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News: ISRO has signed an agreement with Chinese smart device manufacturer Oppo to work towards providing NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) messaging services in mobile phones.
This has wide implications for the national and cybersecurity in the country as there will be huge exchange of data and technical information through this collaboration.
What are the features of this messaging service?
It will broadcast safety alerts in areas with poor or no communication, particularly in oceans and during times of disaster.
It will have military applications and is the fastest method of informing the citizenry in cases of nuclear, biological or chemical threats.
The news reports also mention exchange of technical information of the NavIC messaging service so as to build various application-specific solutions.
What are the issues with this development?
Weaponisation of data: Smartphones are the primary sources of population control in the information age and are a mine for critical personal data. This data from here can be weaponised in multiple ways.
As per China’s National Intelligence and Data Security Law every individual, organisation and institution have to assist the Chinese Communist Party in all national security interests. Under its ‘comprehensive concept of national security’ virtually any issue – military, political, economic, social, technological, cultural etc, comes under intelligence work. This Law also has extraterritorial jurisdiction. Therefore, in event of any future contestation between the two armies, this kind of data breach can severely harm our National security.
It will help the Chinese to further embed themselves in the Indian market using the trusted brand image of the Indian space agency. This can be used to enhance Chinese surveillance of the Indian population.
Another concern is the ability of Chinese Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to surveil, block or edit the content of NavIC messaging application. The application is on layer 7 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model and vulnerable to both the handset OEM and the OS provider.
About NavIC
USA had denied India the access to GPS data during the Kargil war which would have provided it with vital information. To bridge this gap ISRO developed NavIC.
Read more about NavIC, here and here
What is the way forward?
There is need to support genuine Indian product companies based in India, especially in the strategic domains.
Source: This post is based on the article “Sleepwalking into Chinese control of critical tech” published in Times of India on 22nd Dec 2021.
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