Government plans security tests for tele equipment

The central government is setting up an agency for security vetting and testing all telecommunications equipment for their stated and unstated performance. The government intends to invest Rs 400-450 crore on this facility, the Telecom Testing and Security Certification Centre (TTSCC), by 2012.

Carried out without the usual hype that surrounds every telecom-related move in the country, it comes in the backdrop of the country allowing 74 per cent foreign direct investment in telecom services (100 per cent FDI is already allowed in telecom equipment manufacturing).

The agency, modelled on the lines of the China Information Technology Security Verification Centre, is being set up at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.

Private and state-owned telecom operators in India buy equipment worth billions of dollars from multi-national equipment giants every year. The market is growing fast, with the total user base over 200 million and around 28,000 telephone exchanges at last count.

A single incident some years ago highlighted the need for vigilance. A foreign Internet service provider offered free connections to government officials, among others, in New Delhi.

After one such software installation, a chance event led the intelligence agencies to discover that malware (malicious software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent) had been also installed on the networked computer. Every time the computer connected to the Internet, a "backdoor" opened, allowing someone overseas to access data stored on it.

"The very technology that has enabled unprecedented growth also increases the vulnerability of our infrastructure and threatens our infotech-driven prosperity. Network equipment can be designed to leak information periodically or when triggered externally," a telecom depertment official said.

Officials from the Department of Telecom and Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and N Balakrishnan of the IISc visited the United Kingdom and France for assessing similar centres in February this year.

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EYE ON TELECOM

Agency to undertake performance analysis and security evaluation

Centre will act as a research base to detect malware in equipment

Process for certification of equipment to be created

Agency to emerge as a referral for security evaluation and surveillance

Similar centres operate in the USA, the UK, France, Singapore, China etc.