India to Arm Its Air Warriors With Hack-Proof Smartphones to Thwart Cyberattack

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The Indian Air Force (IAF) has built an exclusive mobile phone network and intends to distribute hack-proof smartphones to its 175,000 personnel.

The smartphones are equipped with advanced features including video-calling but can only connect to the exclusive internal network. The IAF also plans to develop utility applications like regular smart phones have.

According to sources from the Air Force, the armed forces communications devices have always been a lucrative target for hackers, therefore, the smartphone has been devised in such a way that it would not be possible for any entity or device to eavesdrop communications or steal data exchanged on the network. There are plans to introduce these smartphones to other arms of defense forces in due course of time.

The exclusive network would provide round the clock end to end connectivity among IAF personnel from sites like the world’s highest battlefield, Siachen Glacier and Indian territory outside the mainland, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The smartphones will not connect with other mobile networks and can be operated only within the network area inside and near the air bases.

Meanwhile, it has been decided that the official mobile numbers provided to the personnel will be based on their service numbers, helping the IAF to use the smartphones to track the movement and activities of its personnel.

Of late, there has been an alarming rise in the number of cyber-attacks on India’s sensitive establishments, mainly by hackers from Pakistan and China.