The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has made complete preparations to deal with cyber fraud. With the same objective, the Department of Telecommunications has notified new cyber security rules for the tech industry, including telecom companies like Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi (Vodafone Idea). These new rules have been made to curb the rapidly increasing incidents of cyber fraud. However, tech industry experts believe that these new rules will also bring non-telecom companies under the ambit of DoT, which may threaten the privacy of users.
According to reports, DoT officials say that these rules are aimed at bringing together the DoT’s licensed telecom operators as well as other entities like banks, financial institutions and insurance companies. He further said that DoT aims to regulate only telecom companies and their licensed entities.
According to the new rules, the Department of Telecommunications will develop a Mobile Number Verification platform (MNV) that will verify whether a number belongs to the correct user as per KYC. Telecom companies will have access to KYC details of users, which they can use to verify the same. This platform will be launched in the coming months.
Banks, financial institutions and insurance companies can use this platform when opening new accounts for customers, which can help prevent widespread cyber fraud. Currently, there is no legal mechanism to verify whether the mobile number linked to a bank account belongs to the account holder or not.
To bridge this gap, the Department of Telecommunications has launched this mobile number verification platform, which will allow banks and financial technology companies to verify their phone numbers directly with telecom operators. This platform can be used to prevent cyber crime. However, other businesses and e-commerce companies, such as food delivery platforms, will not be regulated under this rule.
