The Hindu Business Line : US IT body views Karan Bahree episode as one-off case

COMING to the defence of the Indian IT industry, which has been under fire following the recent BPO exposé by the British tabloid The Sun, US software association - the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) - today said it viewed the Karan Bahree case as a one-off incident.

"Unfortunately, every society and every economy has its bad actors, and India is no exception. Fortunately, law enforcement and the companies involved have moved quickly to take action against the individual involved. Generally, because of this, and because of the general perception that Indian companies and the Indian Government place a very high priority on security, there has been almost no negative reaction," Mr Harris N. Miller, President of ITAA, told Business Line through e-mail.

Asked if the case had highlighted the need for Indian BPO companies to upgrade security processes, Mr Miller said, "Every company can and should always improve its security practices. But I do not see this incident as anything more than isolated."

Mr Miller's comments come in the wake of a report by The Sun that its undercover journalist had allegedly obtained account numbers, bank card details, secret passwords and other personal details of 1,000 British bank customers by paying $5,000 to Mr Bahree, an employee of a Delhi-based IT company. Mr Bahree stated that he had acted at the behest of another person to merely deliver a "CD presentation" without knowing he was passing on classified information. Mr Bahree was subsequently fired by his employer — Infinity e-Search.

The issue caught the attention of the highest echelons of the Government, with Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, calling a special meeting last week to review steps taken by the Government and industry to deal with the challenge of cyber-crime and ensure data secrecy in business data processing.

Mr Miller said the ITAA had from time to time made suggestions to Indian industry and the Indian Government at various forums, as India deliberates on amendments to its IT law.

"What is key is having tough laws that punish wrongdoers severely and making sure law enforcement has the resources and training to work with industry to track down and prosecute those wrongdoers.

International collaboration is also key, which is one of the reasons we work closely with Nasscom and held a major cyber-security conference in conjunction with it, the Indian Government, and the US Government in October 2004 in New Delhi," he pointed out.

With 400 direct and affiliate member companies, the ITAA is the leading trade association for the IT industryin the US.

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