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Government to create indigenous software
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 11 May 2010, 00:27 IST
New Delhi: After growing worries over the spurt in cyber attacks on Indian establishments the government has set a plan to develop indigenous software and put an end to the use of foreign operating systems and anti-virus products. The new software could be deployed in key departments that have been under constant cyber attacks. The unit also includes officials of the Prime Minister's Office as well as defence, home and telecom & IT ministries, reports Harsimran Singh & Joji Thomas Philip from The Economic Times.
The government believes that an indigenous low-grade, but clean, software could zero the chances of foreign states infiltrating the computers of key Indian establishments and compromising the country's security. "A sanitised, lower level operating system and application software may be preferred to the advanced versions, which necessarily require access to internet for upgrades," the official said.
The move to constitute the taskforce comes after the defence ministry raised concerns over use of anti-virus products of foreign vendors in the wake of a series of attacks on its systems by China-based hackers.
It has already taken several measures to detect and prevent cyber attacks like the defence ministry has already removed many of its computers off the internet. Its officers can't carry pen drives inside offices. The government has also decided to connect all key government ministries and offices, which number over 5,000, to an alternate exclusive communication network that is being built for the armed forces. This will provide a secure backup during emergencies, or at times when the networks of private telecom operators cannot be used to transmit sensitive information.
No sensitive information will be stored on systems connected to the internet, while ministries and departments have been told to carry out regular IT systems audits. The government has also established a Crisis Management Plan against cyber attacks to be implemented by all central ministries, state governments and critical sectors.
