Banking Customer Data Exposed Following Ransomware Attack on Vendor

A ransomware attack on a printing vendor has resulted in the extraction of customer information from DBS Bank and the Singapore branch of Bank of China (BOC).  

The incident, reported to authorities on April 6, did not involve a breach of bank systems or customer login credentials. DBS stated that around 8,200 customer statements and letters may have been compromised, primarily linked to DBS Vickers and Cashline accounts.  

The affected documents, dated December 2024 to February 2025, include names, postal addresses, and financial details, but not sensitive data such as passwords or account balances, Channel News Asia reports.

The vendor receives encrypted files from DBS for printing, and it is unclear if the threat actor was able to decrypt them. DBS emphasized that customer funds remain safe, no unauthorized transactions have been detected, and it is reaching out to potentially affected individuals while investigations continue.

Takeaway: This ransomware attack is a textbook example of why companies can’t afford to overlook third-party risk.  

Even though DBS’s own systems weren’t touched, their customer data still ended up in the wrong hands because a vendor got popped. That’s the reality now—your security is only as strong as the weakest link in your supply chain.

It’s easy to focus on securing your own house, but when your business depends on outside partners to handle things like printing, payments, or data processing, you’ve got to extend your security thinking.  

Encrypting communications end-to-end is a good start, but once data leaves your environment, you basically lose control of it. If your vendors can’t keep attackers out (or if they can’t even tell you whether the data was decrypted upon receipt), your organization is taking on that additional risk.

The bigger picture here is that trust and reputation are on the line, not just data. Customers don’t care if it was your vendor who got breached—they just see your name in the headlines.  

That’s why vetting your vendors, enforcing minimum security standards, and building real incident response playbooks with them is crucial. You’ve got to treat third-party risk like it’s your own, because when the breach happens, it is.

Halcyon.ai eliminates the business impact of ransomware. Modern enterprises rely on Halcyon to prevent ransomware attacks, eradicating cybercriminals’ ability to encrypt systems, steal data, and extort companies – talk to a Halcyon expert today to find out more, and check out our quarterly RaaS and extortion group reference guide, Power Rankings: Ransomware Malicious Quartile.