Mumbai, January 31: Looks like bank account information is not safe in the country's largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI), the reason being a report, which revealed that SBI forgot to secure a key server hosting sensitive information in one of its Mumbai installations. Due to this, millions of bank accounts details – bank balance, bank account number and other key bits – might have been leaked.

In a recently released report by Techcrunch, it has been highlighted, “The bank had not protected the server with a password, allowing anyone who knew where to look to access the data on millions of customers' information". With the revelations coming into the public forum, it is still unclear for how much time the server was left unsecured. Aadhaar Data Misuse Continues? SBI Alleges Biometric Data Breach, UIDAI Refutes Claim.

According to the report, the unsecured server was part of SBI Quick which allowed the bank customers to send a message or make a call to carry out basic banking functions. Explaining the process of SBI Quick, the SBI on its website writes, “SBI Quick - MISSED CALL BANKING is a free service from the Bank wherein you can get your Account Balance, Mini Statement and more just by giving a Missed Call or sending an SMS with pre-defined keywords to pre-defined mobile numbers from your registered mobile number. Please ensure that your mobile number is updated in your account to be able to register for this service."

With the SBI’s Quick service allowing the bank to connect a customer's phone number with their account, there are high chances that data leaked from the SBI server could be used by identity thieves or scammers to swindle money from bank's accounts, reports the tech website.

The news website noted that millions of debit cards issued by a number of Indian banks in 2016 – including SBI – were compromised. Also, cases of fraud, like identity theft and Aadhaar data scammers have compromised bank accounts and stolen money from those accounts, adds the report.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 31, 2019 10:05 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).