India has been constantly pushing towards a cashless economy for decades. But, thanks to the current governance, we’ve finally made some great strides towards electronic money transfer and plastic money. However, as there hasn’t been a simultaneous progress in the sector of cyber security, it has left our banking system vulnerable to hacks. And the biggest proof of that negligence is the recent attack on Cosmos cooperative bank.
According to Times of India, Pune-based Cosmos cooperative bank was recently hit by hackers, leading to a massive robbery within a span of three days. The police said,
“On August 13, the hackers transferred ₹13.94 crore to an account in a Hong Kong-based bank by initiating swift transaction system of the Cosmos Bank. The bank has lost ₹94 crore within two days.”
The incident first happened on August 11 when unidentified hackers stole key information about the bank’s VISA and Rupay card customers through a malware attack on its ATM server. They managed to siphon off ₹80 crore through 14, 849 transactions. The police added that they’ve registered the offence under the Information and Technology Act and are investigating.
Although the hacks happened on an Indian bank, Chairman of Cosmos Bank, Milind Kale revealed to India Today that the hack was done from somewhere else.
“It was done from Canada. Rbi And The Income Tax team is investigating the matter.”
According to reports, a sum of around ₹13 crore was sent to Hanseng Bank located in Hong Kong. The transaction was made in the name of a company named ALM Trading Limited. As of now, there isn’t much information on who’s in charge of that company or what is the identity of the hackers.
There’s no doubt that a huge amount of money has been lost and this is a massive blow for the bank. But how much of it was the hard earned money of the people? Suhas Gokhale, managing director of Cosmos Bank answered that question through DNA and said,
The police has said that a case under Section 43, 65, 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code has been registered. In addition to that, the team of cyber cell in the Pune police is investigating the fraud.
India’s recent history has been marred with the money-related cases of Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi. There’s a general fear among people that if their money is safe in their banks or is it being used to resolve the banks’ internal matters. So, Indian cyber security needs to step up so that the added fear of attacks from across the border doesn’t rob everyone’s sleep.