Retail payments at several co-operative, regional rural banks hit due to ransomware attack

Several co-operative banks and regional rural banks (RRBs) were impacted on Wednesday, facing an interruption in retail payments, following a ransomware attack on associate technology service provider C-Edge Technologies Ltd, National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) said in a statement.

“It has been brought to NPCI’s notice that C-Edge Technologies Ltd, a technology service provider who caters mostly to cooperative and regional rural banks, has been possibly impacted by a ransomware attack impacting a few of their systems,” it said. 

To prevent a larger impact on the payment ecosystem, NPCI has temporarily isolated C-Edge Technologies from accessing NPCI's retail payment systems. NPCI is the umbrella organisation for all retail payments systems in India and offers products and services such as RuPay, BHIM UPI, Bharat BillPay, and IMPS, among others.

“Customers of banks serviced by C-Edge will not be able to access payment systems during the period of isolation,” NPCI said, adding that restoration work is underway on a “war footing” along with C-Edge Technologies.

Further, necessary security review is under process and connectivity to affected banks will be restored “at the earliest”. Reports suggest over 200 co-operative banks and RRBs have been compromised by the ransomware attack.

C-Edge Technologies is a joint venture between Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and State Bank of India (SBI). The SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform offers IT solutions and services, core banking services, business processes and strategic consulting that assist banks in maximising the value of their IT spend, reduce transaction costs and enhance customer satisfaction. 

During the first half of 2024, India witnessed 388 data breaches, 107 data leaks, 39 ransomware group activities and 59 cases of illegal sale of access credentials or leaks, as per a recent report titled ‘India Breach Report’ by FalconFeeds, an entity of cyber-security firm Technisanct. Education, government and technology sectors were the primary targets, while healthcare, banking, manufacturing, and consumer services also faced severe attacks, the report said.