Cyber security is really cipher security.

Last week Equifax, in the US, revealed that hackers had accessed credit card and personal data of 143 million customers. Customers pay the company $19.95 per month to monitor their personal data to prevent fraudulent use of their credit card accounts. The company has millions of active credit cards on its files, which are valuable because they can be instantly used by thieves. But it may not have been just about money. "Some of the hackers' behavior on Equifax's network suggested that once they were inside, they sought financial and personal information on particular individuals, which is more commonly associated with higher-level forms of identity-theft and espionage." The hackers gained access in mid-May and were merrily accessing data till end of July. Equifax had revenue of $3.1 billion last year. To limit its liability, Equifax is conning its customers to agree to arbitration when they enquire about their status. After the hack was discovered, 3 of its executives sold shares worth $1.8 million during the delay in informing customers. The company says that the executives had not been informed about the hack. The company must believe in the Tooth Fairy. How cute. Surely, it must be very difficult to hack into secure websites? In July someone hacked into the account of the CEO of the largest security firm in Sweden, Securitas, applied for a loan and filed an application for bankruptcy. There have been 12,800 cases of identity theft in Sweden already, this year. Identity theft has reached 'epidemic' proportions in the UK, with 500 people targeted everyday. Surely, biometrics must be safer because fingerprints and iris scans are unique to every individual? Turns out that even these can be hacked by cyber experts. In the West, banks have committed to compensating anyone who loses money through cyber fraud. But, what about India? The RBI has instructed banks to bear losses of customers who lose money through online fraud, if reported within 3 days and if there is no negligence by the customer. Like insurance companies use flimsy excuses to refuse paying for medical costs, banks will harass customers by falsely accusing them of negligence. We will end up having to prove our innocence to allow the guilty to go free. Thousands of people are already losing millions to cyber criminals. The government has been forcing people to provide fingerprints and iris scans for everything from bank accounts to mobile phones. For some reason the government was using American companies to enroll people to the database. Naturally, the CIA has access to all the data, as reported by WikiLeaks. Officials denied the report. Will any Indian believe them?