With the future pointing to mobile devices being integral parts of the Internet of Things (IoT) operated systems and even drones, India has started working on identifying key security concerns and possible solutions.

The Union electronics and information technology ministry (MeitY) has launched Mobile Security Roadmap from 2024 to 2034 with five major verticals of application-layer security, enterprise-grade security, AI/ML/DL/cloud/quantum and blockchain, operating system/framework and hardware layer, and stakeholder collaboration.

For this purpose, MeitY has roped in organizations including National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to develop various aspects of the roadmap.

Prof Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, dean of School of Cyber Security & Digital Forensics at NFSU, said that a stakeholder meeting with Tulika Pandey, Scientist G, MeitY, and P R Lakshmi Eswari, centre head of C-DAC Hyderabad, was recently convened at NFSU.

“The roadmap primarily considers India’s ambition to emerge as a hub for mobile device manufacturing along with taking the lead in developing operating systems and applications for mobile devices. Along with the development of mobile technologies, we have also seen rapid strides in fields such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and so on. Thus, the outcome of the exercise will be to ensure security of hardware, software and data,” said Prof Chaudhary.

Experts pointed to a few instances in western countries where manufacturers were banned due to security concerns, along with a high number of apps which are termed harmful for data security. NFSU experts have also suggested semiconductor forensics and cloud forensics to reduce the risk of widespread attacks by specific malware.

“It is a game of cat and mouse and both want to be a step ahead. When we are insisting on indigenous technology, we will need a framework and guidelines for the important field of mobile device security that affects all users. The roadmap will give direction to all stakeholders’ efforts and prioritize specific areas,” said an official associated with the project.

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