Fintech major Paytm allegedly suffered a major data breach in 2020 that affected close to 3.4 Mn customers. The breach compromised user data such as mobile numbers, email addresses, dates of birth.
Other confidential information such as gender, geographic location, income level as well as purchase details were also leaked in the data breach.
While describing the data breach, security tracker Firefox Monitor said, “A website data breach happens when cyber criminals steal, copy, or expose personal information from online accounts. It’s usually a result of hackers finding a weak spot in the website’s security. Breaches can also happen when account information gets leaked by accident. It can sometimes take months or years for credentials exposed in a data breach to appear on the dark web. Breaches get added to our database as soon as they have been discovered and verified.”
However, Paytm’s ecommerce arm Paytm Mall claimed that the hacker and the cyber-risk intelligence firm Cyble, who had raised the alarm over a possible data breach, had themselves confirmed that there was no breach.
Paytm Mall said in a statement, “The data of our users is completely safe and claims related to data leak in the year 2020 are completely false and unsubstantiated. A fake dump uploaded on the platform haveibeenpwned.com appears to wrongly alert of a data breach on Firefox. We are in touch with Firefox and the platform to resolve the matter.”
In 2020, Cyble had claimed that the ecommerce arm of Paytm had suffered a data breach. The US-based firm had also alleged that the attackers were demanding ransom in cryptocurrency in exchange for the data. Later, Paytm charged a legal notice on Cyble, warning the cybersecurity firm of civil and criminal proceedings, following which Cyble recanted its claim and said that there was no breach.
