In a shocking incident, salary accounts of Indian Air Force (IAF) and Army officers have been hacked, sending alarm bells ringing in the fraternity.
As of now, over 40 IAF officers and an undisclosed number of Army officers have been affected as the hackers withdrew large amounts from their salary accounts.
The IAF officers were aghast to find their State Bank of India (SBI) salary accounts emptied by the cyber criminals who managed to access their accounts via net banking.
The incident has caused concern in South Block as IAF officers were being targeted by hackers and there is a pattern behind this.
There are fears that the number of personnel affected by the hacking could grow as the investigation progresses and the amount stolen by the cyber criminals will be ascertained only after the investigators get to the bottom of the case.
An FIR has been registered with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) under Sections of the Information and Technology Act. Initial investigations by the cyber cell have found that the accounts were accessed from Canada.
The EOW has widened its probe and is also investigating the involvement of some SBI staffers who had access to the accounts and internet banking details, which could have been used to hack the accounts.
Investigators are also probing whether the cyber criminals used servers installed in Canada to cover their tracks. They could very well be in India and could have used this circuitous route to avoid detection.
The incident came to light ten days ago when 40 IAF officers lodged complaints of money being deducted from their salary accounts and unauthorised transactions being made from their debit cards. Incidentally, the hacking was not limited to officers stationed in the Capital. Officers posted in Jaipur and Hyderabad were also affected by the hacking.
Amounts withdrawn from the accounts range from Rs 10,000 to Rs 250,000. The Provost and Security unit of the IAF approached the EOW and a case was lodged under Section 66 and 66D of the Information Technology Act.
Alarmingly, the Provost and Security unit has also received a number of calls from Army personnel complaining about their accounts being hacked as well.
Officers said the text message informing them about the transactions revealed the locations to be Canada. Sources revealed that the hackers employed a unique modus-operandi as they cracked the code in a series by using the 16-digit card number.
To prevent more people from falling prey to cyber criminals, the officers have started circulating a warning message on a mobile application so that others become aware and change their passwords from time to time and avoid hacking.
When asked about the case, Joint Commissioner of EOW Satish Golchha said that they have received a complaint in this regard and a case has been registered at the EOW police station. A probe has been launched and the cyber unit is on the trail of the hackers, he added.
Cause for worry
As of now, over 40 IAF officers and an undisclosed number of Army officers have been affected as the hackers withdrew large amounts from their salary accounts
There are fears that the number of personnel affected by the hacking could grow as the investigation progresses and the amount stolen by the cyber criminals will be ascertained only after the investigators get to the bottom of the case
Initial investigations by the cyber cell have found that the accounts were accessed from Canada
The EOW has widened its probe and is also investigating the involvement of some SBI staffers who had access to the accounts and internet banking details, which could have been used to hack the accounts