Employees at a Delhi call center have stolen information on clients that include British and US telecommunications firms. Experts at InfoWatch believe that this could be the last straw for Western companies. As a result, outsourcing firms could be forced to provide guaranteed safeguards against data leaks.
Yet another scandal involving Indian call centers has erupted following the leak of client information belonging to leading telecoms companies from the UK and the US. Insiders at the Delhi-based outsourcing firm V-Angels have been blamed for the incident. The company contacted police after a number of employees stole “highly confidential client information.” V-Angels' lawyer confirmed that the firm had made an official complaint. He declined to identify V-Angels' clients, citing commercial confidentiality, but confirmed that they include “half a dozen blue-chip companies in Britain and the US.”
Although nobody has yet been found guilty of wrongdoing, the affair will raise fears about cyber crime and data protection in India. Earlier this summer an insider at HSBC's data processing center in Bangalore was charged with using British customers' personal details to raid their online accounts. Last year insiders at another call center were accused of stealing thousands of dollars from Citibank customers.
“Safeguarding confidential information from leaks, misuse and distortion in outsourcing companies is a major issue today. In the battle for a share of the market, outsourcers could deploy data protection systems and provide clients with a greater level of security. I’m certain that in the near future US and British firms will demand guarantees that their information will not be leaked from outsourcing companies,” says Denis Zenkin, marketing director at InfoWatch.
Source: The Guardian
