a day ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
Cyberattacks: Sebi chief Pandey calls for stronger defence
MUMBAI: With the rising incidents of public falling victims to cyber crimes, Securities and Exchange Board chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey has called for constant vigilance, regular incident-response drills, and forensic readiness to protect stock exchanges and investors from such escalating online threats.
Speaking at a cybersecurity training programme at the Sebi-run National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) near here on Thursday, Pandey, according to the speech shared by Sebi late last night, warned that even the perception of vulnerability can unsettle markets, irrespective of the immediate financial losses.
Recalling the July 2010 Nasdaq breach, where hackers had gained accessed to a system used by corporate boards to share confidential documents, he noted that while trading was unaffected, the incident 'deeply shook the confidence of the market in general and investors in particular.' On July 18, attack a Russian cyber hack had compromised the world's largest tech-stocks listed trading platform primarily targeted the exchange's directors desk portal but not limited to it.
Sebi has, in recent years, strengthened cybersecurity norms, mandated regular cyber audits, and tightened reporting on technical glitches across exchanges, clearing corporations, depositories, and market intermediaries, Pandey said, adding 'safeguarding these market utilities is essential for capital formation, investor trust, and economic resilience.'
Reeling out the numbers of cyberattacks in the country, he said such attacks are no longer rare as the country has seen over 2 million security incidents in 2024, according to CERT-In, nearly double the pre-pandemic levels.
'A small glitch in a trading algorithm can trigger market disruption in milliseconds. A misconfigured server can give malicious actors a way in. A compromised account can lead to damaging data leaks,' Pandey said, citing the August 2012 Knight Capital trading fiasco that caused $440 million in losses due to faulty trading software.
