Real Mango: An Illegal Software

• 09 Sep 2020

Why in News

In a nationwide investigation, Railway Protection Force (RPF) has disrupted the operation of illegal software called “Real Mango” - used for cornering confirmed Railway reservation.

Key Points

• About: Real Mango software is an illegal software developed for booking Tatkal tickets.
• Working:
  
  • Real mango software bypasses captcha.
  • It synchronises bank OTP with help of a mobile app and feeds it to the requisite form automatically.
  • The software auto-fills the passenger details and payment details in the forms.
  • The software logs in to the IRCTC website through multiple IRCTC Ids.
  • Following these steps multiple tickets can be booked. And it leads to swift online tickets booking by agents whereas common people may not get the tickets booked on their own. This creates the possibility of ticket hoarding and black marketing of tickets.
• Significance: The information supplied by RPF will help the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) to strengthen security features in the Passenger Reservation System (PRS).

Centre for Railway Information Systems

• The Ministry of Railways set up CRIS as a Society in July 1986. It is the Information Technology (IT) wing of Indian Railways.
• It is headquartered in New Delhi.
• It performs the functions of Indian Railways such as passenger ticketing, freight operations, train dispatching and control, crew management, e-procurement, etc.

Railway Protection Force

• Railway Protection Force (RPF) is a security force, established by the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957.
• Objective of the force is "the better protection and security of railway property and passenger area".
• It has the power to search, arrest, investigate, and prosecute offenses committed under Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act 1966, the Railways Act, 1989.
• However, the power of arrests under other penal laws rests in the hands of the Government Railway Police (GRP).
  
  • GRP is part of the state police.
  • Law and order and policing on railways, including on trains, is the responsibility of the GRP.
  • GRP enquire into accidents on railway,
  • GRP renders assistance to railway officers.

CAPTCHA

• CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.
• CAPTCHA determines whether the user is real or a spam robot.
• CAPTCHA uses several human validation methods including math or general knowledge questions, visual puzzles and even chess puzzles.

Source PIB