The Hindu Business Line : Data protection — Nasscom to work with legal authorities to bring guilty to book

TAKING serious note of reports that an Indian call centre employee allegedly sold bank account details of 1,000 UK customers to an undercover reporter, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said on Thursday that it would work with legal authorities in the UK and India to ensure that those responsible for criminal breach are promptly prosecuted and face maximum penalty.

"We have noted the report and are seeking further details. Nasscom and its member companies are strong upholders of data privacy and have been continuously strengthening both the legal and enforcement framework for data protection. We believe that any case of theft or a breach of a customer's confidentiality must be treated extremely seriously," a Nasscom statement said.

Mr Raman Roy, regarded as a pioneer of the IT enabled services business in India, however, questioned the feasibility of the modus operandi allegedly adopted, saying, "How a BPO employee could give password information is questionable. No system that I am aware of displays the password information. In fact, most of the information that has allegedly been passed on is not usually accessible to employees."

Mr Roy, who quit Wipro BPO Solutions earlier this month , said if the charges proved to be correct, it would reflect the lack of control in the BPO company that the employee belonged to. "If it is true, the small and medium BPO companies would definitely get hit. So will those who do not have capabilities to put in adequate controls. Customers will be even more wary now," he said, adding that while there may be a short-term impact, the long-term impact would be a function of details.

HCL Technologies' Corporate Vice-President (Strategy), Mr Saurav Adhikari, said that identity thefts and account fraud cases are rampant in the US and felt that the incident is being highlighted "more than required."

"Given the strong credentials of the Indian industry, this incident would be a blip on the BPO radar at best, and will result in the industry raising the bar," he said.

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