Govt asks telcos to install local server for security audit

Order also includes a complete audit trail to be maintained for six months of the network operated in India

New Delhi, Mar 22 (PTI) Government has told all telecom service operators, including those offering international calls, to install a remote access server within the country for security audit, Parliament was informed today.

The order is based on recommendations of a committee formed by the Department of Telecom (DoT) for monitoring of on-line mirror image and audit trail of Remote Access (RA) logs, Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

"...A direction has been issued vide letter dated January 31, 2013 to all the telecom service providers including ILD service providers to install a local RA storage server in the country and store all RA command logs in the said server for the purpose of audit by security agencies," he added.

DoT's order for lawful interception and monitoring of all calls including those provided by International Long Distance (ILD) operators also includes a complete audit trail to be maintained for six months of the network operated in India.

After six months, the remote access logs should be stored in external storage memories for an additional period of one year.

The government has been insisting that telecom operators provide access to all communication send through their network, mainly for the national security reason.