Centre launches Trusted Telecom Portal six months post the cabinet approval

On Monday, India approved the Trusted Telecom Portal following Cabinet's approval to the National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector in December last year. The Trusted Telecom Portal will work to declare a list of trusted sources and products for installation in the country’s telecom networks. The Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) will have access to log into the portal www.trustedtelecom.gov.in for information regarding telecom products and the vendors. The portal was developed by The Centre for Development of Telematics, and it was launched before stipulated time even though the ongoing pandemic imposed certain constraints on the developing team of CDoT, the hosting provider RailTel, dedicated staff of the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and the supporting stakeholder representatives from the TSPs and equipment vendors.

Telecom is the critical underlying infrastructure for all other sectoral infrastructures of the nation, thus acts of security breaches in the telecom infrastructure have disastrous consequences on the integrity quotient of data and information. The Telecom Service Providers (TSP) under the license of the Government of India provides telecommunication services such as voice, video, and data. 

Over the past years, Internet has penetrated the social structure of the country and with that issues of cyber-attacks, security breaches, and intelligence gatherings have increased. It is also speculated that the introduction of a 5G network will increase qualitatively and quantitatively security concerns from telecom networks. 

The prevalent issue of state and non-state actors trying to compromise the telecom networks have been shared by several other countries. In order to address these concerns, several countries have already taken significant measures especially on the avenues of sourcing telecom products and services. 

Indian Government on December 16, 2020, took the following sets of directives in order to address the network breach issue:-

• The Government will declare a list of 'Trusted Source/ Trusted Products' for the benefits of the TSPs under the provision of the directives. These will maintain the integrity of the supply chain and discourage insecure equipment in the network.
• The list of equipment under this Directive and the methodology to designate 'Trusted Products' will be devised by the Designated Authority under the National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC). TSPs will be required to connect to the new devices designated as 'Trusted Products'.
• A committee will be formed with members from the relevant departments along with two members from the industry and an independent expert. The Committee will be called 'National Security Committee on Telecom (NSCT)' and it will be headed by Deputy NSA. The designated authority will be required to make its decision upon approval from the committee.
• The proposed Directives do not demand mandatory replacement of the existing equipment already in use in the networks of the TSPs. Furthermore, the Directives would also not intervene in the functioning of the ongoing Annual Maintenance Contracts (AMC) or updates to existing equipment already under operation in the network.
• Among the 'Trusted Sources' declared by the Designated Authority those who meet the criteria of the Department of Telecom's Preferential Market Access Scheme will be certified as 'Indian Trusted Sources'. The National Security Committee will take measures to increase the use of 'Indian Trusted Sources' in domestic telecom networks.
• The Designated Authority will further issue guidance in the manner of 'Enhanced Supervision' and 'Effective Control' to the TSPs at regular intervals.  The Department of Telecom will accordingly modify its guidelines.
• The Department of Telecom will make adequate modifications in the license conditions for the implementation of the provisions under the Directives. The policy of the Government will come into effect from June 15, 2020.

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