ATM breach: Yes Bank distances itself, says vendors need to do more

Mumbai: Seeking to distance itself from the debit card security breach that has rocking the banking industry, private lender Yes Bank said there was a need for vendors to do more while stressing the need to police service providers in a better way.

"There needs to be a lot more vigilance where there are outsourcing partners to make sure they don't endanger the delivery and system risk, and there's a fair amount of policing as far as outsourcing risks are concerned," its managing director and chief executive Rana Kapoor told reporters here.

According to media reports, systems of Hitachi Payment Systems which counts on Yes Bank as one of its major customers, are suspected to have been breached.

Asserting that there has not been breaches with the bank, Kapoor said there is a need for vigilance on the outsourced aspects because a bank does not do every function in-house.

Kapoor also exuded confidence in the security architecture of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), calling it as the finest in the world.

Following the discovery of the breach, he said the bank has initiated some cautionary measures to ensure that its customers do not get affected.

A bank spokesperson said after the suspected breach came to light for the first time, it had advised all its customers to change their secret personal identification numbers (PINs).

Also, to ensure that they indeed change the PINs and minimise the risk, it capped withdrawal at Rs 5,000 per transaction till the PIN gets changed.

According to reports, over 32 lakh cards stand at risk following the suspected security breach and banks have taken a slew of actions to thwart any untoward possibilities by either replacing the cards or asking them to change the PINs.