To boost up cyber security in the country, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has launched Cyber Swachhta Kendra. It’s a botnet cleaning and malware analysis centre which aims to create a secure cyber ecosystem in the country. Along with this, the team has launched free security tools for your desktop, laptops, and smartphones.
The Cyber Swachhta Kendra is set up in accordance with the objectives of the National Cyber Security Policy. The main function of this centres would be to create a secure cyberspace by detecting botnet infections in India. Further, this centre will notify the users, provide tools to enable cleaning and securing systems so as to prevent further infections. This centre operates in close coordination and collaboration with Internet Service Providers and Antivirus companies.
Cyber Swachhta Kendra is also offering a range of security tools to secure your desktop and mobile devices. These solutions span across mitigating threats through USB mass storage devices, data exfiltration, malicious, botnets, unknown applications, application behaviour, malware and web browser.
Cyber Swachhta Kendra Security Tools
- USB Pratirodh – a Windows desktop security solution the controls the usage of removable storage devices like flash drives, external hard drives, smartphones and other supported USB mass storage devices. Using this tool you can secure your USB device with password protection, encrypt the data in it and configurable read/write privilege. The tool will also automatically scan any plugged USB device for malware.
- AppSamvid – an application whitelisting software for Windows PC. This tool allows only pre-approved executable and java files to execute on your computer.
- M-Kavach – a comprehensive mobile device security solution for Android smartphones. It’s available for free download from Google Play store. The app offers protection from malware apps that steal personal data and credentials. It can restrict apps from misusing resources such as WiFi, Bluetooth, Camera and Mobile Data. The app also got an anti-theft feature to find lost or stolen mobile devices. In addition, the app can also prevent or filter spam SMSs, premium-rate SMS and block unwanted or unsolicited voice calls.
These tools are developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). All these tools are available for free download from Cyber Swachhta Kendra website or from C-DAC website.