If the Indian government has its way, soon you will be getting literature on cyber-security on every purchase of desktop PC, mobile phone or even modem, USB stick. Well, the plan is to make the insertion of a brochure on cyber-security with every hardware sold in the country a mandatory process.
The whole idea has not gone down well with hardware firms, as they are concerned about the logistic challenges, which are already pretty inefficient. The firms will have to offer these pre-packaged with the goods, called ‘Cyber Security Awareness Brochures’, according to an Economic Times report.
Industry executives responsible for implementing the plan have voiced their concerns about the subject, which the government may not take lightly. Even then, they are negotiating with the authorities to reach a consensus on the proposal that communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal wanted to roll out at the beginning of the year.
TV Mohandas Pai, an IT industry veteran and chairman of the Karnataka government’s panel on information and communication technology has reportedly slammed the idea as “silly”. If the government wants citizens to listen to it on cyber security, it should first have credibility itself, he said. “Government websites continue to get attacked as a matter of regular routine. Authorities should first try to secure those before intruding into citizens’ life by proffering pamphlets,” he added.
The recent spate of government websites being hacked have created a high degree of concern among authorities about the need to be prepared against emerging threats on the cyber horizon.
The proposal is said to have come from a joint working group set up by the National Security Council Secretariat, which is eyeing more public-private partnership to strengthen India’s cyber security ecosystem.
The biggest problem for hardware companies will be the logistical hassle while dealing with imported products. Inserting a brochure into a product such as mobile phone, they are convinced, is a needless complication that could disrupt normal supply chain logistics. The whole point of having a brochure may make practical sense but from a logical point of view, the idea has not been welcomed by hardware firms and this will further be voiced by various online shopping platforms, who majorly rely on packaging imported goods and delivering to consumers.
