RBI issues warning to Banks to report cyber attacks in 6 hrs

With the rising cases of Cyber attacks all over the world, everyone is becoming soft targets of these attacks. Tightening its belt, the Reserve Bank of India is taking a strict stand against this and has warned the banks to report such incidents of cyber attack within 2 to 6 hours, failing to which the banks will be fined with abetment charge, meaning that the bank has helped the cyber crooks.  Generally most banks don’t reveal such matters as their reputation is at stake. But the RBI has initiated to take the action at the right time when the government is pushing digital payments after the demonetization saga.

S S Mundra, RBI Deputy Governor has revealed that RBI has received information on multiple cyber incidents — including ransomware, debit card frauds or unauthorized access to bank servers. He said that as the banks have not got the incidents to light on time, it has worsened the matter.

The RBI is trying to build high standards of security around all government-backed apps such as the Aadhaar-Enabled Payment System (AEPS) and the ‘BHIM’ app. Many of the banks also use these apps to allow users to transact and transfer money.

Once the RBI becomes successful in compelling banks to report such cases, it is expected to help the industry in thwarting cyber crimes. The learnings is believed to help even non-banking organizations. The Banks reporting the matter on time might save millions of users from losing their critical money and would also alert other banks in preparing themselves for the worst. They would be able to take necessary measures against the attacks in advance.