The National Payments Council of India blames Cosmos Bank for Malware attacks

In a statement, the NPCI’s Head Risk Management, Bharat Panchal, said “the NPCI’s systems are fully secure and this particular issue has occurred within the (Cosmos Bank’s) own IT environment.

“This has happened due to malware-based attack on the bank’s IT system which has caused a fraud. Under the attack, maximum transactions have been reported from outside India,” Panchal pointed out.

He reiterated that the systems of NCPI - the umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India - were absolutely secure and it was continuously monitoring the situation arising out of the Cosmos Bank episode.

The Indian banking industry went in shudders on Tuesday after the Cosmos Bank admitted that it fell victim to an international group of hackers who siphoned off a total of Rs 94.24 crore in two cyber attacks on August 11 and August 13.

In the first cyber hit, the bank lost Rs 80.50 crore through multiple ATM swipes in 28 countries.