Shimla: 

Cybercriminals managed to steal Rs 11.55 crore from the State Cooperative Bank by hacking into its server. The fraud took place between May 11 and May 12, involving unauthorised access through the mobile phone of an account holder from the Hatli branch in Chamba.

Officials said that the fraud was not detected on May 13 due to a holiday, delaying the routine RBI report. It was only on May 14, when the bank received the RBI report, that the management realised the fraud had taken place. Alarmed, the bank immediately alerted the authorities and lodged a formal complaint at Shimla's Sadar Police Station.

Officials said that the fraudsters gained access to the Bank's 'Him Paisa' mobile application, transferring the stolen funds into 20 different accounts via NEFT and RTGS.

DIG Cyber Crime Mohit Chawla confirmed that the case has been transferred to the Cyber Police Station in Shimla for a detailed probe. A 'Zero FIR' has been registered, and the Cyber Crime Unit, in collaboration with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), has launched an investigation.

The police official said that CERT-In, the national agency responsible for handling cyber threats, has been apprised of the fraud and a team is also expected to arrive in Shimla from Delhi to conduct an examination at the Bank's data centre. The team will investigate how the breach occurred, particularly focusing on vulnerabilities in the Him Paisa application.

Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Gandhi confirmed that the investigation is ongoing and all leads are being pursued.

Managing Director Shravan Mehta said, "The money of all our customers is completely safe. The bank also has cyber insurance to cover such losses." He also said that the bank will soon transition to Infosys' Finacle-10, a robust banking software used by leading banks across India, to prevent future attacks.

The Chief Information Security Officer of the bank said that the transferred funds have been frozen in the recipient accounts, and all the steps are being taken to recover the money and enhance the system security.

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