KiranaPro App Hit by Major Cyberattack: User Data Deleted, Grocery Delivery Services Disrupted Across 50 Cities

KiranaPro App Hit by Major Cyberattack: User Data Deleted, Grocery Delivery Services Disrupted Across 50 Cities
In a massive cybersecurity breach, fast-growing Indian grocery delivery startup KiranaPro has suffered a devastating cyberattack that wiped out its cloud infrastructure, compromised sensitive user data, and brought its operations to a standstill.
The attack, which reportedly took place between May 24 and 25, was discovered on May 26 when the company lost access to its Amazon Web Services (AWS) account. Founder Deepak Ravindran confirmed that the hackers gained root access to both AWS and GitHub accounts, erasing everything — including application code, servers, and confidential customer data such as names, addresses, and bank details.
Launched in December 2024, KiranaPro had rapidly emerged as a key player in the online grocery delivery market in India, offering a unique voice-based ordering system in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and English. The platform connected users with nearby kirana stores in over 50 cities, handling more than 2,000 daily orders from a user base of 55,000 — 30,000 to 35,000 of whom were active monthly users.
Despite the KiranaPro app still being accessible, it is currently non-functional for placing orders, as its entire backend infrastructure — including EC2 virtual machines — has been deleted. Shockingly, the attackers managed to bypass two-factor authentication (2FA) set up through Google Authenticator, alter security settings, and seize control of mission-critical systems.
According to KiranaPro CTO Saurav Kumar, internal logs point to the misuse of credentials belonging to a former employee who failed to revoke access after exiting the company. “We’ve lost all root access. Our EC2 servers and logs are gone,” he said, noting that only limited IAM access remains.
The startup has filed a cybercrime complaint and is working with ethical hackers and forensic experts to trace the origin of the attack. Legal proceedings are also being prepared against ex-employees who failed to relinquish administrative control or access credentials.
KiranaPro operates via the Indian government’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) — a framework to democratize digital commerce in India. Despite being run by a compact team of 15 employees from Bengaluru and Kerala, KiranaPro had secured funding from Blume Ventures, Unpopular Ventures, Turbostart, and high-profile backers like Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and BCG MD Vikas Taneja.
In an official statement, Ravindran described the incident as a targeted cyberattack, not a random breach. “This was personal. We built KiranaPro for thousands of small retailers who rely on us. Now, we’re fighting hard to recover and rebuild.”