Indian insurance portal Policybazaar suffers data breach

India’s leading insurance portal Policybazaar, which uses an online marketplace to connect individuals with insurers offering policies in a range of areas from health to car insurance, has suffered a data breach due to an "illegal and unauthorized access" exploiting vulnerabilities in its systems.

In a stock exchange filing on Sunday, Policybazaar’s parent company PB Fintech revealed that it discovered unauthorized access on July 19.

A thorough audit of the systems has been started, and the identified vulnerabilities have been fixed, the company said, adding that its security team is consulting with outside advisers to review the situation. It has reached out to the appropriate authorities and is taking due recourse as per law.

The information security team is currently reviewing the matter along with external advisors. The initial review found that no significant customer data was exposed. The breach disclosure letter did not mention which data had been exposed or how many customers were affected.

Policybazaar stores tons of data about its policyholders, including their transaction details. Founded in 2008 to bring transparency to insurance policies, the company has sold over 19 million policies since it began.