With India hit by one of its biggest financial security breaches compromising hundreds of thousands of debit cards, customers need to be doubly vigilant. “Consumers should consider changing their passwords used for any financial transactions through accounts such as net banking, debit or credit cards or even mobile wallets, even if they haven’t been contacted by their banks as potentially impacted [by the debit card data breach],” recommends Symantec Corporation’s Managing Director (India) Shrikant Shitole.
Essential precautions Account holders should use strong passwords, change them every three months, and never reuse a password. “Opening the wrong attachment can also introduce a malware to your system. Never view, open or copy email attachments unless you are expecting the email and trust the sender,” Mr. Shitole cautions.
Saket Modi, co-founder of cyber security firm Lucideus, suggests that instead of having just one debit card, consumers should keep at least 3-4 cards and use the one with the least balance while shopping outside. Mr. Modi recommends using the safe banking features that provide the option of generating virtual credit or debit cards with a set spending limit, valid only for one-time use. Alternatively, switch to the United Payments Interface, which is considered safer than debit cards.
Who bears the loss? Asked about the implications for the victims of cybercrimes, cyber law expert Pawan Duggal says, “The law is very clear. All banks are intermediaries under the Information Technology Act. Under Section 79 of the Act they are mandated to do due diligence.”
In case banks are negligent in doing this, leading to a loss, it is the banks that will have to bear the brunt of the loss, Mr. Duggal says. However, a bank may not be liable if it asks the customer to change his or her PIN but the customer chooses to ignore the advice.
