India’s Central Bank Pushes for Enhanced Security (April 24, 2014)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released a final committee report on enhancing security in the country’s electronic payments sector with the use of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology. The report noted that PKI systems, which enable users to make a secure transaction over an unsecure network, accounted for just 25.1 percent of the total value of electronic transactions in India during 2012-2013. To increase security, the report encourages all banks to adopt PKI technology for online banking transactions and to implement password-based, two-factor authorization for such transactions.
The RBI recommends a three-stage implementation strategy for banks. The first phase involves implementing a cloud-hosted digital signature certificate (DSC) as an optional feature for corporate Internet banking clients for login. The second stage expands DSC to authorizing transactions by corporate users, while the final phase is making DSC an optional feature for personal Internet banking users for transaction authorization.
The RBI committee was formed in September 2013 and included members from banks, government agencies and research organizations. The RBI has a history of promoting the development of electronic payments in India, where cash continues to dominate.
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