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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]