SBI Data Breach: Two days after State Bank of India experienced a data breach with 3,897 customer records found exposed on the dark web, India's largest lender said on Friday that it has individually notified affected customers via email or WhatsApp.
SBI reassured account holders that their balances and funds remain safe. The breach involved personal information, including names, contact numbers, dates of birth, email addresses, residential addresses and loan records.
In a post on X, SBI wrote, "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."
The bank has advised customers to follow safe digital banking practices, not share OTPs, PINs or passwords, and remain vigilant against suspicious calls, messages and emails.
What happened?
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.
Preliminary analysis found around 375,000 records available on the dark web, of which 3,897 contained personally identifiable information (PII). The bank said the incident did not impact its core business operations and performance.
In response, SBI has activated its cyber response and control protocols and engaged an independent cybersecurity firm empanelled with CERT-In to conduct a comprehensive assessment and investigation.
What customer information was exposed?
The exposed information reportedly included customers' registered mobile numbers, dates of birth, names, gender, email addresses and residential addresses, along with branch and customer information file (CIF) identifiers, lead IDs and metadata associated with loan and lead records.
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