Virag Gupta's column: CCTV spying is a big threat to national security

The revelation of spying for Pakistan through CCTV in Delhi and other cities is worrisome. But the mastermind of this espionage is China. The government has imposed a ban on the sale of Chinese CCTV cameras from today, but there is no plan to remove the old cameras. Despite the ban on Chinese telecommunication equipment, the CCTV network is dominated by Chinese companies. This gives China an opportunity to spy on India's strategic areas. Israel attacked the Supreme Leader by spying on Iran's CCTV and mobile networks. According to the book published on Maniben Patel, Sardar Patel also wrote to Prime Minister Nehru warning that China is more dangerous for India's security than Pakistan. It is important to understand 4 aspects related to the dangers of Chinese CCTV cameras: 1. Crores of Chinese CCTVs have been installed in smart cities, government offices, medical stores, roads, highways, railway stations, trains, buses, schools, airports, ports, hospitals and defense areas due to government orders. After the government ban, cameras are now being assembled in India through imported Chinese equipment. CERT, the central agency created for cyber security after the Iran crisis, and the Ministry of Defense have issued several advisories for cyber security threats from telecom networks. But the control of the CCTV network spread across villages, towns and metros remains with Chinese intelligence agencies. 2. About 2.64 lakh cameras have been installed in Delhi through PWD in two phases since 2018 at a cost of Rs 652 crore. Apart from the police and NDMC, the network of cameras in societies and markets is increasing with the fund of councillors, MLAs and MPs. More than 32,000 of these cameras are not working. The interesting thing is that the PWD is appointing an external consultant company to conduct a security audit of these millions of cameras, which will give its report in about 6.5 years. During this time, the network of Chinese cameras will continue unabated. 3. It is the responsibility of the Central Government to make and enforce laws on subjects related to imports from abroad, security of telecom equipment and CCTV data. The STQC agency under the IT Ministry checks the quality and security of the source code, firmware and hardware associated with the cameras. But there is a crisis due to four ways of confusion. First, there is no proper arrangement for checking at the time of import in cargo and ports to enforce the ban on Chinese cameras and equipment. Second, there is no ban on Chinese devices and cameras being imported through Taiwan, Hong Kong and Dubai. Third, unaccredited cameras are being sold on a large scale in the market. Fourth, the public, the local body and the police are not aware of the rules and standards issued by BIS and STQC about cameras. 4. Despite several orders of the Supreme Court, CCTVs have not been installed in police stations and investigating agencies. The DPDP law is also not being implemented to protect the data of cameras installed in the name of security in homes and markets. The US, Australia and Europe have banned the import of Chinese cameras for security reasons. But the non-compliance of the Make in India order issued in 2017, the 2021 order regarding registration, the BIS's IS 16910 standard and the government orders issued in March 2024 for the purchase of cameras are increasing the all-round threat to national security. Chinese CCTV cameras are banned in the US, Australia and Europe. But in India, the control of the CCTV network in the name of public safety and prevention of crime in China has increased the threat to national security. (These are the author's own views)