Scarlet Group Claims Access to AU Bank Customer Records

A cybercrime group calling itself Scarlet Group has claimed it breached AU Small Finance Bank, prompting the lender to investigate a possible data leak. The bank acknowledged on Friday that a Salesforce-hosted SaaS platform may be involved and said it is looking into the matter.

The platform concerned holds limited information about vehicle loan customers, the bank said in a statement. It also stressed that its main banking systems have not been impacted and that all services are running as normal for customers.

In its statement, the bank said, 'AU Small Finance Bank is examining a potential data leak connected to a SaaS platform hosted and managed by Salesforce. The platform contains only limited information about vehicle loan customers. The bank's systems remain secure and all banking services are functioning normally.'

Reports indicated that Scarlet Group has taken credit for the intrusion and asserts that it obtained access to customer data and internal corporate information held by the bank. The group's claims remain under examination.

Among the data that could potentially have been exposed are KYC records, personal identification documents, PAN and Aadhaar details, credit reports, bank statements, loan application forms, signed agreements, insurance records, CRM data, employee information, login history and audit logs. Such information is highly sensitive and could be misused if it is in fact compromised.

The news affected market sentiment around the stock. AU Small Finance Bank shares slipped nearly 2 per cent on the BSE on Friday to Rs 860.45. The stock has traded between Rs 832 and Rs 1,144.65 over the last 52 weeks.

The episode also follows a recent State Bank of India case in which 3,897 customer records were reportedly found on the dark web. In that instance, SBI received alerts about possible data exposure from a threat intelligence service provider, the Defence Cyber Agency and CERT-In.