Axis Bank undertakes steps to neutralise cyber attack, says no loss to customers

Private sector Axis Bank said on Wednesday there was no loss to its customers from the recent cyber attack. The malware attack was detected in time and was duly informed to the regulator RBI, Axis Bank said in a statement. The bank's internal monitoring mechanism identified such a threat recently and all steps have been undertaken to neutralise the same, it said. "We stay committed to our customers and it is always been our endeavour to ensure that our customers' interests are always protected. There has been no loss to our customers," it added.

As a responsible financial institution, it said, the bank proactively communicate potential threats to the regulator to maintain broader systemic integrity. Meanwhile, SBI and its subsidiary banks blocked about 6 lakh debit cards due to a malware-related security breach as part of precautionary measures after being informed of potential risks to those cards.

In July, state-owned Union Bank of India was also hit by cyber attack but successfully averted the theft from USD Nostro account. Union Bank went for a cyber security forensic audit to identify and plug gaps, if any.

Last month, in a meeting with head of public sector banks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley discussed issues related with cyber security and measures to strengthening cyber security. With instances of cyber attack rising, the Reserve Bank also in its bi-monthly policy said it has decided to increase its supervisory coverage on IT risks for banks with an aim to eventually cover all the lenders.

RBI had started a special supervision of banks cyber security last year on a pilot basis in which it had covered a few largest banks. The RBI is also in the process of setting up a dedicated IT subsidiary which may help with such issues.