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Sandes Application

Posted on February 16, 2021 by admin1  622

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The National Informatics Centre, a branch under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, launched an instant messaging platform called Sandes on the lines of WhatsApp.

  • Like WhatsApp, it can be used for all kinds of communications by anyone with a mobile number or email id.

Why Needed?

  • The government felt the need to build a platform to ensure secure communication between its employees as they worked from home during the Covid-19 induced lockdown
  • After security scares, the Ministry of Home Affairs had in April issued an advisory to all government employees to avoid using platforms like Zoom for official communication.
    • This was after the Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) had also posted an advisory against Zoom over safety and privacy concerns.
  • Sandes has come at a time when WhatsApp users are moving to other instant messaging platforms after the Facebook-owned app introduced its new privacy policy, which will share more of their data with its parent company.

About the Sandes App

  • The NIC released the first version of the app in August 2020 and the app could be used by both central and state government officials “for intra and inter-organisational communication”.
  • The launch of the app is also a part of the government strategy to push for use of India-made software to build an ecosystem of indigenously developed products.
  • Open initially only to government officers, it has now been released for the common public as well.
  • It is famously known as the Government Instant Messaging System.

Features

  • Sandes app can be run on both iOS and Android platforms.
  • It also supports voice and data messages, similar to other modern-day chatting apps.
  • It also offers features such as group making, broadcast message, message forwarding and emojis.
  • It allows a user to mark a message as confidential, which will allow the recipient to be made aware the message should not be shared with others.
    • The confidential tag, however, does not change the way the message is sent from one user to another.

Limitation

  • The app does not allow the user to change their email id or registered phone number.
    • The user will have to re-register as a new user in case they wish to change their registered email id or phone number on the app.

Cybercrime Safeguards in India

  • Information Technology Act 2000
    • In India, the Information Technology Act deals with cybercrime and comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. There are only six sections in the law that deal with cybercrime.
  • National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) operates as the nodal agency in cybercrime-related cases.
  • A few recent initiatives for cybersecurity are Cyber Surakshit Bharat Initiative, National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre (NCCC), Cyber Swachhta Kendra etc.
  • CERT-In (the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team)-It is a government-mandated information technology security organization.
    • The purpose of CERT-In is to respond to computer security incidents, report on vulnerabilities and promote effective IT security practices throughout the country.

Source :IE

 
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