Smartphone makers such as Apple are against a proposal made by the Indian Government that would have them give the source code to undergo a security review. The proposition is one of 83 standards on security that are being considered as legal requirements in the country.
This is in line with the efforts made by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, to improve user data security amid the rise of data breaches and online fraud. Other than routine measurements like informing the government about big updates and storage of security audit logs, manufacturers would be forced to give source codes to labs designated by the government for security checks and to find vulnerabilities in code with the standards.
Manufacturers like Xiaomi, MAIT industry group, Samsung, Google, and Apple have objected to this proposal due to proprietary details being revealed. Apple resisted a directive from the Indian Government back in December that would have required iPhones sold in India to have a security app that’s run by the state pre-installed.
