It is reported that Indian intelligence agencies have flagged a mobile application by name WeChat developed by a Chinese company “Tencent” as a “Threat”.
After the revelation about the US intelligence program PRISM through which the US Intelligence agencies are reportedly spying on all communications passing through Google, FaceBook etc. it appears that intelligence agencies in India also have become a little more alert.
The threat of Chinese intelligence agencies intruding into Indian Cyber Space is well known. The WeChat may be one such application. However there are bigger threats since India imports a huge number of computers, laptops and mobiles from China, some of which are branded where there could be backdoors at the OEM level.
Until the dependence on China for IT assets is removed, Indian Cyber Space will remain vulnerable. Hence one important aspect of Indian Cyber Security program should be encouragement of a large scale indigenous investment in Cyber Security research and subjecting all Chinese products to be put through a security check for certification.
I urge Indian Corporates to also think in the direction of setting up specialized Cyber Security labs that can analyze source codes and test hardware for security. The Government backed security lab led by IISc Bangalore has lost credibility since it is reported to carry substantial funding by the Chinese Company Huawei itself.
Naavi
