A ransomware attack on a technology service provider has forced the payment services of around 300 small Indian banks to halt temporarily.
The attack targeted C-Edge Technologies, a provider of banking technology systems to small banks across the country, forcing the payment operations of the banks to shut down.
The customers of these banks were not able to withdraw cash at ATMs and use the UPI services due to the ransomware attack.
The impact was mostly felt by the customers of cooperative banks and regional rural banks which depend on C-Edge, a joint venture between SBI and TCS.
In a statement, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said that it had to temporarily isolate C-Edge from accessing the retail payment systems as a precaution.
“C-Edge Technologies….has been possibly impacted by a ransomware attack impacting a few of their systems,” NPCI said.
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The authorities are working on a war footing to restore the systems.
PTI reported that a third-party audit was conducted after isolating the ransomware. The system will be up and running by Thursday morning if all goes as planned.
“Customers of banks serviced by C-Edge will not be able to access payment systems during the period of isolation,” the NPCI said.
“Most of these are small banks and only about 0.5% of the country’s payment system volumes would be impacted,” said one of the sources.
National Cooperative Union of India chairman Dileep Sanghani said nearly 300 banks in India, including 17 district cooperative banks in his home state of Gujarat, that use C-Edge have been experiencing issues for the last two to three days.
“All online transactions, such as RTGS and UPI payments, are affected. Money is deducted from the sender’s account but does not get credited to the receiver’s account,” Sanghani, the chairman of Amreli District Central Cooperative Bank, said.
With inputs from PTI, Reuters