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How a cyber attack on a tech firm caused services to halt in 300 Indian banks
The cyber-attack on C-Edge Technologies, a tech firm providing support to small Indian local banks, has resulted in the temporary disruption of services in approximately 300 banks.
FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. RUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
The cyber-attack on C-Edge Technologies, a tech firm providing support to small Indian local banks, has resulted in the temporary disruption of services in approximately 300 banks.
The attack, which took place on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, impacted the ability of customers to withdraw funds from ATMs and use the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services. According to a report by Wion, this outage disproportionately affected users of rural and cooperative banks, which rely heavily on C-Edge for their services.
In response to the attack, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which oversees UPI, took precautionary measures by temporarily blocking C-Edge’s access to the retail payment systems. NPCI released a statement indicating that C-Edge Technologies may have been affected by a ransomware attack on some of their systems.
Efforts are underway to restore banking services, with expectations that operations will resume by Thursday morning assuming the current plan progresses as intended. Additionally, a third-party audit has been conducted in the aftermath of the attack.
Customers utilising banks serviced by C-Edge were notified that they would be unable to access payment systems during this period.
“Customers of banks serviced by C-Edge will not be able to access payment systems during the period of isolation,” the NPCI said as quoted by Wion.
Despite the significant impact, it is estimated that only around 0.5% of the country’s payment system volumes will be affected.
Dileep Sanghani, chairman of the Amreli District Central Cooperative Bank and the National Cooperative Union of India, reported issues with online transactions such as transfers and UPI payments in 300 banks, including 17 district cooperative banks in Gujarat. He detailed instances where money was deducted from the sender’s account but not credited to the receiver’s account.
This incident underscores the susceptibility of financial institutions to cyber threats and underscores the pressing need for robust security measures to counter such attacks. The authorities and affected banks are diligently addressing the situation to restore normal operations as swiftly as possible.
