Indian call centre hit by ID breach claims

An undercover operation that allegedly found customers' data for sale by outsourcers has rocked the Indian software and service industry.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Monday that its TV programme Four Corners was able to get hold of the personal details of Australian customers from an unidentified journalist working undercover in an Indian call centre. The same writer recently helped British tabloid The Sun to buy the sensitive data on British citizens.

According to a transcript of the programme: "The Australian samples appeared to have come from a call centre in Gurgaon. The kind of details they provided was alarming - not just the names and addresses of Australian customers but also their telephone numbers, birth certificate details, Medicare numbers, driver's licence numbers [and] ATM card numbers."

ABC did not name the call centre involved but said the provider had been hired by Switch Mobile, an Australian telemarketing company. The Gurgaon centre contracted out calls made to Australians to another Indian company, Brick & Click, thus creating a further layer of insecurity, the programme said. Switch Mobile has since cancelled its contract with the unnamed Indian centre.

The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), an Indian trade body, has asked ABC to provide details of the operation so the matter can be reported to law enforcement officials.

Nasscom said: "Such reports emanate from 'entrapment operations', and no person has reported any harm yet. In the absence of a formal complaint, even the enforcement officials cannot launch formal investigations and apprehend the criminals."

It added that it would work with authorities in Australia and India to nab the culprits: "Indian IT companies undertaking work for global companies contractually comply with all the requirements of the relevant privacy and data protection laws of the home country, as well as other security and confidentiality safeguards.

"Each of our customers must perform strict due diligence on all their vendors and ensure contractual commitments to relevant laws."

In the wake of concerns over data security in call centres working for overseas clients, Nasscom has decided to create a register of IT workers hired in call centres. At present, about 350,000 workers are employed in the business process outsourcing sector and the number is projected to grow to a million in another three years.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reviewed the matter recently with IT industry leaders and ordered that the Information Technology Act be amended to make it more stringent.

Dinesh C Sharma writes for CNET News.com