SBI notifies customers impacted by cyber incident; says “account balances and funds are safe”

The State Bank of India (SBI) has individually notified customers whose data was identified as being involved in a recent cyber incident through email or WhatsApp, while reassuring account holders that their balances and funds remain safe, as per a statement issued by the PSU lender on Friday.

The State Bank of India (SBI) has individually notified customers whose data was identified as being involved in a recent cyber incident through email or WhatsApp, while reassuring account holders that their balances and funds remain safe, as per a statement issued by the PSU lender on Friday. The clarification comes after the public sector lender identified more than 3,000 customer records containing personally identifiable information (PII) during a preliminary assessment of data suspected to have surfaced on the dark web, prompting a detailed investigation.

“Further to our earlier post regarding the recent cyber incident, the Bank has individually informed all customers, whose data was identified as being involved, through email and/or WhatsApp. We reiterate that your account balances and funds are safe with us,” it said in a release. The lender further advised customers to follow safe digital banking practices, refrain from sharing their OTPs, PINs or passwords with anyone, and remain vigilant against suspicious calls, messages and emails.

In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, the bank said it received alerts on October 16 from its Threat Intelligence Service Provider, the Defence Cyber Agency and CERT-In regarding suspected customer data exposure on the dark web. A preliminary analysis of approximately 3.75 lakh records identified 3,897 customer records containing personally identifiable information (PII), following which the bank initiated a detailed investigation into the incident.

The exposed information reportedly included customers' registered mobile numbers, dates of birth, names, gender, email addresses and residential addresses. It also included branch and customer information file (CIF) identifiers, lead IDs, and metadata associated with loan and lead records and other related files.

The bank said it immediately activated its cyber incident response and containment measures after receiving the alert and appointed an independent CERT-In-empanelled cybersecurity agency to assess the incident and determine the nature and extent of the suspected breach. SBI further clarified that the incident has had no material impact on its business operations, financial performance or business continuity, adding that its core banking functions continue to operate normally without disruption.  (ANI)