New Delhi: As fraud risks become increasingly intertwined with cyberattacks, digital payments, insider threats, third-party compromise, synthetic identities and AI-enabled deception, Algoritha Security Pvt. Ltd. is strengthening its Fraud Risk Management and cyber-resilience capabilities with structured Fraud Crisis Management Tabletop Exercises (TTX) designed specifically for India’s BFSI ecosystem.
The exercises are intended for banks, NBFCs, cooperative banks, RRBs, financial institutions, insurers, fintechs and other regulated entities, helping senior management and operational teams rehearse how they would respond when a suspected fraud suddenly develops into an enterprise-wide crisis.
Unlike conventional awareness workshops, Algoritha’s tabletop exercises place participants inside a 60-minute simulated crisis, where new information or “injects” is released progressively. Management must make real-time decisions on stopping transactions, freezing or recalling funds, preserving electronic evidence, activating forensic investigation, escalating internally, communicating with customers and coordinating with regulators and law-enforcement agencies.
From Compliance Document to Crisis Readiness
A fraud-response policy may appear comprehensive on paper, but its effectiveness is ultimately determined by how quickly different functions can act together during an actual incident.
Algoritha’s TTX framework therefore brings together Fraud Risk, CRO/Risk, CISO/SOC, DFIR, Compliance, Legal, Operations, Treasury, Internal Audit, Vigilance, HR, DPO, Corporate Communications and senior management, with Board or Audit Committee escalation built into appropriate scenarios.
The exercises can simulate incidents including high-value digital payment fraud, UPI and mule-account networks, insider-vendor collusion, corporate loan fraud, ransomware combined with fraudulent transfers, SWIFT/RTGS/NEFT manipulation, deepfake CEO/CFO payment fraud, synthetic-identity and KYC fraud, insurance-claims syndicates and large enterprise/accounting fraud.
Built Around Indian Regulatory Requirements
A major differentiator is the integration of the regulatory clock into the crisis clock.
For RBI-regulated entities, exercises can test the organisation’s preparedness under the RBI Fraud Risk Management Directions, 2024, including governance, Early Warning Signals, Red Flagged Accounts, investigation, fraud classification, natural-justice requirements, Central Fraud Registry and applicable Fraud Monitoring Return (FMR) processes.
The framework also distinguishes current RBI requirements from legacy terminology. Earlier regulatory frameworks referred to FMR-1, FMR-2 and FMR-3, whereas current fraud-response exercises should be aligned with the applicable FMR and FMR Update Application (FUA) architecture rather than mechanically following outdated reporting templates.
For cyber-enabled fraud, Algoritha exercises can simultaneously test the CERT-In six-hour incident-reporting requirement wherever the incident falls within a reportable category. This is particularly important because a single event—such as ransomware followed by fraudulent fund transfers—may activate separate fraud, cyber, privacy and sectoral regulatory workstreams.
Depending upon the institution, tabletop scenarios can additionally incorporate applicable requirements and response expectations involving SEBI’s Cybersecurity and Cyber Resilience Framework (CSCRF), IRDAI information and cyber-security requirements, RBI IT governance and outsourcing directions, CERT-In, DPDP requirements, NPCI/payment-system controls, NCIIPC where applicable, and coordination with I4C/NCRP and law-enforcement agencies.
Testing the First 60 Minutes
Each Algoritha exercise can be designed around a rapidly evolving 60-minute timeline:
Detection → Validation → Crisis Activation → Containment → Fund Freeze/Recall → Evidence Preservation → Investigation → Regulatory Assessment → CERT-In/sectoral reporting → LEA Coordination → Customer & Board Communication → Recovery → Debrief.
Participants are not simply asked what the regulation says. They must decide what action to take, who has authority to take it, when the regulatory clock started, what evidence must be protected and what information can safely be communicated.
For example, during a digital-payment fraud simulation, participants may suddenly discover that ₹20 crore has moved through multiple beneficiary banks. Minutes later, evidence may indicate compromised privileged credentials, followed by a vendor compromise and potential customer-data leakage. Teams must determine—under time pressure—whether to suspend a channel, recall transactions, freeze beneficiaries, preserve logs, invoke the Cyber Crisis Management Plan, notify CERT-In, initiate applicable RBI reporting and involve law enforcement.
Digital Forensics and Evidence Preservation Built Into Every Drill
Fraud crisis management increasingly depends upon the quality of electronic evidence.
Algoritha therefore integrates DFIR and forensic readiness into its exercises, testing preservation of transaction records, CBS and payment logs, SIEM/EDR telemetry, IAM/PAM records, API logs, email, CCTV, endpoints, mobile devices, cloud evidence and third-party records.
Teams are tested on chain of custody, forensic imaging, evidence hashing where appropriate, legal holds, preservation of volatile evidence and maintenance of a defensible incident chronology.
This is particularly important when operational teams want to immediately wipe, rebuild or reset compromised infrastructure—a decision that can inadvertently destroy evidence required for regulatory investigation, law-enforcement proceedings or litigation.
Measurable, Not Ceremonial
Algoritha’s approach converts the exercise into a measurable assessment rather than a ceremonial compliance activity.
Participants can be evaluated through a 100-point maturity score covering detection and triage, containment, financial-loss prevention and recovery, evidence preservation, regulatory compliance, law-enforcement coordination, communications, business continuity, governance and corrective actions.
Each exercise concludes with an After-Action Review and Corrective & Preventive Action (CAPA) plan, identifying control weaknesses, responsible owners, remediation deadlines and requirements for subsequent validation.
The organisation can therefore measure improvements across successive exercises and identify whether weaknesses lie in technology, people, procedures, regulatory interpretation, decision authority or cross-functional coordination.
From Tabletop to Enterprise Fraud Resilience
Algoritha can customise tabletop exercises according to an institution’s business model, size, technology architecture, payment channels, third-party ecosystem and regulatory profile. Exercises can range from functional fraud-team drills to CXO, Board and enterprise-level crisis simulations, including surprise injects and independent facilitator assessment.
The objective is straightforward: a fraud response plan that has never been exercised remains largely a document. A regulatory-ready organisation must demonstrate that its people can execute that plan when money, evidence, customers, reputation and regulatory obligations are simultaneously at risk.
Through its integrated capabilities across Fraud Risk Management, DFIR, cyber incident response, regulatory compliance, crisis simulation and investigation, Algoritha aims to help BFSI institutions move from policy-based preparedness to tested, measurable and defensible fraud-crisis resilience.
Algoritha Security Pvt. Ltd.
Fraud Risk | DFIR | Cyber Crisis Management | Regulatory Compliance | Tabletop Exercises
Connect: 9696100100 | triveni@algoritha.in
