The successful testing of BharOS attracted massive online attention after Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Communications and Electronics & IT, and Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan unveiled the new mobile operating system. On Data Privacy Day, January 28, it is appropriate to discuss the security factors.
The operating system is developed by JandKops, which is incubated by the IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation. It is claimed that BharOS will prevent the “execution of malware” and “execution of any malicious application”.
Although it is called a Made in India OS, there are many people who would disagree. It is because the operating system is based on an AOSP (Android Open Source Project). It contains similar methodologies, functionalities and fundamentals used in Google Android.
Global safety factor
Security and data safety has been a global concern. A few years ago, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, also testified before the US Congress while facing questions about privacy, data collection and location tracking.
While experts say Android’s app ecosystem is a privacy and security disaster, a study that examined 82,501 pre-installed apps on 1,742 Android smartphones sold by 214 vendors found that users are woefully unaware of the significant security and privacy risks. of pre-installed applications.
Even Apple, which considers cybersecurity a top priority, sometimes finds itself in a vulnerable situation. Last year, for example, Apple users were advised to update their devices to protect against a few security flaws that could allow attackers to take full control.
One of the software bugs was said to have affected the kernel, the deepest layer of the operating system shared by all Apple devices, while the other affected WebKit, the technology that powers the Safari web browser.
Security researchers including NordVPN said Apple’s closed development operating system makes it more difficult for hackers to develop exploits, while Android raises the threat level because anyone can see the source code to develop exploits.
BharOS is not like iOS, but it is a bit like Android and based on AOSP. So the question is, how secure would this operating system be?
‘Safety blanket’
Sandip Kumar Panda, co-founder and CEO of InstaSafe, told News18, “BharOS acts as a security blanket for devices. The framework is designed in such a way that it prevents the execution of a malicious app and verifies each app on the devices before going live on the BharOS platform.”
There are no apps without vulnerabilities, he said. “As app development progresses, vulnerabilities are introduced in the form of insecure coding practices or third-party software vulnerabilities integrated with the platform. As several Android vulnerabilities have been discovered over the years, all those bugs would have been fixed by now and there would have been updates to AOSP which will be much more mature now,” he added.
Vineet Kumar, founder and president of CyberPeace Foundation, believes that “using AOSP as the foundation for BharOS is a positive step” as it is a robust platform.
But he says it’s important to note that no operating system can be completely immune to all forms of cyber threats. “The key to staying safe online is to stay vigilant, use security software, keep your software up to date and be mindful of the apps you install and the websites you visit,” he said,
In addition, the expert stated that it is possible to make an operating system more secure by implementing a variety of security features and technologies, such as sandboxing, whitelisting, and application control, as well as rigorous testing and code review processes.
Kumar said, “It would be important for an independent, reputable security company to evaluate BharOS and test its security features before it can be said with certainty that it is more secure than other operating systems.”
It’s hard to say whether BharOS will be free of cybersecurity vulnerabilities without more information on the specific features and security measures implemented, he noted, adding that this operating system must go through a rigorous testing and certification process.
“It will be important to see how it compares to established security standards and how well it resists real-world attacks,” the expert said.
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