Debit card security breach hampers India's cashless economy future
New Delhi : In India, people prefer to pay by cash as cashless payments don’t seem secure enough. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been pitching people to do digital transactions.
In a country where 98% transactions are done by case, Debit cards and their password getting compromised in like hitting the nail in coffin.
According to a report, nothing less than 3.2 million debit cards and details associated with the accounts have been compromised.
The illegal withdrawals were limited to 641 customers of 19 banks, and the total amount involved was just $194,000, the National Payments Corp. of India said in a statement late Thursday.
Customers needn’t panic, AP Hota, managing director and chief executive officer of National Payments, said in the statement. Banks have advised customers to change their card security codes, and in cases where customers couldn’t be contacted, have blocked their cards and are issuing new ones, the payments system operator said.
Banks on breach
Taking immediate action over the data breach, banks blocked certain accounts while some adviced consumers to change their debit card pin asap.
State Bank Of India (SBI) in its official statement claimed that the bank has freezed some account as a part of precautionary measure. While, ICICI Bank said that it had changed codes of cards used at affected ATMs.
Highlights:
3.2 million Debit cards have been compromised in a data security breach
Banks have adviced consumers to change their ATM pins at the earliest
Some accounts were blocked by banks to ensure safety of the consumer
The illegal withdrawals were limited to 641 customers of 19 banks
