Tag: Ministry of Electronics

Twelve Smartphone Firms Respond To Govt Notice On Data Security

The Electronics and IT Ministry, last week had sent notices to 21 smartphone companies, with a majority of them Headquartered in China, asking them to outline the procedures and processes adopted by them to ensure security and privacy of users data. Soon after, nine more companies, including Motorola, Honor, Asus, OnePlus, InFocus, were added to that list.

The latest update states that a total of twelve companies including HTC, Xiaomi,Vivo, Huawei and Lenovo, have responded to the notice, while others like Samsung, Oppo, Sony, etc. have acknowledged and requested an extension. The ministry official said that agreeing to the requests, the government is likely to extend the deadline for submitting the details of the data security procedures.

Apple confirmed in an email, that the iPhone maker has sent its response to the ministry and a Vivo official stated that the company has replied to the government notice.

The ministry officials said that the 30 smartphone makers were asked to share security information to ensure that required data security measures were being taken. To support their claims, the IT ministry had cited international and domestic reports regarding data leaks from mobile phones.

Based on the response of the companies, the ministry will initiate verification and audit of devices where required. If a company fails to provide the information, the said firm will face charges and levy penalty for violation of security norms under provisions of IT Act 43 (A).

August 30, 2017
UC Browser Under Government Scanner For Reportedly Sending Information To China

One of the most popular mobile web browsers in India, UC Browser is under the scanner for reportedly sending data from Indian users out of the country. According to a report by Business Standard, “a government lab in Hyderabad is probing how UC Browser can send user details and location data to a remote server.”

This aforementioned lab is the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), an R&D organisation for the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. If found guilty, the Alibaba-owned app could be banned. Further, the report said that the government plans on sending notices to Reliance Jio’s smartphone brand, LYF, and others including Meizu and Videocon.

The same report adds that the UC Browser sends data including device’s IMEI number and location data to a server in China on connecting to a Wi-Fi network.

This report comes a week after the government had asked over 21 smartphone companies, the majority of them being Chinese manufacturers, to outline the procedures and processes adopted by them to ensure security and privacy of users’ data. To submit the detailed responses on security practices, August 28 has been set as the deadline on the basis of which the government would verify and audit the devices.

In May 2015, a Canadian technology research group reported that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd paid more than $1 billion for leaking sensitive user data and said that it is a privacy risk. Another report states that the UC Browser is the most popular mobile browser in India, accounting for nearly a 50 percent share of the market, ahead of Chrome, which is a little over 33 percent, and Opera, which is nearly at 10 percent. UC Browser once accounted for over 60 per cent of the market share in India, but, has lost out a little of its share to Google Chrome since then.

Reacting to the reports of leaking mobile data of its Indian users to China, the Alibaba-owned browser UCWeb made statement on Wednesday saying that the company would never breach the trust of its users. and it takes security and privacy issues very seriously.

August 23, 2017
Indian Government Asks 21 Smartphone Companies To Share Security Information

Amidst the multiple reports of online thefts and data leakage, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has taken steps to ensure privacy and safety of user data. The Ministry sent our notices to 21 smartphone makers to provide the framework as well as the procedures they follow for data security.

Aside from the global providers like Apple and Samsung and Indian firms like Micromax, majority of the listed 21 Smartphone companies included Chinese makers such as Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and Lenovo.

All 21 smartphone companies are to provide detailed information about security practices, architecture, process, guidelines and standards followed for providing secure transmission and storage of data, irrespective of whether the devices are manufactured in India or not. The government has announced 28 August as the official deadline for all the firms to file the security compliances. Several reports mention that additional measures such a security adits will also be taken.

If a company fails to provide the information, the firm will face charges and levy penalty for violation of security norms. Though the extent of penalty has not been stated yet, but according to the Sec 43(a) of the IT Act, any company found to be in violation of rules can attract penalties of up to Rs. 5 crore along with a provision for unlimited compensation.

A ministry official said that, “The first step in that direction is that we have asked the mobile companies to inform us what are the security procedures and processes that have been taken by them to ensure the security of the data of the users and their privacy… We want to make sure that any device that is sold in the country should be safe.”

This series of events unfolded after the IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called a meeting of senior officials in the IT department and representatives of CERT-In to understand the situation. As a result, a notice was sent to 21 companies, issued under Section 70B(6) of the IT Act.

With the government progressing towards digital India, and pushing for digital payments, data security has become much more crucial, and while these seems like a step towards preventing data breaches, a large amount of the fear is towards the Chinese majors collecting sensitive information using smartphones which at present flood the Indian market.

August 17, 2017