The Government of India has set in motion an ambitious plan to develop its own software and end the reliance on foreign operating systems and anti-virus products after growing worries over the spurt in cyber attacks on Indian establishments.
The overwhelming belief among government bosses is that an indigenous low-grade, but clean, software could nix the chances of foreign states infiltrating the computers of key Indian establishments and compromising the country’s security.
“A sanitized, lower level operating system and application software may be preferred to the advanced versions, which necessarily require access to internet for upgrades,” the official said.
The government’s move shines a light on a major chink in India’s technological armour. Despite home to nearly 10% of the world’s software developer base, the country still lacks an operating system or security product of repute. India is now making a late scramble to join nations that own both hardware and software technology critical for the safe upkeep of their defence, space and nuclear programmes.
The move to constitute the taskforce comes after the defence ministry raised concerns over use of anti-virus products of foreign vendors in the wake of a series of attacks on its systems by China-based hackers.
Read More : IndiaTimes.
