The Hindu : Lax network security curbing e-commerce

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 27, 2003

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Lax network security curbing e-commerce

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 26. Though third generation cellular mobile networks are secure, the present networks in India are not that advanced and, therefore, require a concerted effort in this direction by the Government to ensure the success of e-commerce.

Lax laws and inadequate financial allocation for surveillance not only allow criminals or hackers to track calling patterns on Indian mobile phones and create a "digital DNA'' to hack into data or finances but permit anti-national elements to coordinate operations with impunity, say telecom security experts.

Even in existing mobile networks, the costly infrastructure created by the operators to enable legal interception to prevent hacking was being inadequately used by intelligence agencies, said Karanvir Singh, an expert in the subject, at the `Telecom Security India 2003' conference here today.

He said the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament was possible because intelligence agencies failed to scan messages on mobile networks enabling terrorists to keep in touch with their operational brain with impunity.

Mr. Singh pointed out that India did not have an exclusive budget for monitoring networks and consumers were unaware of surveillance efforts to protect them from hacking and other criminal activities.

In the U.S., the National Security Agency had a $5 billion (about Rs. 25,000 crores) budget exclusively for network surveillance against criminals and terrorists using mobile networks.

Government officials at the meet agreed that the integration of mobile phones with Internet and other platforms had left them vulnerable to criminals and hackers and there was a need to secure data on them against criminal intent. They called for a separate "Prevention of Computer Misuse Act'' to protect data privacy and punish hackers and criminals misusing computer systems.

They suggested that India should adopt the principles for data security issued by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since the promotion of e-commerce and e-governance depended on universal standards for data protection. This would ensure the extension of payment systems such as e-cash to rural areas.

"In India we feel insecure while using credit card numbers on networks due to loopholes in legal system of protection for the consumer,'' said the Haryana IT Secretary, Ashok Khemka.

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