Identity Theft Notice Through CEAC.
(Please Browse Below for the List of
Registrations)
CEAC-ITN (Cyber Evidence Archival
Center's Identity Theft Notice system) is meant to provide a channel of
voluntary disclosure by public to legally defend themselves against
Phishing attacks. CEAC also provides a service called CEAC-VPN which is an
extension of the CEAC-ITN service. It is meant to publish a
public notice. Under this service, the user will request
posting of his announcement on the CEAC Notice board for a
specific period. For more details
check here.
"Phishing" starts with an e-mail
sent by a fraudster to a targeted victim either through a Spam or
otherwise. It is not uncommon today for almost every one who uses an
e-mail account to receive one or more Phishing mails. If the receiver
does not have an account with the Bank to which the mail refers to, he
is unlikely to respond to it. However, if the recipient holds an account
with the specified Bank in whose name the mail has been received then it
is statistically possible for a certain percentage of recipients to
respond to the mail thinking that it comes from the Bank itself and
thereby open themselves to the risk of losing their password.
The "Phishing" expedition thus ends
with the "Phisher" obtaining the password of the Bank customer.
This identity theft is an offence
under Section 66C of ITA 2008. When read with Section 84C of the Act
which makes an "Attempt to commit an offence" also as an offence, the
sending of the Phishing mail itself can be considered as a punishable
offence under ITA 2008.
The actual withdrawal of the money
by the fraudster from the Bank account is a follow up crime which arises
because the Banks in India follow the system of access control based on
passwords and donot have appropriate risk management control mechanisms.
Whenever a customer of a Bank
reports unauthorized transactions in his account, the first question
that a Bank asks is if he was in receipt of any "Phishing Mail". If the
answer is in the affirmative, the Bank immediately jumps to state that
"If you have received a phishing e-mail and if there has been an
unauthorized access, then it is to be presumed that you only should have
released the password to a fraudster and hence should bear the
liability".
Even in the instances that the
customer insists that he has not responded to the phishing e-mail, it
becomes his word against that of the Banks. Since Banks often present
themselves in the Adjudicator's office/Consumer Courts through
influential advocates who vehemently argue that "Bank can do no wrong",
the victim would be at a disadvantage to convince the Court that he is
innocent and has a genuine right of protection under law. As a result,
there could be a miscarriage of justice.
CEAC-ITN is therefore a service
introduced by CEAC to provide a shield of protection to the genuine Bank
customer who has received a Phishing e-mail and has not responded to it
to keep a record of his public disclosure that he has received the
e-mail and has recognized that it is a fraudulent mail and he has not
responded to it.
The procedure for filing a request
for using of CEAC-ITN service is available
here.
Following is the list of CEAC-ITN
registrations received by CEAC.
This service is a unique service
and a first of its kind service in the world.
I request that public may make use
of this service which is offered free at this point of time.
The service is being officially
opened for public use from this New Year as per the Indian Calendar.
The details of the application will
be made available on specific application and on payment of a retrieval
fee as per the rules of CEAC portal.
Information for registration can be
sent with the following particulars to
ceac.naavi@gmail.com
From: ............ (Name)
Account Number: .....................,
Branch.....................
I hereby give notice that I have received the enclosed
e-mail which I suspect to be an attempt to deceive me into
parting with my password for my Internet Banking access.
The mail was received on ................ at
..................... (time)
I hereby give notice that I have not responded to the
mail and shall not be responsible for any unauthorized
withdrawals from my account attributed to this phishing
attempt.
This notice is being archived with CEAC for records.
Naavi
April 4th 2011