Hackers steal BoB data, threaten to leak it, cops suspect extortion bid

According to the complaint filed by Bank of Baroda chief information security officer Ajaykumar Rajappan, the email claimed that a group calling itself the “Triple X team” had breached the bank’s network and downloaded more than 1 terabyte of data

MUMBAI: A ransomware group allegedly hacked the official email account of a Bank of Baroda employee, stole confidential data and threatened to release the data online, leading the BKC police to register an FIR. The threat was sent to several bank officials on July 9 from the hacked email account of the bank’s credit manager based in Gujarat.

Hackers steal BoB data, threaten to leak it, cops suspect extortion bid

According to the complaint filed by Bank of Baroda chief information security officer Ajaykumar Rajappan, the email claimed that a group calling itself the “Triple X team” had breached the bank’s network and downloaded more than 1 terabyte of data.

The message warned that the stolen information would be published on the group’s website unless the bank contacted them. The employee whose official email account was allegedly hacked was initially unaware of the breach. It was brought to his attention by other bank officials who received the message.

The e-mail said, “Triple X team has hacked your networks. All your data, over 1 terabyte has been downloaded, will be released on our website and leaked. To prevent this you need to contact us.”

Police said the hackers allegedly posed as Bank of Baroda employees to gain access to the account and then extracted confidential information from servers across different branches.

“The hackers operating under the Triple X team hacked into the official email id of the employee by misrepresenting them as BoB employees. The hackers exfiltrated confidential data on the servers across various branches of the bank and threatened to leak and publish the stolen data unless the bank contacted them,” said the police officer, adding that this appeared to be an extortion bid.

Police are now probing how the attackers gained access to the employee’s account, what data was taken and whether any other bank systems or accounts were compromised.

The case has been registered against unknown persons on Saturday under Sections 303 (theft) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 66 (computer related offences), 66B (dishonestly receiving stolen computer resource or communication device), 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation using computer devices) of the Information Technology Act, said the police officer.

When contacted, Bank of Baroda refused to comment.