Top 7 data breach incidents in India

Check out some of the most noteworthy incidents of data breaches in India and what companies can do to prevent them.

What is a data breach?

With the rise of the digital age, data breaches are rapidly becoming increasingly common. Any security lapse wherein unauthorised elements access confidential data illegally can be termed as a data breach incident.

The data accessed could include sensitive personal or organisational information like bank account information, Aadhar card numbers, healthcare data, company financials, intellectual property, customer data, and so on. In general, anyone with a digital footprint is susceptible to data breaches.

A data breach might be executed by hackers for nefarious purposes like phishing, holding companies to ransom, selling financial information to third parties, etc.  

Another commonly used term for ‘data breach’ or ‘breach’ is cyber-attack’. However, it’s important to note that not every data breach is a cyber-attack and vice versa. Data breaches particularly refer to those incidents wherein the confidentiality of information is compromised. For example, a ransomware attack that is carried out to obtain confidential company data for the purpose of blackmailing and subsequently extortion can be termed as a security breach.

According to a report by IBM titled ‘Cost of a data breach 2022’, the cost incurred by an organisation due to a data breach is approximately 4.35 million dollars. It further stated that about 83 percent of companies have experienced more than one incident of data breach.

All types of organisations – governmental, private, non-profits of various sizes – have been the victims of data breach. But the specific sectors that suffer the most ramifications are finance, healthcare, and the public sectors. In the following paragraphs, let’s examine some of the famous data breaches in India.

Top 7 data breaches in India

Air India data breach

In February 2021, hackers broke into Air India’s database to steal the personal information of 4.5 million Air India customers. The data compromise happened on the heels of another data breach at Akasa Air. After the incident, Air India sent emails to the affected passengers that the security of their data had been compromised and personal information such as user ID and password had been stolen.

The hackers obtained sensitive information to access passengers’ GST invoices and reveal it in the public domain. However, credit card information like CVC and CVV numbers were not stolen as claimed by Air India in response to allegations.

CAT data breach

Another breach that took place in 2021 affected 190,000 Common Admission Test (CAT) applicants. The test was conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM). The personal identifiable data and the test results of the applicants were obtained by hackers who put them on sale on a cyber crime forum.

Apart from the data pertaining to the admission examination, the past scores and academic records were also posted on the forum. As per CloudSEK, this was the second time a data spill of CAT admission exam results had occurred – the first one occurred in 2019.

Upstox data leak

The security systems of Upstox, India’s second-biggest stock broking firm with regard to the number of clients, were breached in April 2021 by hackers who obtained KYC and other information of 25 lakh customers. According to a Times of India report, the data theft was traced to a third-party warehouse, and the documents were uploaded on the dark web.

The hackers responsible for the contravention allegedly belonged to a group called ‘Shiny Hunters’. Investigators discovered that the hackers had obtained the Amazon Web Service Key to unearth account information.

Police exam data spill (2019) and Cyberabad data theft (2023)

The confidential data of over 50,000 individuals who attended the police recruitment exam in December 2019 was violated by hackers. The information of participants like birth dates, cell phone numbers, candidate names, email IDs, FIR history, and criminal records, among others, was put up for sale by hackers. The information leak was discovered by CloudSEK when the hacker shared a sample of the stolen data with them.

However, the 2019 data spill pales in comparison to the data theft of 66.9 crore people in 2023. The incident came to light when Cyberabad police sent notices to 11 entities including three banks, an IT services company, and a social media behemoth, asking the company representatives to present themselves before them in pertinence to the massive data leak. The Cyberabad police reportedly arrested one Vinay Bharadwaj for thieving, storing, and selling the personal information of 66.9 crore people and companies across India.

Covid-19 information breach incident

Through a string of cyber-attacks on government websites in 2021, hackers managed to lay their hands on a database that comprised the personal data of approximately 1500 Indian citizens. The hackers rendered the data public through PDF files that were available for download. It was further discovered that the agencies responsible for the onslaught were based in New Delhi.

Likewise, in another incident in 2023, the information of 80,000 Covid patients was compromised when hackers paved their way into the Delhi State Health Mission’s database. A hacking group from Kerala assumed responsibility for the attack and stated dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the pandemic as the reason for the breach.

Domino’s India data theft

The Indian arm of Domino’s Pizza revealed in April 2021 that a threat actor had hacked their database and sold the compromised data on a hacking forum.

The actor claimed to have laid their hands on 13 TB of information comprising data of 18 million orders reflecting customer names, addresses, delivery locations, and phone numbers, along with the credit card information of 1 million individuals from the database of Domino’s India. However, the pizza chain claimed that customer credit card data wasn’t compromised as they don’t maintain the financial records of their clients.

Justpay data leak

Justpay is an Indian payment portal utilized for making online payments. In 2020, unidentified actors hacked 35 million user accounts of Justpay. A cyber-security expert confirmed the hacking in 2021 while surfing the dark web. According to him, the user data was being sold for 5000 dollars.

The information on sale included card details and fingerprints of clients. The hackers were reportedly negotiating the prices via Telegram App due to its feature of timely self-erasure of stored information.

Now that we have listed the top 7 data breaches of all time in India, let’s look at some preventive measures that organisations can adopt to stay safe.

Safety measures to prevent data breach

Train employees: This might sound elementary, but many companies ignore this crucial step at their own peril. In this digital age, it’s mandatory that companies train their employees on how to prevent data leaks. Steps like encouraging employees to create strong passwords, tweaking the passwords regularly, reporting suspicious activities, and educating them about the various types of scams can go a long way in safeguarding company databases.
Formulate and update processes: Creating data security procedures and refining them at regular intervals is the cornerstone of any good security policy. It’s essential for organisations to maintain clear guidelines for employees as doing so would clearly communicate the significance of data security.
Remote monitoring: Having an IT team to monitor systems is integral to organisational data security. Companies can either maintain an in-house IT team or hire an IT agency for this purpose.
Data backup and recovery: In some instances, company data files can get deleted in the event of a data breach. Therefore, companies should have information backed up for recovery. The responsibility of maintaining automated remote data backup systems rests with IT teams.
Destroy before deletion: When companies dispose of old records or unnecessary excessive data, they should ensure that they don’t leave any trail behind by annihilating such information.
Employ the latest software: Organisations should see to it that all their security tools are updated as outdated guardrails would be ineffective in dealing with new threats.
Encrypt data: End-to-end encryption for emails and Wi-Fi networks is absolutely necessary for ensuring data security.
Hire an expert: Common sense would suggest that subject-matter experts are necessary for handling the myriad threats posed by hackers.

We hope you enjoyed our compilation of the top 7 data breach incidents in India.

 

Also Read – Making enterprises cyber resilient: Hybrid cybersecurity for the interconnected world

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ET Edge Insights, its management, or its members

Scroll to Top