Messaging platforms will be held responsible if new features create room for fraud: Govt
NEW DELHI : With India’s public services, examinations and welfare systems moving deeper into digital platforms, the Centre has said cybersecurity is now among its “highest priority” areas, even as officials cautioned that no digital system can be declared permanently secure.
The word of caution comes against the backdrop of recent cyber concerns around public digital assets and govt’s temporary action against Telegram during the NEET-UG reexamination, when the platform was restricted and its message-editing feature was disabled for a limited period to prevent fraudsters from fabricating paper leak claims.
“When you have so much digital infrastructure , data gets centralised and the risk of disruption through cyberattacks also rises,” a govt official said. Cybersecurity had to be built into systems from the design stage and could not be treated as an afterthought, the official added.
Govt also indicated that messaging platforms would be held responsible if new features created room for fraud. Asked about security concerns over WhatsApp’s proposed username feature, an official said, “It is WhatsApp that has to worry, not us.”
The word of caution comes against the backdrop of recent cyber concerns around public digital assets and govt’s temporary action against Telegram during the NEET-UG reexamination, when the platform was restricted and its message-editing feature was disabled for a limited period to prevent fraudsters from fabricating paper leak claims.
Govt also indicated that messaging platforms would be held responsible if new features created room for fraud. Asked about security concerns over WhatsApp’s proposed username feature, an official said, “It is WhatsApp that has to worry, not us.”
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