Digital payment services restored of around 300 small banks affected due to ransomware attack; check details here

Around 300 Indian small banks' services were affected on Wednesday due to a ransomware attack on C-Edge Technologies, a key technology service provider for small banks across India. This has forced the temporary shutdown of payment systems for nearly 300 local financial institutions, according to information available on NPCI's Twitter handle.

The customers are unable to withdraw money from ATMs as well as do UPI transactions, NEFT and IMPS. These banks are mostly co-operative or regional rural banks.

“All online transactions, such as RTGS and UPI payments, are affected. Money is deducted from the sender’s account but does not get credited in the receiver’s account,” Sanghani, the chairman of Amreli District Central Cooperative Bank, said.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is an umbrella organisation for all retail payments system in India. 

However, the services have been restrored now. In an X post today (August 1), NPCI wrote:

NPCI connectivity with C-Edge Technologies re-established. pic.twitter.com/LvVQflrqbw

— NPCI (@NPCI_NPCI) August 1, 2024

C-Edge Technologies is a joint venture between Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and State Bank of India (SBI), according to the company's website. It was the subject of a ransomware assault, which generally entails unauthorised access to a system, encrypting data, and demanding a fee for recovery. To avoid further problems in the payment ecosystem, the NPCI blocked C-Edge, which services cooperative and regional rural banks, from accessing retail payment systems. As a result, clients of the impacted banks are unable to use payment services throughout the isolation time.