Mobile interception: Security agencies, cos meet on Apr 1

Top officials from security agencies and personnel from IT and telecom companies will discuss encryption related issues on April 1.

"We have been trying hard to put up a case to protect interests of the industry on data encryption related issues," said Assocham spokesperson.

The spokesperson mentioned that officials from Ministry of Home Affairs and security agencies namely National Investigation Agency, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Technical Research Organisation, state police officials and Cert-In will be present at the meet.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, Chinese telecom equipment company Huawei, Intel, Microsoft, Israel-based Altal Security among others will be participate in the event, which is organised by Assocham.

Home Ministry has asked all telecom service providers to provide the security agencies access to their services.

However, the ministry found that companies were using high encryption on e-mail and messaging service, which is difficult for security agencies to intercept.

Assocham earlier said that the enterprises are willing to cooperate in any investigation where interception is lawful and a clear case has been established of possible involvement in anti-national activity.

Further, mobile phone interception of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia has raised privacy concerns among corporates.

"Our attempt is to ensure that any government access to intercept electronic mails and cyber data for security reasons is lawful and the scope for misuse is removed," Assocham spokesperson said.