[ISN] India's IT hub wakes up to e-security

From: InfoSec News (alerts@private)
Date: Mon Sep 11 2006 - 01:28:11 PDT


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1971689.cms

9 Sep, 2006

KOLKATA: E-security is the buzzword in Kolkata's emerging IT hub 
following incidents of cyber crimes.

Barely days after a young woman working at a call centre was arrested 
for splurging Rs 200,000 with credit cards of her company's US clients, 
an alarmed IT hub in the Salt Lake area here is going full throttle to 
ensure tight security control by also involving the police.

"It is high time we all came together to ensure an all-encompassing 
cyber security. We must follow best practices and certain standard 
certification and auditing by authorities like ISO or BS7799 (British 
Standard)," Oney Seal, the Miami-based CEO of Databazaar.com, said in a 
telephonic interview.

"Law enforcement agencies need to be trained in potential areas of 
security fraud so that when an incident occurs, the police should have 
some idea of the problem," said Seal, whose company, a wholesale 
distributor, exporter and e-tailer of computer and printer supplies, has 
its sensitive back-end office in the IT hub.

"We are holding a workshop for the police and others. We want to come up 
with a comprehensive physical and e-security system for the entire Salt 
Lake area and also the emerging Rajarhat township where other IT 
companies are located," said Databazaar.com managing director SP 
Mukherjee.

A group, Saltlec-Rajarhat Initiative, has been formed to deal with the 
issue.

"Credit card frauds are happening all over the US. But the minute it 
happens in India there is a hue and cry and the question of e-security 
arises. It can impact the outsourcing business too," said Seal.

"We must take a three-pronged approach comprising minimum adherence to 
basic standard of security by auditing and certification (ISO etc.), 
thorough training of law enforcing agencies and federal-level 
countrywide legislation to deal with such crimes stringently," he said.

"In the US, the FBI deals with such crimes. In India the chances of 
culprits going scot-free are high because no one in the country has any 
social security number. It would be difficult to track the person whose 
antecedents are not always known," he said.

Added Mukherjee: "Police would be given an orientation programme and 
made aware of the IT industry, how it works and the mindset of the young 
ambitious and cash-rich boys and girls working there. A foolproof and 
comprehensive security measure is our action plan."

North 24 Parganas police superintendent Praveen Kumar, under whose 
jurisdiction the IT zone of Kolkata falls, agreed. "These are not 
traditional crimes. So making our officers aware is a must," he said.

"The detection of such crimes involves the police department, credit 
card companies, phone service providers and others. So such workshops 
being planned at least make people aware," said Kumar.

At a recent seminar on 'Issues of Security for the IT sector in West 
Bengal', Kolkata Additional Commissioner of Police Shivaji Ghosh said 
extra caution was required because IT is a high brand-value and 
image-enhancing industry.

Kolkata's IT sector, spread over about 430 acres, is concentrated in 
what has been recently re-christened as Nabadiganta Industrial Township 
Authority, formerly known as Sector V of the Salt Lake area.

It is the 30,000 people working there, rather than the establishments, 
who are seen as most vulnerable, according to West Bengal officials.


_________________________________
HITBSecConf2006 - Malaysia 
The largest network security event in Asia 
32 internationally renowned speakers 
7 tracks of hands-on technical training sessions. 
Register now: http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2006kl/



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Mon Sep 11 2006 - 01:46:20 PDT