DFS Secretary chairs meeting on Cyber Security in financial services sector, online frauds

Attended by senior officials from the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Department of Revenue (DoR), Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Department of Telecom (DoT), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Indian Cyber Crime Co-ordination Centre (I4C), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and several leading banks and financial entities, the meeting aimed to address the growing concerns around cyber threats.

According to the official release issued on Tuesday, the Indian Cyber Crime Co-ordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs, made a presentation on the latest statistics of digital payment frauds as reported in the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), various sources of these financial frauds, modus operandi adopted by the fraudsters, and challenges faced to counter financial cybercrimes.

Noteworthy contributions were made by representatives from the State Bank of India (SBI), PayTM, and Razorpay, sharing insights into proactive risk monitoring strategies and best practices that have helped mitigate such fraudulent activities.

The meeting took stock of the preparedness of the banks and other financial institutions in tackling the challenges arising from cyber security in the financial services sector, and the increasing trend of digital payment frauds, and deliberated on a focused approach to mitigate such cyber-attacks and frauds.

It was noted during the deliberation that 70 lakh mobile connections involved in cybercrime and financial fraud reported through digital intelligence platforms have been disconnected so far and Rs 900 crore of defrauded money has been saved, benefiting 3.5 lakh victims.

The meeting resulted in significant outcomes and discussions addressing the escalating cyber threats in the financial sector. Emphasising real-time coordination among police, banks, and financial entities, strategies were outlined to promptly track and block defrauded money.

Efforts to onboard all financial institutions onto the 'Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS)' platform were discussed, along with plans to counter mule account misuse and improve banks' response times to alerts on online financial frauds.

Additional measures involved appointing regional and state-level nodal officers by the banks and financial institutions to cater to the requirements of law enforcement agencies, standardising the KYC processes, whitelisting digital lending apps, and providing updates on the progress of Digital Lending Working Group recommendations and related legislation.

Furthermore, stakeholders emphasised the need for extensive customer awareness programmes on digital payment security, emphasising a collective approach to strengthen cybersecurity measures within the financial sector, it added. (ANI)