Exclusive CERT for telecom sector: Govt

In a bid to secure the country’s telecom network from cyber attack, the Centre is planning to set up an exclusive Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for telecom sector in line with what is proposed for the financial sector.

“As telecom industry grows and network security becomes more important, we will need a dedicated organisation that can look into the aspects of that,” Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundarajan told DH.

The standards for telecom security and the modalities of emergency response mechanism would be part of the new architecture of the telecom CERT, she added.

The CERT is a group of experts that handles computer security incidents to ensure data security. At present, there is CERT-In, the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) and the government is planning a similar CERT for the financial sector to secure banking and other financial institutions network and another for the Ministry of Power to protect power utilities installation from cyber attack.

All CERT, be it telecom or finance, will report to CERT-In, functioning under the MeitY for proper coordination, said an official in the Department of Telecom.

The Department of Telecom’s move to set up a separate CERT for the telecom sector came in the background of alleged leakages of customer data of Reliance Jio mobile users. The company has filed a police complaint in this regard.

Sundararajan also said that the Department of Telecom will soon seek details of alleged subscriber data breach of Reliance Jio.

Jio had said that its subscriber data “is safe and maintained with highest level of security”.

A 35-year-old computer science dropout from Rajasthan has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the case.

A Maharashtra Cyber Police senior officer confirmed that some leak had occurred but declined to share details about the quantum of the breach.