There are two things about hacking. Hackers aren’t aliens but amongst us, and the government should take a firm stand against illegal hacking and cyber crimes. This is why the government had sent notices to 30 companies, earlier this month, to provide the framework and asked about their data security procedures in an attempt to ensure privacy and security of consumer data.



According to an IT ministry source, mobile handset companies, including HTC, Vivo, Lenovo, and Xiomi, have replied to the government on their data security procedures while other manufacturers have asked for more time to respond. The government is likely to extend the deadline for receiving comments.



The notice sent by the government is reasonable because most of the manufactures have their servers in China, and the threat of data leak and hack is genuine. Apple has confirmed that it had submitted its response to the government, while an official from Vivo said the company had replied to the notice. After a while, nine more companies, including Motorola, Asus, Honor, OnePlus, InFocus, etc. were added to that list, taking the total number of such companies to 30 which was twenty one earlier. The IT ministry had reported that it will write to all Smartphone makers in this regard.

The IT ministry had cited international and domestic reports regarding many data leaks from mobile devices, and pre-loaded apps will be under inspection in the first phase. Ministry had also warned of penalties under provisions of IT Act 43 (A) in case stipulated processes are not being followed. According to the government, mobile phones particularly Smartphones are playing a crucial role in achieving the goals of Digital India and have achieved a penetration of 65-75 per cent. Thus, security requirements of mobile phones and consumer data protection become pressing concerns.