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Indian techies arrested in bank hacking case
From: InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 21:01:08 -0600
http://hongkong1.cnet.com/news/2001/01/29/20010129g.html By Bloomberg, Singapore.CNET.com Monday, January 29 2001 6:26:16 AM NEW DELHI--Two Indian computer trainers were arrested earlier this month for allegedly trying to hack into the computers of the State Bank of India, the country's biggest commercial bank, and other state agencies, police said. Manoj Singhania, head of the local branch of Aptech, an Indian computer training company, and Prakash Yadav, in charge of training, were arrested January 11. Both are residents of Raigarh in Chhattisgarh state, about 1,100 kilometers from New Delhi. The suspects allegedly sent emails in the name of Microsoft and Videsh Sanchar Nigam, India's monopoly overseas phone service provider, containing a file named Speed.exe. When opened, it sent emails back to the accused giving them passwords and other data, said Shailesh Agrawal, who runs an Internet equipment shop and received the email. The arrest is the first under the nation's Information Technology Act, which came into force in October last year. Under the law, anyone found guilty of hacking can face up to three years in jail and US$4,300 (200,000 rupees) in fines. Still, lawyers say the accused may not get sentenced, because Indian police and the judiciary aren't trained to handle cyber crimes. The two suspects were released on bail after five days because lawyers and judges in the provincial court could not fully understand the nature of the crime, lawyers said. "The problem is also how do you retain electronic evidence for trial, particularly when very few police stations and courts have computers," said Pavan Duggal, a lawyer working for India's Supreme Court. "The police and the judiciary are also not attuned to the nature of cyber crime." Raigarh police have almost finished their investigation and hope to take the matter to court soon. It could, however, take almost a year for the trial to end, said GP Singh, Raigarh's police chief. ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of "SIGNOFF ISN".
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