Banks on High Alert following a massive security breach

Following reports of a malware-based security breach at a number of unspecified ATMs across the country, many Indian top banks are advising its customers to change their PIN codes or are recalling millions of debit cards. The breach is said to impact up to 3.2 million debit cards. State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and Axis Bank are a few of the banks that have issued advisories to its customers about the breach.

Earlier this week, State Bank of India blocked and recalled over 600,000 cards, while other banks have instructed some customers to alter their PINs and avoid using ATMs that are not on their network.

In a statement, SBI says: "Card network companies NPCI, MasterCard and Visa had informed various banks about a potential risk to some cards owing to a data breach. Accordingly, we have taken precautionary measures and have blocked cards of certain customers identified by the networks."

According to Shiv Kumar Bhasin, SBIs chief technology officer, a few ATMs have been affected by a malware. When people use their card on infected switches or ATMs, there is a chance of their data getting compromised.

RSA in a statement reported that this breach speaks of the advanced sophistication of cybercriminals and the malware tools they use. "Cybercrime has moved beyond targeting individual users to targeting corporate servers, payment networks and other systems on a massive scale. Implementing transaction monitoring and other advanced controls across all digital channels, including ATM, web and mobile, in which customers interact is critical to mitigate the impact these types of breaches have."

Cards involving as many as 90 ATMs were possibly been compromised by suspected security breaches throughout the country. Of the debit cards affected, 2.65 million are on Visa and MasterCard platforms, while 600,000 are on RuPay. As per sources inside, the infection spread from a compromised gateway switch.

Last month, Kaspersky Lab informed Axis Bank of a breach of its servers by an offshore hacker.