Rentomojo, an Indian online rental marketplace start-up that allows users to rent furniture, utilities, and motorbikes, has reported a data breach that could impact its 1.5 lakh subscribers.
The start-up, which is operated by Edunetwork Pvt. Ltd and has subscribers in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Pune, said it had detected a security breach involving unauthorised access to one of its databases.
In some cases, personally identifiable information was compromised, the firm said. Financial information, including credit card details, were unaffected as they were not stored in the firm’s database. The company has taken several measures, including implementing multi-factor authentication, to prevent further breaches.
Users of Rentomojo took to social media to seek explanations from the firm, with one user claiming their data had been breached and was now available with hackers, while another said they had received an email from hackers threatening to release their personal information.
Rentomojo said it had reported the incident to the appropriate authorities and was cooperating with an investigation. The company was founded in 2014 and allows users to rent products on a subscription basis.
It has taken several steps to secure its database and encrypt all stored data, as well as implementing advanced security practices such as intelligent threat detection and sensitive data discovery.
The data breach at Rentomojo comes amid a growing number of cyber-attacks on Indian companies. In January, India’s National Cyber Security Coordinator warned that companies across the country were increasingly at risk of cyber-attacks, and the government urged firms to be proactive in their approach to cybersecurity.
A recent report from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky showed that cyber-criminals had shifted their focus from developed markets to emerging ones such as India, as they believed such markets to be easier to penetrate. The report also found that the number of ransomware attacks on Indian firms had increased 39% between 2020 and 2021.
