Ernst & Young Launches Cyber-Forensics and Compliance Centre in Hyderabad

Ernst & Young India's Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services (FIDS) on Monday launched a centre in Hyderabad to undertake complex cyber-forensic and compliance related investigations.

"This forensic technology facility set up at $5 million has 40 forensic technology specialists that we are planning to expand to 80 soon," Arpinder Singh, Partner & National Leader, FIDS, Ernst & Young India, told reporters.

EY presently has 130 forensic technology specialists in India. "Over the next five years we seek to have 200 specialists in Hyderabad and 350 in India," he added.

"Hyderabad is going to be our growth engine...This lab will be a strategic growth driver for EY's expanding forensic practice in India," he said.

This facility has a live platform for end-to-end e-Discovery services and capabilities to undertake complex cyber forensic and compliance-related investigations. The

Indian market on investigations has matured over the last five years, he said.

After inaugurating the facility, Telangana Minister for IT and Panchayat Raj, K Taraka Rama Rao, said cyber offences have jumped by about 120 percent in 2013 as compared to 2012 with maximum cases of harassment and economic offences.

"Cybercrime is a growing menace and we look forward to bring it down."

"This facility will be of great help for regulatory authorities and the police. Our government wants Hyderabad not just to be the destination for technology, but also safe technology with good global safe practices," the minister added.

According to a recent report published by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), cybercrime costs the global economy around $445 billion every year,

with damage to business from theft of intellectual property exceeding $160 billion lost by individuals due to hacking.

"With the demand for specialised forensic solutions expected to soar, we believe our Hyderabad forensic lab will be instrumental to assist organisations in their effort to detect and prevent frauds," Singh said.

According to the EY Global Forensic Data Analytics (FDA) Survey 2014, 60 percent of the Indian companies use FDA in their anti-fraud and anti-bribery progammes.

Paul Walker, EY's head of Forensics Technology and Discovery Services, said, "India is an important and evolving market and it offers huge growth opportunities. Costs are lower as compared to US and we can leverage that for our clients. It's not only the cost but also has quality of resources."