Bharti Airtel denies alleged data breach

If you are an Airtel customer, this news might surprise you. As per media reports, there has been data leak of more than 370 million Airtel customers. Post which, Bharti Airtel has issued a statement clarifying the situation and has also denied any data breach allegations.

Let’s understand what the entire Airtel data breach case is about and what clarification has Airtel made?

Amid reports of customers’ data leak, Airtel has firmly denied any compromise in its security systems. It claims such allegations are an attempt to tarnish its reputation.

Airtel refutes alleged reports

Bharati Airtel issued a statement on social media platform X on July 5. X post says, “there are reports alleging unauthorized access to Airtel customer data. This is nothing but a desperate attempt to damage the company’s reputation for personal gain. We have investigated and can confirm that there has been no unauthorized access or compromise from Airtel’s systems.”

According to a media report citing internal sources of Airtel, hackers have not been able to provide any evidence to support their claims and are trying to damage the company’s image.

A data leak, that probably wasn’t

Earlier, unverified reports said that information of 375 million Airtel customers is allegedly available for sale on the dark web. This includes customers’ phone numbers, email addresses, and Aadhaar numbers.

A hacker known as ‘xenZen’ reportedly listed a database on a dark web forum for sale and demanded $50,000 in return for this information.

The dark web is a part of the internet that allows people to hide their identity and location from others and law enforcement agencies. As a result, the dark web is also a place to buy and sell people’s private information at lucrative prices.

The risks of cyber attacks have been steadily increasing in the rapidly advancing digital age. According to the recent Financial Stability Report issued by the RBI, in the last 20 years, the financial sector has reported more than 20,000 cyber security incidents and digital attacks. This has resulted in losses exceeding $20 billion, that is, on an average, there have been about 1,000 cyber attacks each year.