Indigenous technology must fend off cyber attacks: Hackers

IT security specialists also known as ethical hackers pitched for indigenous development of software and hardware for securing the country against international espionage.

"There are countries which are subsidising their domestic companies to sell products in foreign nations at prices lower than cost of production just for the sake of spying," IT security expert Jiten Jain claimed at a Hackers Conference.

He said the practice is common among unfriendly nations but some countries do it against friendly nations as well. "Only using complete indigenously developed technology can save country from espionage," Jain said.

Jain talked about cases of malware being installed in telecom networks and smartphones.

"Around 85 to 90 percent smartphones can be infected in the world. There have been instances when some components have been found in phones and telecom equipment which auto-update themselves without user's knowledge," he said.

The IT expert mentioned that nature of bugging and type of malwares are also changing with some companies making malware that can destroy themselves and some only bug hardware for one-time use only mainly at critical stage.

"There is new method being adopted by companies and countries. They initially supply clean hardware. Later install malwares required to spy by auto-updating products," he said. The conference was attended by government officials from Central Bureau of Investigations, Delhi Police, Defence, National Informatics Center and other security agencies.

CBI officials and Delhi Police (DP) officers urged ethical hackers to collaborate with government in spreading awareness and detecting vulnerabilities in the networks. Delhi's Additional Commissioner of Police SC Mishra said police officers have to spend more time acquiring skills to investigate cyber crimes.

"Investigation in cyber crime remains challenging as the same officer who has acquired a particular set of skill cannot stay on the same position for long as per administrative policies. Hence, we have to depend on experts for solving a case," Mishra said.

Ethical hackers showed live demonstration on vulnerabilities in smartphones and famous internet browsers at the conference.