DoT, global gear makers at odds over source code order

NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) appears to be at odds with multinational equipment makers over the need to declare source codes as part of the government’s deeper focus on security of networks.

“The telecom department is working on a provision that may include providing source code of every network equipment deployed as a part of security assurance testing,” an industry executive told ET, and added vendors were opposed to any such move.

The department’s security division, according to people aware of the matter, has asked its Bengaluru security centre to seek source codes from equipment vendors so that it could come under detailed scrutiny within the accredited test labs.