At a recent meeting held by the Prime Minister?s Office (PMO), it was suggested that mobile phone companies be barred from outsourcing key functions to foreign vendors, say news reports. Also, it was advocated that operators give all operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts to Indian companies only for security reasons.
However, these recommendations are not included in the final network security guidelines. The PMO, however, has concurred with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that a clause which earlier made it mandatory for overseas gear makers to put their software codes and hardware design details in the equivalent of a sealed envelope needed revision, especially after western vendors claimed the rule violated international agreements on trade and intellectual property rights.
The final network security norms make it mandatory for the gear vendor to apprise a mobile phone company about potential remote access threat possibilities and ways to counter them. The guidelines also lay down an exhaustive drill for undertaking network audits and third-party certifications.
It also includes a comprehensive list of such third party certification agencies across
