KOLKATA: India will shortly frame new testing standards for telecom gear to shield networks from potential cyber attacks. The country's top security brass has decided that CCRA or "Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA)" clearance will no longer be enough to certify global telecom gear used in India.
The telecom department (DoT) will work with the Department of Electronics & IT and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) to establish testing standards and procedures for telecom gear, which will be necessary in addition to CCRA certification, says a confidential note circulated by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), a copy of which was reviewed by ET.
The NSCS is the apex agency looking into India's political, economic and energy and strategic security concerns while the NTRO is the country's technical intelligence-gathering agency under the PMO.
India is a signatory to CCRA, which was created over a decade ago by the governments of UK, US, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, to define a common process to evaluate security-sensitive IT & telecom products. The objective was to motivate global telecom vendors to find common processes to reduce equipment certification costs worldwide.
But India's decision to evolve country-specific telecom gear testing standards is aimed to complement an earlier DoT directive to mobile phone companies, who have been mandated to use equipment deemed "safe" by an authorised testing lab in India from November 1, 2013. India is also readying a cyber security framework, a cyber security policy and a National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) that will monitor metadata on cyber traffic flows.
The telecom department has established a pilot lab and creation of a full-fledged certification center and development systems is in progress, a top DoT official told ET.
At present, telcos give an undertaking to DoT that equipment they install is "safe to connect" in line with globally accepted standards benchmarked with the CCRA.
India's network safety drill was progressively made more stringent two years ago after security concerns, especially regarding Chinese vendors rocked the telecom turf, delaying network expansion plans of several mobile phone companies. India is the world's largest market for network gear makers and sales of telecom equipment is slated to hit the $40-billion mark by 2020, according to sector regulator, Trai.
India set to frame new testing norms for telecom equipment - The Economic Times
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The telecom department (DoT) will work with the Department of Electronics & IT and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) to establish testing standards and procedures for telecom gear, which will be necessary in addition to CCRA certification, says a confidential note circulated by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), a copy of which was reviewed by ET.
The NSCS is the apex agency looking into India's political, economic and energy and strategic security concerns while the NTRO is the country's technical intelligence-gathering agency under the PMO.
India is a signatory to CCRA, which was created over a decade ago by the governments of UK, US, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, to define a common process to evaluate security-sensitive IT & telecom products. The objective was to motivate global telecom vendors to find common processes to reduce equipment certification costs worldwide.
But India's decision to evolve country-specific telecom gear testing standards is aimed to complement an earlier DoT directive to mobile phone companies, who have been mandated to use equipment deemed "safe" by an authorised testing lab in India from November 1, 2013. India is also readying a cyber security framework, a cyber security policy and a National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) that will monitor metadata on cyber traffic flows.
The telecom department has established a pilot lab and creation of a full-fledged certification center and development systems is in progress, a top DoT official told ET.
At present, telcos give an undertaking to DoT that equipment they install is "safe to connect" in line with globally accepted standards benchmarked with the CCRA.
India's network safety drill was progressively made more stringent two years ago after security concerns, especially regarding Chinese vendors rocked the telecom turf, delaying network expansion plans of several mobile phone companies. India is the world's largest market for network gear makers and sales of telecom equipment is slated to hit the $40-billion mark by 2020, according to sector regulator, Trai.
India set to frame new testing norms for telecom equipment - The Economic Times
.
