RBI Asks Banks to Probe Alleged Data Leak of 1.3 Million Cards

By | November 1, 2019

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to make sure clients’ credit and debit card information is protected and research reports which state data of 1.3 million accounts was available online, a note seen by Reuters revealed. Three business sources confirmed the note was shipped to banks.

Banks must secure the clients’ information by doing a preliminary evaluation of the leaked card info on the internet, ” the RBI note said, also mentioned an article by technology news website ZDNet on Tuesday.

“On discovering leaked information to be right and real, disable and re-issue the debit and credit cards according to the bank’s coverage,” stated the note dated Oct. 29.

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Security researchers in Singapore-based Group-IB had discovered that card information were being marketed at a cost of $100 per cent, ZDNet had reported. The worth of this leaked database was estimated from the group in $130 million (#100 million).

“we don’t disclose the names of banks, but can tell the database held that the debit and credit card dumps associated with the biggest Indian banks,” Group-IB stated in a statement on Thursday, including that it had informed authorities about the violation.

There were approximately 51.7 million charge cards and 851.5 million debit cards in circulation as of August, RBI statistics reveals.

“The (RBI’s) Department of Banking Supervision has sent this letter out as if there are a few events the RBI alarms the banks also sends them a cautionary note that’s delivered to each of the scheduled commercial banks,” said an industry official, requesting anonymity.

Banks also have been requested to alert the CERT-In division, which is responsible for emergency response, regarding the actions of the government.

Regulators have regularly issued advisories to prevent data breaches that are common in India, a nation of 1.3 billion people at which the usage of charge cards and electronic wallets is rising quickly.

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