Build Reliable Mechanisms to Reduce Online Fraud: RBI Governor to Financial Institutions
Sanjay Malhotra, governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has counselled banks to set up strong and proactive procedures to stop the nation's growing number of digital frauds. In order to reduce the risks associated with information technology (IT) and cybersecurity, the governor of the RBI also asked the financial institutions to strengthen oversight over their third-party service providers. Additionally, he urged the banks to enhance digital literacy and keep making technological investments. The governor made the remarks on January 27 in Mumbai while meeting with the chief executives of banks in the public and private sectors. In addition to Malhotra, the conference was attended by deputy governors Rajeshwar Rao, T. Rabi Sankar, and Swaminathan Janakiraman. In a statement, the central bank said that these exchanges are a part of the Reserve Bank's ongoing communication with the top executives of the companies it oversees. The comments are made at a time when private companies and Indian government institutions are being bombarded by cyberattacks.
Cyber Criminals Looted Around INR 177 Cr in FY24
India lost INR 177.05 Cr to cyber scams in FY24, more than twice as much as INR 69.68 Cr in FY23, according to various published reports. The number of online scams in the nation increased by 334% year over year (YoY) to 29,082 in FY24, according to an RBI data. Nearly 300 tiny local banks' payment systems were momentarily shut down by a ransomware attack on C-Edge Technologies just last year. C-Edge Technologies supplies banking technology systems to small banks nationwide. The Supreme Court's official YouTube channel was hacked in September 2024 to show videos endorsing a cryptocurrency created by Ripple Labs, a US-based corporation. The Centre has increased its efforts to stop these cases in the interim.
Government Enhancing the Security Channels
In order to combat the growing number of cybercrimes in the nation, Home Minister Amit Shah stated last year that the government was seeking to establish a central registry of suspects. The "Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System," which the government also established, has prevented scammers from stealing more than INR 2,400 Cr. To increase awareness of cybersecurity in India, fintech unicorn Razorpay partnered with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in December.
DOT's Request to Telcos
The telecom department ordered operators to play a caller song about cybercrime awareness eight to ten times a day for three months last December. The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), a cybercrime wing under the Home Ministry, has supplied the caller tunes, as per the order copy that was delivered to the telecom carriers.
According to the order, caller tune audios will be played through pre-call announcements and ringback tones, which will be supplied to TSPs by I4C nodal officers in order to raise public awareness of cybercrime through the caller tune campaign. A subscriber may hear caller tunes eight to ten times every day.
Nitin Konde
