Airtel denies data breach of 37.5 crore subscribers, calls it attempt to ‘tarnish reputation’

The hacker said that the breach took place in June 2024 and reportedly shared a data sample as well. Furthermore, xenZen also claims to have been involved in an earlier breach targeting the diplomatic passport holders database maintained by the Union Ministry of External Affairs.

In 2021, cybersecurity researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia had flagged that the details of over 2.5 million Airtel subscribers had been uploaded on the website of a threat actor called ‘Red Rabbit Team’ but was taken down after three months . Though, Airtel India had denied that any breach had taken place at that time as well.

Additionally, the subscriber databases of other major Indian telcos such as Jio and Vodafone Idea have been allegedly breached in the past. The alleged exposure of personal user data can have devastating effects on individuals who could fall victim to identity theft, financial fraud, unwanted marketing calls, etc.