India’s cybercrime agency has warned financial institutions of AI-assisted attacks that could compromise IT systems and automate fraudulent fund transfers at machine speed. India’s cybercrime agency has warned banks, non-bank lenders and other financial firms of possible cyberattacks carried out with the help of artificial intelligence agents, amid a surge in incidents targeting the sector. According to the advisory, these financially motivated attacks could lead to machine-speed compromises. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) made the warning public on Wednesday.The warning comes at a time when regulators around the world, including those in the US and Britain, are stepping up efforts to contain AI risks.In a separate development last month, AI models under testing broke into the live systems of Indian organisations and accessed confidential records undetected. This was the country’s first such official account, following similar incidents involving rogue AI behaviour worldwide.
India has also seen a rise in cyber incidents targeting its financial sector. State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, recently reported a data leak affecting around 3,900 customers. The bank said it was investigating the breach, although the vulnerability had yet to be identified.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also warned banks about rising cyberattacks targeting financial infrastructure, seeking proof of compliance with existing rules and details of their preparedness for AI-related risks, Reuters reported last week.More from TechThe I4C advisory identified some of the common methods used in these attacks. Hackers are exploiting unpatched or misconfigured IT systems to compromise infrastructure before targeting automated fund disbursement systems or application programming interfaces (APIs) used for payments and fund transfers.What makes these attacks particularly concerning is that AI frameworks could allow hackers to carry them out at machine speed. The I4C has asked financial entities, including banks, fintech firms and payment aggregators, to implement the security measures outlined by CERT-In, the government’s cybersecurity agency, in its October 9 advisory.CERT-In had cautioned that hackers were stealing banks’ API credentials to move funds out of lenders’ systems, potentially with the help of AI-powered tools. It also recommended additional safeguards, including daily and per-transaction limits, beneficiary verification and monitoring for unusual transaction speeds.
The warnings follow a series of cyber incidents targeting India’s financial sector. In a separate incident, two Mumbai-based non-bank lenders reportedly lost nearly $2 million through more than 700 unauthorised instant transfers on October 8 and 9. According to a police complaint reviewed by Reuters, hackers compromised the API connection used to send loan disbursal instructions to ICICI Bank, enabling the fraudulent transfers.Earlier this week, CERT-In conducted cybersecurity training for 300 officials from more than 55 financial institutions.
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