AI, Cyberattacks And Financial Stability: Why RBI And SEBI Must Act Now. Read the key points, why it matters and what businesses should watch next.
AI Fuels New Cyber Risks
Cyber incidents are exposing weaknesses in India's financial infrastructure, with artificial intelligence making attacks easier to launch and harder to detect. Losses of nearly ₹300 crore were reported at smaller non-banking financial companies over two months, with roughly 150 complaints and FIRs. Attackers exploited flaws in APIs and payment systems to push through unauthorised transfers.
At the country's largest lender, SBI, a suspected data breach was disclosed. A preliminary review found thousands of records carrying personal details such as names, phone numbers, addresses and loan information. Core operations and customer balances were unaffected, but questions remain over data security and third-party access.
Global Cases Highlight Gaps
Similar failures have surfaced abroad. South Korea reported breaches at 16 financial institutions involving about 100,000 records. In Italy, fraudsters allegedly used an AI-generated voice and fake WhatsApp messages, impersonating a senior executive, to persuade a bank to transfer €95 million, most of which was not recovered.
The recent Binance incident is another warning. Hackers reportedly took about $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency from hot wallets across multiple blockchains. Investigators pointed to a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop and unauthorised access to internal systems and wallet signing infrastructure. On Ethereum, an account delegation feature was allegedly abused to run malicious transactions through a hot wallet. The blockchain's cryptography held; internal access controls and transaction authorisation failed. The attack was attributed to North Korea's TraderTraitor group.
Not every incident is directly linked to AI, but together they show how technology and compromised systems can threaten institutions at scale. AI has lowered the entry barrier for sophisticated crime, allowing automated vulnerability scanning, convincing impersonation, phishing and simultaneous attacks.
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