No Jio data theft, says Navi Mumbai police after initial probe

In a major relief to Reliance JIO customers, an initial police probe has found there was no theft of data by a computer engineer arrested from Rajasthan, a top investigating official said here on Thursday.

"According to our probe so far, no data has been leaked or stolen. But investigations are still in the initial stage and we will learn more after the accused is brought here late on Thursday night," Navi Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Tushar Doshi told IANS.

Amid fears of theft of sensitive data by an unknown person, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. had informed the police, which in turn alerted the Maharashtra Cyber Crime Investigation Cell earlier this week.

The Maharashtra Cyber Cell managed to track down Imran Chhimpa in Rajasthan, from where he was arrested on Wednesday and will be brought to Navi Mumbai.

Doshi said Chhimpa holds a Master's in Computer Applications degree and probably was trying to create an app like TrueCaller which permits customers to get the caller's details.

Though Chhimpa had managed to acquire some details from Jio customers, preliminary investigations do not point to any theft of sensitive data to an external site Magicapk, as feared, he assured.

"After we interrogate him thoroughly, we will know more about his accomplices," Doshi added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Maharashtra Cyber Superintendent of Police Balsing Rajput said that following an FIR lodged by the Navi Mumbai police based on a complaint by Reliance Jio, the cyber police tracked down Chhimpa to Churu with the help of Rajasthan Police.

A team of Maharashtra Cyber Cell, Navi Mumbai police, and Reliance Jio officials was sent to Rajasthan and a team from QuickHeal provided technical help in the probe, Rajput said.

The matter came to light after Chhimpa posted a message on an online message board on July 5, claiming to offer personal user details of anybody having a Jio SIM card and said it was available from the customer's original details.

This raised apprehensions that Jio customers' data may have been compromised, but the company has made it clear that subscribers' data was safe and secure.

--IANS

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