26/11: Can we expect govt action against VoIP?

NEW DELHI, INDIA: With a big catch of Mumbai 26/11 terror carnage key terrorist Abu Jindal, the debate over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) security snarls has resurfaced.

The confessions by Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) operation handler Jindal, who was arrested at Delhi IGI Airport on his arrival from Saudi Arabia, revealed that they used VoIP service for communication.

The key handler of Mumbai 26/11 told investigators that they set up a control room in Karachi and made a test call through VoIP service to Mumbai on November 25, 2008. During the entire terror rampage that killed 166 people, the operatives were in contact with the control room.

This revelation, not only sends jitters to the enforcement agencies but has also given food for thought for both the government and the industry. The arrival of several unregistered players in this arena is enough to give sleepless nights to security agencies.

Since the call origin and caller destination cannot be ascertained while using such telephony services, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) recently asked the department of telecommunication (DoT) for intervention. The ministry has also asked service providers to come up with fool-proof solution to overcome painpoints.

With apprehensions from the security agencies, the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012 also advocates service providers to pull out a formula to extract VoIP origin information that could bear interception aptitude in real-time basis.

The national security concerns arising out of unregistered VoIP providers at foreign locations have surfaced time and again. The concerns were raised by law enforcement agencies with DoT on earlier occasions too. But will the government device a mandate this time around?