Alert! State Bank of India warns 20 lakh users of cyber attacks in major cities

State Bank of India has issued a warning to its 20 lakh customers about phishing attacks in major Indian cities.

In an advisory, SBI said, "Attention! It has come to our notice that a cyber attack is going to take place in major cities in India. Kindly refrain yourself from clicking on emails coming from [e-mail] with a subject line Free COVID-19 Testing."

The advisory added that the phishing email with the subject line "Free Covid-19 Testing" would be sent to all residents of Delhi, Mumbai Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

The warning came after the government security agency asked all the business establishments and individuals to be extra careful about fake emails, social media posts, or text messages that promise free Covid-19 testing across India.

Also Read | Govt warns against large-scale phishing attacks using COVID-19 as bait

Amidst massive cyberattack in many countries including Australia for the past two days, Indian Cybersecurity agency, on Sunday, had warned individual and business establishments about the possible large-scale phishing campaign in the guise of free Covid-19 tests.

The government’s cybersecurity agency - Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) in its advisory said that in the guise of a free Covid-19 test, cyber warriors could carry out massive phishing campaign with cyber attackers using email IDs such as "[e-mail]".

The attackers are likely to send malicious emails under the pretext of local authorities or government agencies that are in charge of dispensing government-funded Covid-19 support initiatives.

"Such emails are designed to drive recipients towards fake websites where they are deceived into downloading malicious files or entering personal and financial information," Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) said in its latest advisory dated June 19.