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Security at the Cent e

As the banking sector is going more digital, more it is facing cyber
threats. In view of the nature of business they are in, banks are
highly suscep ble to cyber-a acks. Right from data storage devices,
processing units, data transmi ng networks and end user devices –
allarevulnerabletosomeortheotherformofcyber-a ack.
The perpetrators of cyber-a acks can be anywhere – either well
trenched within the organiza ons or far away in a remote corner of
the globe. The speed and surprise of a acks are the toughest
aspectstodealwith.
There have been considerable efforts to strengthen the cyber
security ecosystem, which comprises of Governments, Regulators,
Judiciary, Police, Academia, Consultants, Big Companies and of late, FinTechs. Each is playing a
roletoensurebanksarereasonablycyber-safe.
Among various stakeholders in India, IDRBT is posi oned uniquely as it is at the intersec on of
academia and industry. Considerable research has been undertaken in the Ins tute, which can
beofimmensehelptobanks.TheIns tutehasbeenhelpingthebanksinmul plewaysthrough
Execu ve Development Programmes, Consultancy, Cyber Drills, IB-CART and coordina on of
ChiefInforma onSecurityOfficers'Forum.
Dr. B.M. Mehtre in his ar cle tled “Cyber Security and Research Ac vi es of IDRBT” has
presented all such ac vi es of the Ins tute that are relevant to the many areas of concern to all
thebanks.
Mobile as an end-user device for banking and payments has been assuming greater role.
Several customers of banks and other payment systems are using mobile as the single channel
for most of their interac ons and transac ons. Mobile security is of utmost importance today
and Dr. V. N. Sastry brings out the concerns and solu ons in this regard in his ar cle tled
“MobileSecurity”.
'Security cannot be an a erthought' – is the dictum today. Right at the stage of designing a
system,securityneedstobeplacedatthecentr .Itisespeciallytrueinthecontextofpayments
e
among mul ple par es. Dr. N. V. Narendra Kumar presents the design ideas succinctly in the
ar cle tled“DesigningSecureTransac onsInvolvingMul plePar es”.
The present volume is on cyber security for banks. Dr. Rajarshi Pal in his ar cle tled “Cyber
SecurityinBanks”dwellsonvariousaspectsrelevanttothebankingsector.
We feel that the present series of staff papers on cyber security is very relevant to all
stakeholders of cyber security in banks. Like all our previous series, we trust it would be quite
useful.

Date: March 2019
Place: Hyderabad