Kerala Police send notice to US firm for data theft

A top official of Kerala Police cyber cell has confirmed to IANS that they have sent the notice to Xact Data Discovery, headquartered in Kansas, US.

"We have sent them a notice some time back and we are yet to receive any response from them. We are waiting and will decide on what needs to be done next," said the official who did not wish to be identified.

The cyber wing has been at this case since November last year following a complaint by Stephen Antony, chief executive director of Rabboni Convergence Technologies Research and Development Pvt Ltd.

Antony had petitioned Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose that two of his employees had colluded with a person from Mumbai named Dominic Thomas and stolen the technical knowhow (source code, algorithms and the software architecture) and passed this on to the US company.

In the criminal complaint that has been filed by Kerala Police, the second accused is Robert Polous, president and CEO Xact Data Discovery.

Already the cyber wing has zeroed in on the others who are alleged to be involved with the crime and it includes first accused Dominic Thomas, who owns an IT firm in Bangalore, and two employees working with Antony's IT firm.

It was in April last year that Thomas got in touch with Antony and asked him whether his company could develop for a US-based IT firm an electronic data discovery software, needed for the legal industry in the US.

Soon Antony's firm was able to successfully develop the software but he got a raw deal when the payment for the development of the software was demanded.

His suspicioun aroused, Antony with the help of internal security systems in his office probed and found out that two of his employees (one a woman employee) colluded with Thomas and took away the technical knowhow, forcing Antony to register a police complaint.

Antony told IANS: "All the hard work that I put in to develop this software appears to have disappeared."

"The cyber wing has with it all the crucial evidence," Antony said.