Macksofy Technologies
Reserve Bank of India · Banks · NBFCs · UCBs · Payment Operators

RBI Cyber Security Framework Audit

End-to-end RBI CSF audit — control assessment, SAR drafting, inspector defence.

Full RBI Cyber Security Framework audit for scheduled commercial banks, cooperative banks, NBFCs, payment aggregators, prepaid wallets and authorised payment system operators. Covers the 2016 framework, IT Examination 2020 and 2024 master directions on IT governance.

Aligned to
  • RBI Cyber Security Framework for Banks (June 2016)
  • RBI Master Direction on IT Governance, Risk, Controls and Assurance Practices (2023)
  • RBI Master Direction on Outsourcing of IT Services (2023)
  • RBI Cooperative Bank IT Framework (4-tier)
  • Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP)
  • RBI Digital Lending Guidelines (Sept 2022)
Why this matters

Compliance is leverage, not paperwork.

RBI penalties for cyber-non-compliance crossed ₹100 crore across 2023–25. Inspections have moved from paper review to live evidence walks. Macksofy's CERT-In empanelled team conducts RBI CSF audits the way RBI inspectors will read them — control statements, technical evidence, and SAR-format submission packs that don't trigger follow-up queries.

Applicability
  • Scheduled Commercial Banks · Public, Private, Foreign
  • Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) — graded 4-tier framework
  • NBFC-Upper / Middle / Base layer per Scale-Based Regulation
  • Payment Aggregators + Payment Gateways (RBI authorisation)
  • Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuers
  • White Label ATM operators · ATM service providers
Standards & frameworks

Aligned to the regulations that matter.

RBI Cyber Security Framework for Banks (June 2016)
RBI Master Direction on IT Governance, Risk, Controls and Assurance Practices (2023)
RBI Master Direction on Outsourcing of IT Services (2023)
RBI Cooperative Bank IT Framework (4-tier)
Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP)
RBI Digital Lending Guidelines (Sept 2022)
Methodology

How we run a RBI CSF engagement.

Interactive walkthrough — every phase clickable, every activity documented, every artefact regulator-ready.

Phase 01 / 5
20% complete

1 · Scoping + asset register

  • 01
    Tier classification (UCB tiers / NBFC layers)
  • 02
    Critical Information Infrastructure scoping
  • 03
    CISO + Board IT Strategy Committee engagement
Deliverables

Everything you need to satisfy auditors.

  • Macksofy CERT-In empanelment letter
  • RBI System Audit Report (SAR) in prescribed format
  • Findings register mapped to CSF Annex-1 / Annex-2
  • Cyber Crisis Management Plan template (where missing)
  • Free retest within 30 days · regulator-acceptable closure letter
  • RBI inspector / IT Examination defence support
Recent engagements
Urban Cooperative Bank (Western India)

Tier-2 UCB annual CSF audit + SAR

Outcome: RBI inspection cleared with zero major findings; Tier-3 controls validated 8 months ahead of mandate

NBFC-Upper Layer (listed)

IT governance + cyber resilience audit

Outcome: Board reporting cycle compressed from quarterly to monthly with automated control evidence

At a glance

The shape of a RBI CSF engagement.

Every number below is grounded in how Macksofy actually runs the engagement — not aspirational marketing copy.

0
Methodology phases
0
Documented activities
0
Auditor-ready deliverables
0 day
Day retest window
Audit pillars

What we actually examine.

Each pillar is a distinct workstream inside the engagement — scoped, evidenced, and signed off independently before the audit pack is assembled.

18CONTROLS MAPPEDacross 6 pillars
Coverage breakdown
  • Governance & oversight3 pts
  • Baseline cyber-security controls3 pts
  • Advanced threat-defence3 pts
  • Operational resilience3 pts
  • Customer-data protection3 pts
  • RBI-format submission pack3 pts
Pillar 01
Governance & oversight

Board, IT-Strategy and Risk-Committee accountability validated against RBI expectations.

  • Board-approved cyber-security policy review
  • CISO charter + reporting lines
  • Cyber-risk metrics presented at board level
Pillar 02
Baseline cyber-security controls

All 21 baseline RBI CSF controls walked end-to-end with technical evidence.

  • Network segmentation + secure architecture
  • Patch-management + vulnerability lifecycle
  • Privileged-access management & MFA
Pillar 03
Advanced threat-defence

RBI's expectation for systemically-important banks — moving beyond baseline.

  • EDR + 24×7 SOC capability evidence
  • Threat-intel ingestion & ATT&CK coverage
  • Anti-phishing + DMARC enforcement
Pillar 04
Operational resilience

Withstand and recover from a major cyber event without breaching customer SLAs.

  • BCP / DR with declared RTO + RPO
  • Cyber-incident drill (table-top + technical)
  • Crisis-communications playbook
Pillar 05
Customer-data protection

What RBI inspectors care about most: where customer data lives and how it moves.

  • Data localisation evidence (RBI Apr 2018)
  • Encryption-at-rest and in-transit posture
  • Outsourcing & cloud due-diligence pack
Pillar 06
RBI-format submission pack

Artefacts assembled exactly the way RBI inspections consume them.

  • Control-statement to evidence map
  • SAR-compatible findings register
  • Inspector Q&A walk-through deck
Engagement timeline

From kick-off to regulator-ready report.

The horizontal flow below shows the typical week-by-week shape of a RBI CSF engagement. Click any station for detail in the methodology section above.

01
Week 1
Scoping + asset register
02
Week 2
Control assessment
03
Week 3
Technical validation
04
Week 4
System Audit Report drafting
05
Week 5
Submission + inspector support
What clients say · Trusted India + UAE

Rated 4.9 ★ from 612 client reviews.

CERT-In Empanelled
Govt of India · MeitY
EC-Council ATC
Authorized Training
ISO 27001 Certified
Info Security Mgmt
We've worked with three Big 4 firms before Macksofy. None found what their team did in our payments stack. The most actionable report we've received in a decade.
AK
Aisha Khan
Information Security Manager · Listed Fintech · BKC, Mumbai
The CHFI training Macksofy delivered for our cyber cell raised investigation quality measurably. Practical, India-context-aware, and respectful of our operational realities.
IK
Inspector K. Joshi
Cyber Cell · Maharashtra Police · Mumbai
Came in with zero security background. 5 weeks later I was running Burp Suite and Metasploit confidently. Cleared CEH on the first attempt.
VI
Vivek Iyer
DevSecOps Lead · Healthcare SaaS · Hyderabad
FAQ

Things compliance leads ask before signing.

Annual minimum. Larger banks run quarterly internal + annual external. NBFCs under Scale-Based Regulation tier their cycle by layer.
Talk to us

Get a fixed-price proposal in 48 hours.

Tell us about your security need — pentest, audit, training or a wider engagement. A senior consultant will reply within a few business hours.

CERT-In Empanelled
Information Security Auditor · India
  • CERT-In Empanelled
  • EC-Council ATC · CompTIA Authorized
  • 20,000+ professionals trained
  • India + UAE engagements
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