New Delhi: The State Bank of India has said
it identified 3,897 customer records containing personally identifiable
information in data suspected to have been exposed on the dark web, and has
launched a detailed investigation to establish the authenticity, source, and
extent of the alleged exposure.
In an exchange filing, the country's largest
lender said it received alerts about the suspected exposure on October 16 from
its Threat Intelligence Service Provider, the Defence Cyber Agency, and
CERT-In. A preliminary analysis of approximately 375,000 records available on
the dark web found 3,897 records containing PII. The exposed information
reportedly included customers' registered mobile numbers, dates of birth,
names, gender, email addresses, residential addresses, branch and CIF
identifiers, lead IDs, and metadata associated with loan and lead records.
SBI said it had activated its cyber incident
response and containment protocols and engaged an independent cybersecurity
agency empanelled by CERT-In to assess the alleged compromise and the potential
risks to customers and the bank. The lender clarified that the incident had no
material impact on its core business operations, financial performance, or
business continuity.
The bank's statement follows a claim by an unidentified hacker group operating under the name "Siriusim" that it had obtained confidential customer information allegedly linked to SBI, including personal details, loan applications, and account-opening documents. Cybersecurity monitoring account CyberPulse56 highlighted the claim, saying the group purportedly possessed around 3.8 lakh data entries in CSV format and 2,722 PDF documents. The account warned that the information could potentially be exploited for identity theft, financial fraud, targeted phishing attacks, and fraudulent loan applications. SBI assured that it would continue to monitor the situation and take appropriate measures in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements. The alleged exposure comes amid broader concerns over cybersecurity risks facing India's financial sector, with the Reserve Bank of India having stepped up cybersecurity requirements for commercial banks earlier this year.
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