Airtel India Rejects Report Of Data Breach, Calls It An Attempt To Tarnish Reputation

Airtel India has rubbished a report which said that the company’s database was breached and the personal details of its 37.5 Cr customers were put on sale on the dark web.

In a post on X, Airtel India said, “There has been a report alleging that Airtel India customer data has been compromised. This is nothing short of a desperate attempt to tarnish Airtel’s reputation by vested interests. We have done a thorough investigation and can confirm that there has been no breach whatsoever from Airtel systems.”

Earlier, an X user with the handle ‘Dark Web Informer’, who provides intelligence from dark web and about data breaches, claimed that the Airtel India data breach took place in June 2024.

The handle claimed that the personal details of 37.5 Cr customers of Airtel India, like name, mobile number, address, date of birth, email address, were being sold by a hacker ‘xenZen’.

The hacker was demanding $50,000 in cryptocurrency for the data, which also included Aadhaar details, photo and address proof.

Airtel faced a similar data breach allegation in 2021 when cybersecurity researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia said that data of over 25 Lakh Airtel subscribers was on the website of a threat actor called ‘Red Rabbit Team’ but was taken down after three months. 

However, even then Airtel India rejected the allegations. 

The latest development comes at a time when a number of Indian companies and startups have fallen prey to data breaches 

Last month, a hacker claimed to have access to an extensive database maintained by the Union Ministry of External Affairs’s portal for blue-collar workers emigrating from the country.

Not to mention, Airtel India counterparts BSNL, Jio and Vodafone too have faced allegations regarding data breaches in the past. 

Just last week, a report said that the government-owned BSNL suffered another data breach within six months. The report said that a threat actor put on sale the telecom operator’s data for $5K. 

Additionally, a report by cyber security research firm CyberX9 alleged that call data records of around 2 Cr customers of Vodafone Idea (Vi) were leaked by cyber criminals.

Furniture rental startup Rentomojo, rail ticketing app Railyatri, stock broker AngelOne, government databases like Aadhaar and Cowin, and Taj Hotels have also faced allegations of data breaches in the last few years.