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Indian banks inadequately prepared for cyber attacks: Experts
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SME Times News Bureau | 15 Aug, 2018
Cyber security experts on Tuesday questioned the preparedness of the
Indian banks in case of a massive security breach involving funds,
stressing that state-of-the-art security systems are the need of the
hour.
Hackers siphoned off a whopping Rs 94.42 crore from the
Pune-headquartered Cosmos Cooperative Bank Ltd -- the second oldest and
second biggest cooperative bank in India -- to foreign and domestic bank
accounts.
According to Nikhil Bedi, Partner, Deloitte India,
robust security systems and incidence response capabilities are
imperative for all companies and financial institutions that are
custodians of customer data and customer assets, including funds.
"While
there is growing awareness to regularly update an organisation's cyber
preparedness and defence mechanisms, a large number of institutions wake
up to this reality only post an incident which often leads to a loss of
reputation and/or financial misappropriation," Bedi said in a
statement.
In 2016, a malware-related security breach was
reportedly detected in the non-SBI ATM network, following which the
public sector lender blocked around six lakh debit cards.
An estimated 30 lakh-plus debit cards issued by various public or private banks were exposed to a potential risk of data breach.
Cyber
attacks today are multi-pronged and can start with a malware being
downloaded into a system or via a web application being hacked.
"This
is a big challenge specially for banks, where it is no longer
sufficient to protect just your data centres and your headquarters, you
have to protect ATMs and branch offices in addition to securing incoming
data even from affiliated organisations," cautioned Anshuman Singh,
Senior Director, Product Management at Barracuda Networks Inc.
US-based Barracuda Networks is a leading provider of cloud-enabled security and data protection solutions.
In
the case of Cosmos Bank, a proxy switch was created and all the
fraudulent payment approvals were passed through the proxy switching
system. Normally, the Core Banking System (CBS) receives debit card
payment requests via its "Switching System".
According to bank
officials, the malware attack was on the Switch System which is
operative for the payment gateway of Visa/Rupay debit cards and not on
the Cosmos Bank's CBS so the customers' accounts and their balances were
not affected.
The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) domain remains most vulnerable to cyber threats.
"Regulators
need to develop a risk management framework, including adequate threat
response strategies and define the chain of command in case of a
security breach," said Sanjay Katkar, Joint Managing Director and Chief
Technology Officer at Pune-based Quick Heal Technologies Limited. "Hiring
chief information security officers must be made mandatory for players
in the BFSI domain. The sector should also run regular security
protocols and simulations to test their incident response capabilities,"
Katkar told IANS.
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