Two experts from the IT cell of ICICI Bank on Tuesday met the man who tried to hack the website of ICICI Bank.
Police sources said the bank officials, who had come down from Mumbai, had taken prior permission from the crime branch to meet Manish Pandey and understand his modus operandi.
“Two officials from the bank visited the city on Tuesday to meet the accused in custody. These officials wanted to understand the lapses, loopholes and shortcomings in the security system of the bank’s website,” assistant commissioner of police, cyber crime branch, KN Patel said.
According to banking sources, it is not possible for anyone to easily access the server of a bank without proper authentication and password. “Only a few officials within the bank have access to the bank’s servers. The bank wanted to know the modus operandi of the accused,” a source from the police added.
The meeting with Manish Pandey at the crime branch headquarters lasted four hours. “Bank officers examined flow charts used by Pandey for hacking, besides software used, CDs, documents and notes written by the accused. The hacker replied to most questions posed by the officials,” police said.
Police sources said the purpose of the meeting was to enhance security of the ICICI Bank’s servers. ICICI is the second largest bank in the country, and huge sums of money are transferred online daily. The bank officials wanted to understand the loopholes in their security systems so that they could take remedial measures.
Meanwhile, the crime branch has also asked the bank to submit information related to locks (used for authentication to access servers) and documents which can help in interrogation of the accused.
The crime branch arrested Pandey on July 7 after ICICI Bank informed Ahmedabad police about the possibility of hacking from the city. The accused had tried to hack the server of the bank to transfer crores from the account of a customer in Hyderabad.
Pandey will be in remand till July 18.
