Digital gold hack puts APIs in spotlight, ABCD ups security

Company found digital gold from 435 accounts sold without authorization on 9 June

- Shayan Ghosh & Shouvik Das

Aditya Birla Capital Digital (ABCD) has restored client gold lost to hackers and conducted a forensic audit of the matter, even as the breach highlights vulnerabilities around application interface protocols (APIs) that helps apps work with each other.

On 24 June, ABCD filed a first information report (FIR) with the cyber cell of the Mumbai Police, stating digital gold of ₹1.95 crore was sold off without customer consent. The company's information security team found digital gold from 435 accounts was sold without authorization on 9 June. The complaint also said an unknown person had hacked the API endpoint of the ABCD app.

Digital gold allows customers to own gold without having to store it physically. These are backed by gold stored in vaults. Mint has seen a copy of the FIR.