Banks are perceived to be safe by most people. The common public is wary of risky investments and tend to gravitate more towards the familiar and what could be more familiar than the neighbourhood bank with a cash machine sticking out of the wall? The month of October has brought shocking news for Indian debit card users as more than 3.2 mln debit cards are now known to have been compromised. This compromise is the largest ever breach of security in the Indian banking system. The largest Indian bank, the State Bank of India has been the worst hit with more than 600,000 debit cards affected. Indian banking reeling from cyber attack It has been reported by the Indian Express newspaper that 19 banks have had complaints from customers that their cards were used abroad while they were in India. These cards were mainly used to access funds in China and the United States. The Additional Secretary of Financial Services, Government of India GC Murmu told the Indian Express that 0.5 per cent of the total debit cards in the country have been compromised. A person involved in the investigation of the debit card scam told the Business Standard newspaper: “One of the processors of Hitachi Payments’ central switch had been attacked and the malware deployed on its switch was active for six weeks. Data of all the transactions passed through the switch has been possibly compromised. This happened at YES Bank, White Label Operator ATM (WLA) and a Korean bank ATM.” How the Debit Cards were compromised The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) explained in a press release on October 20, 2016, how the scam unfolded. Banks complained that their customer’s cards were being fraudulently used in China and USA and feared that there had been a […]
