Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, denied reports of a data breach on Friday, addressing customer concerns over an alleged security lapse. The company stated it had conducted a “thorough investigation” and confirmed that no breach had occurred.
Airtel, which also provides productivity and security solutions to businesses, dismissed the media reports as a “desperate attempt to tarnish Airtel’s reputation by vested interests.” This statement came after unverified reports of a potential data breach circulated in local media and social platforms, causing alarm among its nearly 375 million subscribers.
A supposed data broker appeared on a well-known cybercrime forum, claiming to sell personal information of about 375 million users, including phone numbers, email addresses, Aadhaar identification numbers, and residential addresses. TechCrunch reviewed a sample of the data and found discrepancies, while some security experts questioned the legitimacy of the breach.
“We don’t think it’s Airtel database. It seems it’s an aggregated database of multiple databases, and the actor is trying to sell as an Airtel database,” said Rahul Sasi, founder and CEO of cybersecurity startup CloudSEK, after analyzing the data sample.
The forum post was removed shortly after being reported, and the broker’s account was permanently blocked for suspected “scamming.”
