Sebi files FIR in cyber security incident as email accounts of 11 officials hacked. Details here

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Saturday said it has lodged a complaint against a cyber security incident as it noticed on its e-mail system. However, capital markets regulator added that no sensitive data was stolen.

The regulator said in a statement that recently, a cyber security incident has been noticed on the e-mail system of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) which was undergoing a system upgrade and accordingly an FIR (First Information Report) as per the relevant provisions of law has been registered.

Varunkumar Kishan Gopal, an assistant manager with IT department of SEBI’s head office in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), received a complaint from ISD manager Abhijit Chandrakant on May 23 and Chandrakant suspected that his official email ID was accessed by unknown persons, and emails were sent from it and when Gopal checked the disaster recovery site of SEBI, he found that the email accounts of 11 officials were hacked, according to Hindustan Times report.

Additionally, Sebi notified that various mitigation measures were immediately taken in response to that cyber security incident including, informing CERT-IN as per the standard operating procedure, and strengthening the required security configuration of the system among others. Notably, CERT-In is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents as and when they occur.

“It was a small incident. CERT-IN is fully in the loop. No sensitive data was lost. Root cause has been diagnosed and fixed. Prevention for future has been fully implemented,” according to an official spokesperson. The market regulator said that it monitors its detection and prevention systems and has taken additional measures post-incident to tighten the security procedures for the implementation and migration activities. 

Meanwhile, in another development, Sebi has ordered the attachment of bank accounts as well as share and mutual fund holdings of an individual to recover about ₹18 crore in the matter of Shree Ramkrishna Electro Controls Ltd. Sebi said in an attachment notice on Thursday that the recovery proceedings have been ordered against Chandrakant Bhargav Gole to recover ₹5.74 crore collected by the company along with 15 per cent interest per annum i.e ₹12.53 crore through the issuance of redeemable cumulative preference shares (RCPS) to investors. Gole was the managing director of Shree Ramkrishna Electro Controls Ltd (SRECL) during the relevant period. 

(With inputs from PTI, Hindustan Times)