Internal Security Concerns from Chinese Mobile Firms

This topic came into limelight during Doklam standoff when concerns were raised on presence of Chinese mobile makers and sellers such as Xiaomi, Lenovo, Oppo and Vivo etc. in India. Further, Chinese giant Alibaba has a stake in PayTM which owns major sponsorships including Indian Cricket Team and all cricket tournaments. Then, a university of Toronto report was published which said that through the smart phones the Chinese companies are leaking private data of Indians to the Chinese government. This also raises a related concern of “state-sponsored cyber attacks”.

How smart phones, browsers and applications threaten internal security?

Most internal security threats from internet would basically use browsers, applications and smart phones and comes in the form of malware, risky apps, device vulnerabilities and hacking attempts. In July 2017, hackers attempted to target UK’s parliament email system to access email accounts of hundreds of MPs, Lords and staff. Such unauthorized access can leak sensitive data related to security, armed forces, police forces, leaders, government premises and so on.

Do we have a government policy against such threats?

With the increasing concerns of leakage of data and threat to internal security, the Government of India took certain measures against Chinese Smartphone makers and has asked 21 companies for the details of phone security measures and process followed for security of phones sold in India.

The Government also will be verifying the details provided and warned of action if it is revealed that some have failed to meet security requirements. Violations can be punished by unlimited compensation and penalties of 5 crore through state-level arbitrators. The Government also may require the compmaies to set up their servers to ensure the user data protection. UC Browser which is under scanner after the allegations against it of leaking user data is owned by Alibaba, the Chinese giant. If the browser is found guilty then the government will ban it. Also, the market policies would also change in order to break the Chinese dominance over the smartphones market.