The State Bank of India (SBI) has revealed that a cyber incident resulted in hackers gaining access to customer records. In a filing with stock exchanges, the bank said it suspected that 3,897 customer records containing personally identifiable information had been exposed on the dark web. However, SBI clarified that the incident had not significantly affected its core operations, financial performance or business continuity.
On October 16, SBI received alerts from its Threat Intelligence Service Provider, the Defence Cyber Agency and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) about the suspected exposure of customer data.
A preliminary examination of approximately 3,75,000 records discovered on the dark web identified 3,897 customer records containing personally identifiable information. According to the bank, the exposed details included registered mobile numbers, dates of birth, names, gender, email addresses and residential addresses.
The records also contained branch details, customer information file identifiers, lead IDs and metadata associated with loan records, leads and other related files, the filing stated.
SBI says core banking operations remain unaffected
Although customer records were exposed, SBI said its core banking operations had not been disrupted. The bank stated that its main business functions continued to run normally and that it had promptly activated its cyber incident response and containment procedures.
SBI said a detailed investigation was necessary to verify the authenticity and completeness of the exposed information, trace its possible source, determine the extent of the breach and evaluate the risks to both customers and the bank.
The bank added that it was closely monitoring the situation and would take appropriate action in line with applicable regulatory requirements as the investigation into the 3,897 identified records continued.
Earlier, India Today Tech had reported claims made by an anonymous hacking group called Siriusim on the dark web forum BreachForums. The group alleged that it had obtained information belonging to 3.75 lakh SBI customers. However, SBI has not identified the group responsible for the incident.
The breach comes amid growing regulatory scrutiny of cybersecurity in the banking industry. In July, Bank of Baroda acknowledged a data leak involving 1TB of customer information. The exposed data reportedly included account details, names, phone numbers and Aadhaar information.
