Bangalore-based Fallible has rolled out its Product Security Index which ranks popular Indian startups based on their security. The score given to each company is based on how they performed during dozens of tests adhering to a bunch of security-centered parameters. About 30 percent of the country’s population has access to the Internet. This figure is growing at a very fast rate currently.
In such an environment, not only do customers have to be wary about the privacy of their personal and financial data, but startups also have to make sure their services are backed by a secure system in order to gain user trust. Last month, Fallible had bemoaned the fact that in 2016, ‘a billion dollar startup takes credit card information for one of their products over HTTP.’
UK telco TalkTalk lost 95,000 customers after hackers stole credit and debit card numbers in October 2015. It’s high time to name and shame the offenders. According to the security firm, the top 10 least secure Indian startups or online services (from worst to less worse) are TicketNew, HealthKart, ZopNow, Bharat Matrimony, ShopClues, Fun Cinemas, PVR, Bigbasket, HomeShop18 and DealsAndYou.
Fallible’s list of the most secure startups include FreeCharge, Groupon India, Urban Ladder, Moonfrog Labs, NewsHunt, Ola, Akosha, CarDekho, Flipkart and Droom Technology Private Limited. Sites like Quikr, Zomato, eBay India and Jabong are all rated to be less than 60 percent secure. In 2015, Ola gave Fallible $1000 for reporting a security vulnerability in one of its apps.
The problem is, a lot of Indian startups do not respond appropriately when a bug or an issue in their system is revealed to them. Fallible doesn’t offer exact details about the vulnerabilities affecting the less secure online businesses for fear of being sued. But there’s no denying that we want companies to treat our data with more respect.