Two months after Pune-based Cosmos Bank became victim of a malware attack, in which hackers siphoned off over Rs 94 crore, the RBI has come out with new norms to scale up the cyber-security and resilience framework at the urban cooperative banks (UCBs). “All UCBs should immediately put in place a Cyber Security policy, duly approved by their Board/Administrator, giving a framework and the strategy containing a suitable approach to check cyber threats depending on the level of complexity of business and acceptable levels of risk,” the apex bank said in a circular issued on Friday.
The circular, titled “Basic Cyber Security Framework for Primary (Urban) Cooperative Banks (UCBs)”, further noted that it has “become essential to enhance the security” of such banks from cyber threats “by improving the current defences”. Given that the country boasted over 1,500 UCBs with deposits aggregating Rs 4.43 lakh crore as on March 31, 2017, and the role they play in pushing financial inclusion, this is a much-needed move on the part of the apex bank.
“It is observed that the level of technology adoption is different across the banks in this sector – some banks offering state of the art digital…
