HYDERABAD: As many as 6,000 Indiabased websites, including those of corporate companies, were defaced by hackers to kill their customers' confidence in 2009.
This was revealed during a daylong seminar on `Digital Technology In Crime Investigation' organised by the Crime Investigation Department (CID).
Similarly, 14 lakh Indian computers were affected by Botent, a syndicated way of sending a virus by a group of cyber criminals. SS Sarma of Emergency Response TeamIndia said that cases of defacing and Botent dissemination have been on the rise.
Participating in the event, Reserve Bank of India general manager, Department of Banking Supervision, Rosemary Sebastian said that transactions above Rs 50,000 should not be done by cash to control the flow of black money. In this connection, Sebastian referred to the case of former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda who was involved in money laundering.
When the participants questioned how RBI had failed to detect the bank irregularities done by Satyam Computers, Sebastian said that all institutions which mattered to that case failed because of the false credibility the company had till then. ``But later it proved that everything was dubious. If we can recall, Satyam had bagged the best corporate governance award. In the end it violated all the basic norms of corporate governance,'' Sebastian said.
She said that according to the norms of Know Your Customers (KYC), bankers should update the address of each customer on a regular basis, since this has been a major problem while cracking frauds. The RBI official said that no banker can seek a customer's personal information until he discloses it while opening an account. All bankers should follow the customer acceptance policy guided by RBI.
The RBI official also cautioned bank customers not to disclose their bank account details in response to emails they receive.
CID officials brought to the notice of RBI various problems they have been coming up against bankers in their investigation of cases. ``In most of the cases, though the banks are aware that a fraud took place in their bank, they have not been coming forward to lodge a complaint. It is becoming the solo responsibility of the customer to lodge the complaint,'' CID Cyber Cell superintendent B Sumathi said.
Earlier in the day, Secretary (Information Technology) Ratna Prabha said that her department is prepared to sponsor any cyberrelated training modules for police officials. ``We are prepared to sponsor any IT related training to police,'' Ratna Prabha said.