[silk] [liberationtech] Pakistan's Firewall: Need your help and support

[Srini RamaKrishnan]

On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 5:23 PM, Raj Shekhar <spamme at rajshekhar.net> wrote:
>
> Did not know India had a firewall in place.  I know that the ISPs are
> under the thumb of the government and will dance to whatever tune is
> played.  Is that what you are referring to?


India is intending to gett its national version of Echelon

http://goo.gl/5EFlF (links to)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/internet/Govt-to-set-up-a-national-internet-scanning-agency/articleshow/12066010.cms


Feb 28, 2012, 09.51AM IST
Govt to set up a national internet scanning agency

NEW DELHI/BARCELONA: The Government is setting up an internet scanning
agency which will monitor all web traffic passing through Internet
service providers in the country. The scanning agency to be called
'National Cyber Coordination Centre, will issue 'actionable alerts' to
government departments in cases of perceived security threats.

The move comes as the government has been unable to prevent many
terror attacks, in the absence of a credible internet scanning system.

According to the minutes of a meeting held on February 3, 2012, at the
National Security Council Secretariat under the Prime Minister's
Office, a National Cyber Coordination Centre will 'also scan cyber
traffic flowing at the point of entry and exit at India's
international internet gateways.'

The web scanning centre will provide 'actionable alerts for proactive
actions' to be taken by government departments.

All government departments will now talk to the Internet Service
Providers such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communication, BSNL, MTNL
and Tata Communications through NCCC for real time information and
data on threats.

According to sources, government is planning to invest about Rs 800
crore in the setup. "The coordination centre will be the first layer
of threat monitoring in the country. It would always be in virtual
contact with the control room of the Internet Service Providers," the
Deputy National Security Advisor Vijay Latha Reddy said, as per
minutes of the meeting.

The government is collating manpower requirements for the centre currently.

"At present, the monitoring of web traffic is done by Centre for
Development of Telematics ( C-DoT) which has installed its equipments
at the premises of ISPs and gateways," informs Rajesh Chharia,
President at association of Internet service providers.

All tweets, messages, emails, status updates and even email drafts
will now pass through the new scanning centre. The centre may probe
further into any email or social media account if it finds a perceived
threat.

India's National Security Council Secretariat (NCSC) has asked various
departments to assess their needs for officials, who will coordinate
with the scanning agency. The National Security Council handles the
political, nuclear, energy and strategic security concerns of the
country.

As per the minutes seen by ET, Defence Research and Development
Organization (DRDO) officials were of the view that there is no
perfect system. "There is always an element of risk in using ICT.
Efforts should be focused on reducing cyber security vulnerabilities,"
DRDO said.

The meeting was attended by officials from DRDO, intelligence bureau,
Indian Army, Ministry of Home Affairs, Indian Navy, Department of IT,
National Technical Research Organization (NTRO), Telecom Department
and Computer Emergency Response Teams of various departments.

Internet scanning policy is followed in many countries. In US, the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) scans the internet for keywords
such as 'virus', 'bomb', or 'collapse.' The DHS sets up fake social
media and Twitter accounts to scan the internet. Iran uses web
surveillance to suppress dissidents.

----- End forwarded message -----
-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE