Security Breaches Worry Outsourcing Industry

[OhioChick]

By SARITHA RAI
Published: October 5, 2006
BANGALORE, India, Oct. 4 — India’s outsourcing industry, flourishing with business from an expanding base of American and European customers, is facing greater criticism after a series of security breaches.

On Thursday, a British television documentary scheduled on the independent Channel 4 will say that a 12-month investigation, with filmmakers’ clips, had “infiltrated criminal networks which trade British consumers’ bank and other confidential information for huge profits in India, the world’s call-center capital.”

Industry executives and officials at Nasscom, an Indian outsourcing industry trade group, say they are worried that the program, along with recent incidents of fraud, are damaging the country’s reputation as a high-skilled, low-cost location.

India’s outsourcing companies offer a range of financial back-office services to banks and credit card companies in the United States and elsewhere. They respond to calls on 24-hour service lines, helping customers make bill payments and register payment disputes. They also promote credit card and banking services and even help card companies recover debts, all at a fraction of the prices of Western rivals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/business/worldbusiness/05call.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1160046228-IygkWSs1tFtRkRwIgBcL3w


BPOs ready to sleep over Westside horror stories
Posted Thursday , October 05, 2006 at 15:14
Updated Thursday , October 05, 2006 at 15:30

New Delhi: The Indian BPO industry seems prepared to take on its stride the challenges posed by the relentless campaign in the Western media about the security risks Indian call centres pose to the customers, especially on the possibility of leakage of confidential financial information.

While industry leaders admit that the 'rotten apples' detected in sting operations conducted by British newspapers and TV channels are a reality, they also assert that the industry is already aware of these risks and the checks and balances are already in place to tackle the problem.

India's National Association of Software and Service Companies, or Nasscom, has taken the lead in assuring the world that the outsourcing industry is not as weak as it is sought to be made out, and that a system is already in place to deal with such issues. The association says it will work with the police authorities to investigate the claims made in the Channel 4 programme.

Nasscom is understood to have sent a representative to London to manage the fallout of the Channel 4 sting operation, which is scheduled to go on air on Thursday evening.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/bpos-ready-to-sleep-over-westside-story-of-backlash/23247-7.html

[Deja Q]

1. If they're high skilled, how come problems are this rampant?

:shrug:

Forgive me if I don't shed one bloody tear.

[OhioChick]

2. My thoughts, exactly. n/t

[Daphne08]

6. Same here. Sending American workers' jobs overseas is

a most un-American thing to do.

I still cannot believe they are doing this. :mad:

[elehhhhna]

10. jackshit pay makes people more succeptable to bribery, imo

[DBoon]

12. They ARE very skilled

at avoiding accountability.

That's the whole point of outsourcing - circular finger pointing

[w4rma]

14. Skilled mobsters. (nt)

[dipsydoodle]

3. Sounds like they're going into competition

with Nigeria or even worse aiding and abetting them . Here's the latest 419 received this morning :

THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANISATION
In Conjunction with the International Monetary Fund WORLD BANK FACT-FINDING & SPECIAL DUTIES OFFICE LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM.
Telephone: [phone], Fax:[phone]

Attn:Dear Beneficiary

I am Rev.Father William Doherty,a senior staff with the World Bank fact finding & special duties office. I am writing you this letter because cool penny is better than millions of dollars. It is better for one to live and die poor honest man than a rich dishonest one.I and the chief security officer (CSO) of this organization have arranged with an officer in computer section engineer Peter Cliff to bring out part of your total pending payment sum amounting to US$10 million. Why we did this is because according to information gathered from the bank?/security computer, you have been waiting for a long time to receive your money without success.

As I found out that you have almost met all the statutory requirements in respect of your pending payment, your problem is that of interest groups. A lot of people are interested in your payment and those people are merely doing paper works with you and that explains why you receive fax and phone messages from different people everyday. Also we found out that some of the officials of the parastatals have been extorting a lot of money from you with the pretext of helping you receive your money. I can assure you that this may last for years yet nothing happens if you do not do away with those officers that you call your partners.

And the money is in a security-proof box weighing 75kg.Yesterday we went to four courier companies to make arrangements on how to ship them by courier to you. Dhl, Ems, FedEx, Ups all said that they must open the boxes for inspection by the customs before shipment. This is something we want to avoid because the box is padded with synthetic nylon and to open it, you have to cut the pad before you will meet the button that you will press to open the dial code-lock. There is no way you can open the box and be able to close it again because it was padded with machine. We told the courier services that the box contained film materials and when open will spoil the materials. We did not declare money because courier does not carry money.

Today a friend of mine who is diplomat disclosed to me that there is a security courier service they use to send diplomatic materials and information from one country to another. It has diplomatic immunity and consignment cannot be checked by any customs anywhere in the world. I have met the officials of the security courier service and concluded shipping arrangement with them, which they will commence as soon as i have your go ahead order. The diplomat will help me so we do not have any problem.

We have concluded that you must donate Five Hundred Thousand United States dollars (US$500,000.00) to any charity organisation I designate as soon as you receive your money. To this effect, you will send us a promissory note for Five Hundred Thousand United States dollars
(US$500,000.00) along with your address for sending the box by courier.

Please maintain topmost secrecy as it may cause a lot of problems if found out that we are using this way to help you. Do not ever tell anybody about this until you have your money

God be with us as we wait for your reply

Yours Faithfully,

REV. FATHER WILLIAM DOHERTY

[Autumn Colors]

4. As a self-employed medical transcriptionist

... who has lost clients to Indian companies who set up a "base office" locally and then send all the work to be done in India, all I can say is....

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Maybe U.S. companies will learn a lesson and bring their business back here.

So much for all of that "Patients Bill of Rights" legislation. I have to abide by certain security standards with all of the patient info I deal with. They should have to abide by the same standards. Doesn't sending U.S. patient info outside the country sort of nullify all of that so-called protection that was legislated?

[FlaGranny]

9. I'm also a medical transcriptionist.

:-) Hi.

We just had a mandatory HIPAA meeting a couple of weeks ago where we were "threatened within an inch of our lives" about patient security. No one is supposed to even be in the same room with us when we transcribe - I work at home. I never could understand allowing sensitive records to be handled in India and the Philippines while we in the US are held to such strict standards.

Some hospitals and clinics even put SS#'s on their charts. That number, along with the name of the patient and the patient's diagnoses, could be very useful information. In this country, we are legally liable for infractions. How difficult would it be for a patient or even our government to bring suit in India or the Philippines?

[elehhhhna]

11. Outsourcing legal doc processing is a BIG FAT HOLE of a mess, too

I ran legal staffing for years and the oppt'ys for corp espionage are outrageous.

[cornermouse]

5. Who couldn't see this one coming from a long way off?

Low pay, based in another country where they feel they don't necessarily have to respect or pay attention to rules and laws of another country, supervisors who are probably pushing them to complete whatever their task is without any excuses.

[tanyev]

7. Gosh, nobody could have predicted that.

:eyes:

[NYC]

8. Recommended.

People ought to pay more attention to this, but profits come before people.

[Beacho]

13. This has been going on for years

As an IT worker, I've been aware of security breaches in the software industry.

Broderbund sued the crap out of a developement company that outsourced to India and let them use their compiling tools, which then ended up on the black market.

You get what you pay for and many firms are tired of it.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

15. kick

[Anakin Skywalker]

16. Rethugs Say" "Not a problem. They work cheap. That's all that matters".

[ChromeFoundry]

17. sigh

This topic makes me fume inside. Yeah right, they are putting in a system to deal with this issue... Maybe when the members of our congress get their accounts pillaged, then something will be done about it.