Indian monitoring systems creating ‘backdoor’ for surveillance firms: FT report

India’s “so-called lawful interception monitoring systems” are helping create a “backdoor” that allows “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to snoop” on citizens as “part of the country’s growing surveillance regime”, according to a Financial Times report. 

The report states that the government mandates that telecommunication networks install hardware “to search, copy and pump that data to Indian security agencies on demand, with the help of AI and data analytics” – a situation allegedly conducive for firms that sell private surveillance tools.

The report identifies these companies as Vehere, Cognyte and Septier.

Septier was deemed as a “potentially irresponsible proliferator” by US think-tank Atlantic Council in 2021, and in the same year, Meta had accused Cognyte of aiding the surveillance of journalists and politicians in several countries.

Septier, in its promotional video, claimed to extract data in “voice, messaging services, web surfing and email correspondence”. It reportedly also sold its lawful interception technology to companies such as Jio, Vodafone Idea, and Singtel, the report claimed.

Financial Times reported that the Indian government, Cognyte, Vehere, Reliance Jio and Singtel did not respond to its requests for comment. It said that Vodafone Idea said it “remains strictly compliant to licensing conditions mandated by [the] government of India and the prevailing regulations in force at any given time”.

An investigative report by 17 media houses had earlier flagged the Indian government’s alleged use of the Pegasus tool to spy on journalists, politicians and activists. 

Newslaundry had reported that India’s domestic spy agency Intelligence Bureau had bought hardware from Israeli spyware firm NSO that matched the specifications of Pegasus; and 2017 trade data also hinted at a hardware shipment to the IB.