<\/p>\n
The Union government\u2019s directions to smartphone makers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on mobile phones have ignited a political storm, with several Opposition leaders branding the move \u2018dystopian\u2019 and accusing the Centre of creating a tool for \u2018snooping\u2019 on citizens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Jyotiraditya Scindia<\/a>, Union Minister for Communications, however, clarified on Tuesday that installing the \u2018fraud reporting\u2019 app on all devices would be optional and can be deleted by users.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Scindia-led Ministry had on Monday said that the Department of Telecommunications<\/a>‘ (DoT) directions to mobile phone companies for the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app in handsets were aimed at safeguarding citizens from purchasing non-genuine handsets and enabling easy reporting of suspected misuse of telecom resources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Criticising the Centre, Congress Member of Parliament, <\/span>Priyanka Gandhi Vadra<\/span><\/a>, called the Centre\u2019s Sanchar Saathi app a tool for ‘snooping on citizens\u2019 mobile phones, describing it as a step towards turning India into a dictatorship. Earlier, her party colleague and fellow Parliamentarian, K.C. Venugopal, called the app a \u2018dystopian\u2019 tool.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cybersecurity experts said that while the Sanchar Saathi app was an excellent tool in addressing the fake handset issue, critical gaps remain.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe <\/span>Sanchar Saathi<\/span><\/a> and SIM-binding mandates are excellent at solving ‘mass volume’ fraud. They will effectively choke the supply chain of fake handsets and blacklisted IMEIs, making it harder for criminals to operate largely anonymous bot farms,\u201d Vijender Yadav, CEO and Co-founder of Accops, a firm that works in digital workplace solutions, told <\/span>LiveMint<\/span><\/i>, adding that the new regulatory mandates should be treated as a baseline, not the ceiling<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, the <\/span>critical gap<\/span><\/a> remains ‘authorised fraud’\u2014such as mule accounts or digital arrests\u2014where the device and SIM are genuine, but the user is either complicit or coerced, according to Yadav. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cA regulatory mandate can verify the hardware is legal, but it cannot verify if the intent of the session is malicious. That requires continuous evaluation of the session context, not just a static checklist,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The government, in its official communication, had stated earlier this week that the DoT directions for the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app on mobile handsets are aimed at safeguarding citizens from purchasing <\/span>non-genuine handsets<\/span><\/a>, enabling easy reporting of suspected misuse of telecom resources.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Amit Relan, CEO and Co-founder of mFilterIt, an ad fraud detection and prevention company focused on Ad verification and protection, said the recent push from Sanchar Saathi to <\/span>stricter SIM activation<\/span><\/a> rules and tighter controls on fake handsets is in the right direction. It raises the cost of low-end fraud: junk devices, loosely-KYCed SIMs, and basic identity spoofing become harder to scale, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But, Relan said, one needs to be realistic about what these measures can\u2019t fully solve.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t stop SIM-swap and social-engineering fraud where a legitimate SIM is taken over. They don\u2019t fully address account takeover via phishing, malware, remote access tools, or <\/span>OTP-stealing apps<\/span><\/a>. They don\u2019t protect against mule accounts where \u2018real\u2019 identities are misused for fraudulent flows,\u201d he told<\/span> LiveMint<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The DoT is undertaking the <\/span>Sanchar Saathi initiative<\/span><\/a> to curb the misuse of telecom resources for cyber frauds and ensure telecom cybersecurity, the statement said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThese mandates are a strong first layer. They clean up the ecosystem and remove obvious loopholes. But <\/span>sophisticated fraud<\/span><\/a> has already moved to multi-vector attacks that combine social engineering, malware, device emulation, and identity abuse. That\u2019s where the next layer of controls is urgently needed,\u201d said Relan.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n These mandates are a strong first layer. They clean up the ecosystem and remove obvious loopholes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to Nikhil Jhanji, senior product manager at IDfy, a technology solutions firm specialising in identity verification, telecom fraud has increased significantly because attackers utilise breached data, convincing <\/span>impersonation<\/span><\/a> tactics, and rapid-fire methods that outpace traditional controls.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhat can Sanchar Saathi app solve?<\/span><\/h2>\n
What can these measures not fully solve?<\/h2>\n