USNMix Report: There is a
dent in people's bank accounts everyday,
what is the government's plan to save?
what is the government's plan to save?
The cyber attack at
Kodankulam, India's largest nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu, made headlines last
month. After the news spread, it is being discussed that whether India is fully
prepared for any cyber attack, can it protect its critical infrastructure from
digital attacks that are harmful? This debate has given rise to another big
issue, is India ready to avoid the debit card hacker and other financial fraud,
as it is the issue of crores of people of India. Let us understand in detail
how money is being lost from the account of common people.
Last month, the Reserve Bank
of India gave a warning to banks. The warning comes after a warning from
Singapore-based cyber security firm Group-IB, which said that details of about
1.2 million debit cards are available online. Last year, hackers forged
fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 90 crore from the accounts of Cosmos Bank in Pune
by cyber attacks on the bank's data supplier.
How much danger of cyber
attacks?
Arun Mohan Sukumar, head of the
Cyber Initiative of the Observer Research Foundation, told the BBC, "It is
easy to attack India's financial system as we still depend on international
banking networks like Swift for transactions. It is easy to attack because of international
gateways . "
A report by cyber security company Simon Tech states that
India is among the top three targets for such cyber attacks.
However, this will decrease
due to India's large digital population. Every month the population of France
is connecting with computers in India and this is the biggest concern because
for the first time the users of internet are also being asked to make digital
payments. For example, in November 2016, the Government of India abruptly
banned the circulation of 500 and 1000 rupee notes, which were 80 per cent of
the total amount in the country. As an alternative to this, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi promoted digital payments.
Whether the Indian payment
platform is Paytm or the international platform is Google, the business of both
has increased significantly in India. According to a Credit Suisse report, by
2023, mobile payments will start in India by one trillion dollars. The use of
credit and debit cards is also very popular. Today, around 90 crore cards are
being used in India.
Technology expert Prashant Rai told the BBC, "There are a lot of new people using the Internet in
India, they have a population of more than 300 million. They are middle class
or lower class people who have very low digital literacy. These include
different states There are daily wage laborers who do not understand its
language, there is a lot of possibility of cheating them. " Apart from
this, Prashant Rai also points to another problem, "The second thing is
that there is very little reporting about the fraud of banks, many times
consumers do not know what happened?"
What kind of fraud is
happening?
Financial fraud occurs in
many ways in India. Some hackers install cameras in ATM machines to mimic card
skimmers or keyboards. Through this a duplicate of your card is prepared
without any doubt. At the same time some hackers call you and try to extract
information from you. Prashant Rai explains, "The process of digital
transaction in India is blurred and confusing.
In the real world it is
known who is taking money and who is giving it, but it is not always clear in
the mobile payment platform. For example, a person is selling a table online,
someone talks about making a payment online as a buyer. "After this
he states that he has made the payment and you will get a code through text
message. This will be to ensure payment. Most consumers do not think about it
and they tell that person about this code. The next thing he comes to know is
that the money has gone out of his account. "
What improvements can there
be?
The problem is that the
system itself is neither secure nor transparent. In the fraud of Cosmo Bank, it
was revealed that the software could not catch the mismatch in the pattern
during such a large transaction. By the time the fraud took place, a large
amount of money had been lost. With no standard, online transactions are very
confusing for first time users. Look at ATM machines for example, there are
many types and the interface of each payment app is different. Sukumar also
suggests another thing, according to him, it is also a problem of the people,
there is a lack of general awareness among the people, due to which they risk
themselves and the whole system.
Sukumar explains,
"People using the keyboard also need to be cautious. The virus attack at
the Kodankulam Nuclear Plant was caused by an employee who had sent a USB
outside to the system's computer Was imposed. This threatened the entire plant
system. The same is possible in a bank or financial institution. "
What is the role of the
government?
According to Prashant Rai,
the responsibility of protecting the financial transactions rests with the
government and financial institutions and not the consumers. He explains,
"Given the rapid growth of Internet usage in India, it cannot be left to
education only. It is not possible for everyone to keep an eye on vicious and
efficient hackers as they constantly keep their strategy and Methods keep
changing. Regulators are responsible for preventing any fraud. "
Apart from this, the pace of
interaction between various cyber security institutions is also very slow. The
Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), which protects India's digital
infrastructure, is often unable to provide timely information about threats to
the government. But the Indian government knows the problem. This is the reason
why the country is preparing the National Cyber Security Policy for 2020.
It identifies six important
areas in which the need for a clear policy is being felt. These include finance
security. According to Prashant Rai, every important area within the country
should have its own Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), which should have
mutual communication and the government should play the role of convener. In
the event of this happening, it will be able to effectively curb the dangers of
India's cashless economy.
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