Reserve bank of India (RBI) has recently directed that all banks would have to create a position of chief information officers (CIOs) as well as steering committees on information security at the board level at the earliest.This direction was provided through the information technology vision document for 2011-17 (IT Vision 2011-17). It has suggested many technological as well as legal reforms for banking sector of India.
Although the direction to have CIOs and steering committee is very clear yet till now banks in India has failed to comply with this direction. RBI said that the banks need to ensure implementation of basic IT organisational framework and put in place policies and procedures which do not require extensive budgetary support, infrastructural or technology changes, by October 31, 2011. The rest of the guidelines need to be implemented within period of one year unless a longer time-frame is indicated.
Till now there are no hints given by banks of India that they are taking the cyber security aspects of banking seriously. With growing cases of ATM frauds, credit card frauds, online banking frauds, etc banks of India need to take immediate steps to strengthen their cyber security practices.
It seems RBI needs to remind the banks once again about this much needed requirement so that harassment of banking customers can be minimised in India.
