Ransomware Attack

Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)

• Established on recommendations of the Narasimham Working Group (1975), 
• Established under the Regional Rural Banks Act of 1976; 
• The aim is to ensure sufficient institutional credit for agriculture and other rural sectors.
• The area of operation of RRBs is limited to the area notified by the Central Government.
• Ownership: 50% by the Central Government, 35% by the Sponsor Bank, and 15% by the State Government.

Cooperative Banks

• It refers to those financial institutions under the Banking System in India that operate on the principles of cooperation and mutual benefit for their members.
• Cooperative Banking in India is divided into two distinct segments- Rural and Urban.
• Four Distinct Tiers: 
  • Central Cooperative Banks: Operate at the district level, providing loans primarily to affiliated primary societies.
  • State Cooperative Banks: Operate at state level. 
  • Primary Cooperative Banks: Serve urban and semi-urban areas, focusing on non-agricultural businesses.
  • Land Development Banks: Cater specifically to farmers’ needs, offering credit for development purposes. Comprise three tiers: Primary, State, and Central.
• Regulatory Authority: Recently came under the regulatory purview of the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) instead of just RBI and state governments.
• Urban Cooperative banks: After the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act 2020 was passed, all the powers were transferred to RBI from the Registrars of the cooperative societies. 
  • Even some powers are left with the registrar but RBI powers will override them.
• RBI allows  cooperative banks to raise funds through the issuance of equity shares, preference shares and debt instruments; Large cooperative banks with paid-up share capital and reserves of Rs.1 lakh were brought under the purview of the Banking Regulation Act 1949 with effect from 1st March 1966.

Encrypting the Data

• It means converting the data into a coded format that is unreadable without a decryption key. 
• When ransomware encrypts files, it uses complex algorithms to transform the original data into an encrypted version, making it inaccessible to the user. 
• The attacker then demands a ransom in exchange for the decryption key, which is needed to revert the data back to its original, readable form.