‘Telcos must conduct special security audit of networks’- The Hindu -18-09-2020

The Department of Telecom has directed all telecom service providers in the country to carry out a special audit of their networks by an external agency to ensure security.

Details:

The modern age telecom equipment and networks used for provisioning of telecom services are prone to spyware/malwares, including the backdoor and trapdoor vulnerabilities.

The move comes at a time when there are renewed discussions in the country over allowing the use of telecom equipment supplied by China-headquartered firms due to security and surveillance concerns.

As per license conditions, the licensees had to get their networks audited for security once in a financial year by a network audit and certification agency.

Further, the DoT, in 2019, directed the telecom service providers to carry out Special Security Audit of their network.

Security Audit:

A security audit is a systematic evaluation of the security of a company’s information system by measuring how well it conforms to a set of established criteria.