A large amount of personal information belonging to more than 12,000 employees of the State Bank of India (SBI) was leaked on Telegram channels.
The leaked data included things like the employees’ names, addresses, contact numbers, and PAN numbers. The leak was discovered when a Telegram channel called @sbi_data posted a file containing the personal information of over 12,000 SBI employees on July 8th.
The file had details like names, addresses, contact numbers, PAN numbers, account numbers, and photo IDs. The channel had around 608 subscribers at the time, but the file quickly spread to other Telegram channels and social media.
The person responsible for the leak claimed to have access to financial information of millions of consumers and posted screenshots of SBI account balances and transactions on a public forum. They also put the leaked data up for sale on dark web platforms.
A cybersecurity expert explained that banks are often targeted by threat actors, and sensitive data of clients and employees can be exposed and misused. He suggested that banks should encrypt their data and be proactive in monitoring and mitigating threats.
Data leaks and breaches have been increasing in India, with over 1,250 reported breaches in 2022, according to a report. Telegram has been used for both legal and illegal activities, and there have been previous instances of SBI exposing customer financial information through unprotected servers.