MUMBAI – A biggest cyber attack in Indian history has left as many as 3.2 million debit cards under threat marring India’s reputation as a major force in world’s tech ecosystem.
Of the cards, 2.6 million are said to be on the Visa and Master-Card platform and 600,000 on the RuPay platform. The worst-hit of the card-issuing banks are State Bank of India.
The prodigious breach of financial data in India emerged after a security breach was reported at a private bank’s ATM. Reportedly, the payment systems of Hitachi Payment Services were infested with malware that aided miscreants to steal personal information and do fraudulent transactions.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which controls all retail payments systems in India, confirmed in a statement that there was a “possible compromise at one of the payment switch provider’s systems”.
Some customers are complaining that large sums of money have been taken from their accounts. however, the banks have urged people not to panic.
A forensic audit has now been ordered by Payments Council of India on Indian bank servers and systems to detect the origin of frauds that might have hit customer accounts.
NPCI Managing Director AP Hota said: “We have received complaints from banks about debit cards being used in China which aroused suspicion.”
The latest hack has irked the citizens as most of them depend on banks for their financial transactions and a breach ahead of the traditional Diwali festival could spoil the festivity.
