Explore the latest news and trends  

Sign up for our weekly security newsletter


Be the first to receive important updates on security





Send

IT Professional in Caterpillar’s offshore Center Arrested for Stealing Data

An IT professional employed at India's engineering design unit of Caterpillar allegedly used the username and password of another employee to access a company system in the United States and steal nearly 4,000 secret documents.

The Cyber Crime Cell of India's Criminal Investigations Department arrested the accused person, identified as M.S. Ramasamy, 37 years of age, from Chennai in India. The arrest was made in July 2007 and the charges against Ramasamy was that he broke into a computer server and grabbed confidential data under Section 408 of the Indian Penal Code (describing a breach of trust by a servant or clerk) and under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (a hacking act).

A spokeswoman of Caterpillar in China confirmed the incident and also said about the arrest of a now-ex employee of the enterprise's branch set-up in Chennai, India, for being involved in an alleged theft of confidential data. Computerworld.com published this in news on 17 September 2007.

The spokeswoman further said that they were co-operating with the investigating authorities to enable a timely and complete investigation. She, however, refrained from disclosing anything more about the hack and said that the local authorities were currently handling the issue.

The Cyber Crime Cell based in Chennai had identified Ramasamy to be a former worker at the Caterpillar facility situated at the Ascendas IT Park close to the city. The Hindu published this on 29 July 2007.

According to S. Balu, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Cyber Crime Cell, police had caught M.S. Ramasamy on the charges of stealing proprietary information and hacking information from a server of the mining and construction company based in US.

As per the media reports in India, Ramasamy broke into Caterpillar's REDI (Research and Engineering Documents Inquiry) system placed in Illinois during January and February and unlawfully downloaded approximately 4,000 confidential documents through another user's Id. The recordings of a closed-circuit camera caught Ramasamy in the act and later, system logs found his alleged connection with the crime.

During the arrest period, Ramasamy had moved out of Peoria, Caterpillar's company based in Illinois, to an IT firm at Hosur situated near Bangalore, India. The police seized Ramasamy's pen drive and hard disk containing the stolen files.

Related article: ID Theft Victims Will Double In Next Four Years

» SPAMfighter News - 10/4/2007

3 simple steps to update drivers on your Windows PCSlow PC? Optimize your Slow PC with SLOW-PCfighter!Email Cluttered with Spam? Free Spam Filter!

Dear Reader

We are happy to see you are reading our IT Security News.

We do believe, that the foundation for a good work environment starts with fast, secure and high performing computers. If you agree, then you should take a look at our Business Solutions to Spam Filter & Antivirus for even the latest version of Exchange Servers - your colleagues will appreciate it!

Go back to previous page
Next