More than 3.2 million debit cards of major public and private banks have been compromised by a cyber malware attack in ATM system and the National Payments Corporation of India. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that an incident of data breach with respect to cards was reported and the matter is under investigation. Independent investigation by a forensic auditor approved under Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) framework is under process.

RBI has set up a Cyber Security and IT Examination (CSITE) Cell within its Department of Banking Supervision in 2015. The Bank issued a comprehensive circular on Cyber Security Framework in Banks on June 2, 2016 covering best practices pertaining to various aspects of cyber security. The circular requires banks to have among other things, a cyber-security policy, cyber crisis management plan, a gap assessment vis-a-vis the baseline requirements indicated in the circular, monitoring certain risk indicators in this area, report unusual cyber security incidents within 2 to 6 hours.

RBI has been carrying out IT Examination of banks from last year. RBI has also set up a Cyber Crisis Management Group to address any major incidents reported including suggesting ways to respond and recover to/from the incidents. Department of Banking Supervision also conducts cyber security preparedness testing among banks on the basis of hypothetical scenarios with the help of CERT-In. RBI has also set up an IT Subsidiary, which would focus, among other things, on cyber security within RBI as well as in regulated entities.

This was stated by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

Cybersecurity obligations mandate enhanced bank incident reporting and preparedness following an ATM card data breach. The debit card data breach prompted an independent forensic audit under the PCI Data Security Standard and regulatory emphasis on a cybersecurity framework requiring banks to maintain a cyber security policy, a cyber crisis management plan, gap assessments against baseline requirements, monitoring of cyber risk indicators, and mandatory rapid reporting of unusual cyber incidents; supervisory actions include IT examinations, preparedness testing with technical agencies, a Cyber Crisis Management Group, and creation of an IT subsidiary to bolster cyber controls.