
Affected customers should take precautions such as avoiding sharing OTPs, UPI PINs, ATM PINs, or NetBanking passwords with others, even if the caller claims to be SBI staff. Keep SMS and email transaction alerts active on mobile numbers and emails, and check bank statements carefully. If an unauthorised transaction occurs, call 1930 (Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre) immediately and file a formal complaint. Report the hacking attempt to SBI at report.phishing@sbi.co.in. While contacting the bank, only use official phone numbers found on the SBI security page.
