BoI relocates site hosting from US to India

After facing attacks on its website, the Bank of India has shifted website hosting from United States to India in an attempt to have greater control over operations. The site was hacked on August 31, 2007 and remained inaccessible for many days.

There were attempts to load multiple copies of malware, one of which had features to steal information such as user names and passwords. Malware is designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's consent.

"The website was being hosted in US. Though our site came under attack, the financial transactions and related information were safe. These take place in a secure environment. Following this incident, more security features have been added to the website and monitoring of the website has become much more stringent", executive director K R Kamath said.

The quality of IT infrastructure in India has improved substantially and it is now possible to carry out hosting in the country. Hence the public sector bank decided on shifting hosting to India, he added. However, the bank declined to name the entity hosting the website citing security issues.

The bank's website has been designed by Mumbai-based CHIC Infotech.