India’s cyber security still under threat, no shield for MALWARE
By Prempal Singh
Keep in mind the time when banking institutions delivered messages asking the customers to change their passwords or even change their cards. It required us all both suddenly and shock. Banks were on high alert after there was a security breach at Hitachi, an ATM provider. But, a new development in this issue is even more disturbing. After the cyber-attack, Hitachi had hired a Bengaluru-based company to check out the whole issue and the audit report leaks bad news for the banks and the corporates. As per the statement, devices that are installed to protect systems from malware and viruses are not any match to the targeted cyber security attacks, reviews Economic Times.
What will the audit report say?
The forensic team looking into the matter said the hackers used a superior software code that can be used to breach many anti-malware walls. Surprised by the cleverly written code, the inspecting team said the hackers created a ‘dummy code book’ within the Hitachi system-capturing all possible four-digit numbers from 0000 to 9999– to steal the PINs (personal identification numbers) of customers when they used their cards to withdraw money from ATMs of a private bank in India.
When did the breach of happen?
The watershed instant in the Indian cybersecurity space occurred sometime from late May to end July of 2016. Nevertheless, the matter came to light in October when payment providers like Master-Card, Visa tipped off the banks about the infringement. Following the alert, the banking institutions started taking corrective steps.
How many banks were in the eye of the storm?
Major outlined banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis bank, SBI and Yes bank alerted their customers and took immediate actions to resolve the situation. The machines that were infected were quarantined and the banking institutions had also announced concern of new debit credit cards.
Source: moneycontrol.com