HDB Financial confirms leak of customers’ personal information
2 min read . Updated: 08 Mar 2023, 12:45 AM IST
PremiumLeaked data was of two-wheeler, consumer-durable loans from May 2022 to Feb 2023
New Delhi: A hacker using the online alias “Kernelware" uploaded 7.5GB of sensitive data belonging to customers of HDB Financial Services, a unit of HDFC Bank, India’s largest private lender, to the Breached.vc hacker forum, in a disturbing reminder of the vulnerability of personal information in the digital age.
The hacker claimed that the data contains 73 million entries, including personal information such as customer names, date of birth, age, phone numbers, emails, marital status, gender, residential addresses, employment information, loan application information, transaction method, processing fees and credit score, among other data. The released data also included details on whether the loan was approved or rejected.
Responding to a Mint query, HDFC Bank categorically denied any data leak. “Please note that there is no data leak at HDFC Bank, and our systems have not been breached or accessed in any unauthorized manner," the bank said in a statement.
The data sample belonged to HDB Financial Services, a non-bank unit of HDFC Bank. The leaked data was of HDB’s two-wheeler and consumer-durable loans from May 2022 to February 2023.
HDB Financial confirmed an incident at one of its service providers, which processes some customer information.
Responding to a query, HDB Financial stated, “We have taken immediate steps to secure the service provider’s system to prevent any further unauthorized access. In addition, we are conducting a thorough review of the security measures adopted by the service provider to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future."
“We have also notified the regulator and CERT-IN, and we are working with them to investigate this incident to the fullest," HDB Financial added.
The non-bank lender, however, did not identify the service provider. But according to industry officials, the leak happened at loan aggregation company Lentra.ai. Interestingly, HDFC Bank was one of the early investors in Lentra.ai. Lentra.ai could not be reached immediately. During FY22, HDB Financial Services’ assets under management stood at ₹61,444 crore. It reported ₹11,306 crore in revenue and a profit of ₹1,011 crore.