Central Bank of India reports unauthorized transfers of 13.97 crore rupees

Central Bank of India has initiated a police investigation in Mumbai following the discovery of 187 unauthorized transfers from its settlement account held with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The transactions, which occurred between October 15 and 17, totaled 13.97 crore rupees, yet remained undetected by the bank's standard internal logs.

Preliminary reports suggest the attackers may have gained access to the Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS), a platform used by financial institutions to relay payment instructions. While Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services (IFTAS), which manages the SFMS infrastructure, has publicly stated that its systems remain secure, the bank acknowledged a technical issue within its localized Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) server interface.

The bank has assured customers that its core banking system remains secure and that no customer accounts were compromised. Authorities, including the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre, have been notified to assist in the investigation.

Law enforcement officials have described the investigation as complex, noting that the unauthorized transactions lacked corresponding IDs in the bank's records. The incident draws comparisons to the 2016 breach of Bangladesh Bank, where hackers exploited financial messaging infrastructure to siphon off funds.