Develop social media for Army: Hooda

CHANDIGARH: India should develop its own social media for the armed forces instead of depending on global companies, said Lt General Deependra Singh Hooda, former general officer commanding in chief (GOC-in-C), Northern Command, and member, advisory board, Cyber Security Research Centre, on Monday. Hooda was in PEC, Chandigarh, for the roundtable workshop on the draft of Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018.
While talking to TOI, he said all sensitive organisations, including armed forces and intelligence, are depending on hardware and software of countries like China and the US. "Time has come when we manufacture our own software and hardware," he said.
He said the Central government has to make sure that India's sensitive data is stored in the country. "How sensitive data is handled and processed needs to be monitored thoroughly," he said, stressing the priority should be that the country's sensitive data should not cross the border.
Hooda said, "We are clueless where companies are storing our data as they are not covered under Indian law. The need of the hour is that social media companies storing our data should be covered under Indian law, so that we can act against them in case of a breach of trust." Referring to Facebook, he said they have a policy that if anybody has an objection on any legal issues, he has to go to California to get it resolved.Stressing upon the safety of critical data, Hooda said there should be a system where intelligence and military personnel data be considered critical and sensitive and saved properly, which, he said, is not happening in the existing system. Sharing his own experiences, he said when he was with the strategic forces command, his team used to avoid carrying mobile phones while they were visiting sensitive missile bases as they have to be alert not to share their locations. This is how the armed forces have to work. On the usage of social media by the armed forces he said it is hard to keep a check on everyone, but it has to be covered in the rules so that directions can be given to them.