10 Trains from (ERS)ERNAKULAM JN to (SBC)BANGALORE CY JN

प्रेस विज्ञप्ति/ Press Release No. 203  Dt: 28.08.2020

SWR RPF BUSTED AN CROSS BORDER CRIMINAL GANG INVOLVED IN ILLEGAL SOFTWARE FOR E-TICKETS

In September last Year intelligence agencies alerted the use of illegal software for bypassing the IRCTC and Bank security systems deployed in booking tatkal tickets throughout India.  After multiple raids by SWR RPF sleuths a Criminal was arrested who provided lead about a mastermind of illegal software business who would deployed software to bypass the IRCTC Tatkal system and even bank OTP and directly book tickets extorting premium [4 to 5 times the Railway ticket price] from passengers.

The criminal fled Bangalore and was o­n the run from October 2019. In January 2020 his whereabouts were tracked to Kenderpara in Odisha where he was arrested and brought to Bangalore for further investigation by Bangalore RPF team.

During the interrogation it was understood that he was having Pakistani based software’s of high level hacking Linux based systems for hacking devices applications to ISRO, Railways and other Government Organizations, 3000 Bank account details, Bit coins and other Crypto currency links.

He was further interrogated and the entire black market of 25,000 hackers and touts with high command in India and abroad were detected. The black money generated from this illegal activity amounted in hundreds of crores and it was linked to various other anti national and criminal activities throughout the country and abroad. As a result of this activity unauthorized tickets were booked and genuine passengers could not book e tickets through IRCTC personal IDs as in seconds of opening the tickets would vanish as the gang was using powerful software.

There were around 25,000 hackers involved all India with a cadre based hierarchy where touts would generate demand bring it to sellers who used the software to compromise the system.  These sellers in turn reported to panel developers who would give them access to the software for monthly charges. These panel developers would  report to financial and technical Admins whose main job was to maintain the servers hosted in foreign countries and then the illegal money generated is suspected to be used in terror funding making illegal documents for hostile foreign nations money laundering thorough crypto currency etc,.

An All India racket of hackers and touts using various high level illegal software’s which compromised entire e-ticketing system of IRCTC and banks too was unearthed by RPF SWR.  With the top level intervention by DG/RPF who personally co-ordinated  through DIG Railway Board, various raids throughout India were conducted and subsequently over 100 panel developers and software sellers were arrested though out India.  The software codes were seized and destroyed.

In view of their persistent work to apprehend the touts, DG/RPF awarded a commendation certificate to Principal Chief Security Commissioner/ SWR and Divisional Security Commissioner/Bangalore and team for unearthing the all India illegal software racket and their modus operendi.  Hon’ble MR has now given assent take up the case with CBI as it has larger international security ramifications.

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                                                                                           Chief Public Relations Officer

                                                                              South Western Railway, Hubball

प्रेस विज्ञप्ति/ Press Release No. 191  Dt: 13.08.2020

DIGITAL FILE MOVEMENT UP BY 3 TIMES IN 4 MONTHS IN SWR, DIGITAL RECEIPTS CREATED ALSO INCREASES TO 3 TIMES

The lockdown and efforts of minimizing human/physical contacts in work place has pushed up the digital platform usage of South Western Railway (SWR) replacing the manual filing system. The number of digital files of SWR o­n NIC e office platform, implemented by RailTel, has increased more than 3 times during the past 4 months (April-July 2020).  Post Covid, the number of e-files generated by SWR was 3623 and by end of July the number of e files created by users of SWR has increased to14,069. The number e-receipts generated by users of SWR have also increased approx. 3 times during this period. Also, 803 new e-office users were registered during this period.

RailTel, a Miniratna PSU under Ministry of Railways, is implementing the NIC e-office suite for Indian Railways in a phased manner. All over Indian Railway, currently there are 1,05,110 users in 106 units of Indian Railways (Zone HQ, Divisions, PU,CTI etc) and as o­n 7.8.2020 a total number of 17,68,780 e receipts and 5,71,665 e files had been created.

With usage of digital filing increasing rapidly, SWR is in a fast track of adapting paperless office culture which will not o­nly save operational cost but also reduce the carbon foot print.

Due to availability of e-office, majority of file work in o­n SWR now can continue smoothly without physical presence in offices which is a boon in a time of crisis.  RailTel has also provided Virtual Private Network connections to Railway officials for enabling them to process the file works remotely.  Quick disposal of files and systematic, timely monitoring of pending files are some of the other immediate advantage of NIC e Office.

Railway officials have also been provided with training by RailTel teams to handle e-office platform efficiently.  For education the users, RailTel has made training videos and uploaded them o­n Youtube also so that the users can get a grip o­n the usage of e-office. The officials have been motivated to give up the habit of using manual file system. RailTel has also provided a helpdesk to assist Railway users in case of difficulty faced in working through the e platform.

NIC e-Office is cloud enabled software developed by National Informatics center (NIC) that is being deployed/hosted from RailTel Tier III UPTIME USA certified data centres at Secunderabad and Gurgaon.

The Zonal Head Quarters, Hubballi and Bangalore division have been using e-office platform since July 2019 and Hubballi and Mysuru from Jan 2020 this year.

Shri Ajay Kumar Singh, GM/SWR has said that quick disposal of files and systematic, timely monitoring of pending files is possible in addition to the non contact situation which is the norm in this pandemic.  SWR is also moving into a work culture through e-office where there is transparency and paperless working.                                                                  

                                                                                           Chief Public Relations Officer

                                                                              South Western Railway, Hubballi