Online identity theft – an Indian perspective
| Published date | 19 July 2011 |
| Date | 19 July 2011 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13590791111147451 |
| Pages | 235-246 |
| Author | D. Vijaya Geeta |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Online identity theft – an Indian
perspective
D. Vijaya Geeta
Department of Operations, GITAM Institute of Management,
GITAM University, Visakhapatnam, India
Abstract
Purpose – Today almost all businesses are connected online and net banking has becoming
a buzzword. The concept of identity theft which was more known in the Western world is making its
presence felt in developing economies like India. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to review
the current scenario of phishing attacks in India and provide some countermeasures that can be
adopted by online firms to fight this kind of attack.
Design/methodology/approach – A few statistics related to the phishing attacks worldwide are
compared with India’s to gauge the severity of the problem. Security measures adopted by a few banks
worldwide are reviewed and are compared with their counterparts in India. In the end, some guidelines
are furnished on how to tackle the situation.
Findings – There has been an increase in identity theft in the last few years which could pose a
serious problem in the future, resulting in loss of trust by the customer towards net banking. Most of
the Indian banks are taking initiatives to address the problem but still more work is to be done in the
case of small and rural banks.
Originality/value – Since identity theft is not only a concern of one individual but the responsibility
of the concerned financial firm, measures needs to be taken to protect the identity and data of their
online customers. This paper is an attempt to assess the present situation. Efforts have been made to
come out with the security measures that can be adopted by different firms in enhancing security and
protect the identity of their online customers.
Keywords Phishing, Securitymeasures, Banking, India, Internet, Trust, E-business
Paper type General review
1. Introduction
Internet has influenced in the way we carry out our tasks in daily life. It emerged from
a mere information resource to an important tool to carry out financial transactions.
Eriksson et al. (2008) observed that the subsequent evolution of internet banking has
fundamentally changed the ways in which banks implement their business and
consumers conduct their everyday banking activities.
Any business which has online presence collects and holds personally identifiable
information about their employees, customers, or business partners. If sufficient
measures are not taken in protecting this information, there is a risk of identity theft.
There are many ways by which cyber thieves steals identity and phishing is one of the
most popular and successful techniques employed by cyber thieves to steal identity by
using deceptive e-mails.
Phishing represents an online method of identity theft employed by phishers to steal
attributes (like passwords or account numbers) used by online consumers. In a typical
phishing attack, a phisher faking as an agent from the customer’s bank or financial
institution, sends e-mails to customers and ask them to click on a hyperlink to further
process their account details. Clicking on this link will lead the customer to a web si te
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1359-0790.htm
Online identity
theft
235
Journal of Financial Crime
Vol. 18 No. 3, 2011
pp. 235-246
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1359-0790
DOI 10.1108/13590791111147451
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