Modi govt snooping on Indians using tools from Israeli firms: Report

The Modi government has already weathered a scandal when the Pegasus spyware—a hacking tool—was found on journalists' and activists' phones in 2019 and 2021. India has not officially acknowledged that it deployed the spyware from Israeli group NSO.

India intercepts personal data through a 'backdoor' which allows the Narendra Modi government to spy on the nation's 1.4 billion citizens, Financial Times reported.

In India, each day personal data flows through subsea cable landing stations which have come up all around the nation's coast and connects the country to the rest of the world.

In each of these, there is a piece of hardware installed which can search, copy, and pump the data to the country's security agencies when needed, taking help from artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics.

This is part of a growing surveillance system in the world's largest democracy.

With India's communications market growing at a fast pace, several companies are vying to sell surveillance tools. Among these are homegrown entities like Vehere but also lesser-known companies like Israel's Cognyte and Septier.

These links have raised some alarms since Septier was among dozens of companies that the Atlantic Council deemed to be a "potentially irresponsible proliferator" in 2021. The US-based think tank had surmised these companies are "willing to accept or ignore the risk that their products will bolster the capabilities of client governments that might wish to threaten US/NATO national security or harm marginalised populations".

Septier, however, had junked this premise as "finger-pointing" and "pure speculation", as per the report.

FT spoke to people who have worked on submarine cable projects around the world, and the unusual occurrence they brought to light is how India openly requires telecom companies to install surveillance tech at subsea cable landing stations as well as data centres. These are approved by the Government of India as a condition of operation, the publication said.

New Delhi has clarified that this surveillance is strictly controlled and all monitoring requests are approved by the Home Secretary.

Critics, however, hold the view that these protections are equivalent to "rubber stamping" and don't do much to prevent abuse, FT reported.

Notably, the rules for lawful interception existed before Modi came to power, but his government has scaled it up, as per the publication.

The Modi government has already weathered a scandal when Pegasus—a hacking tool—was found on journalists' and activists' phones in 2019 and 2021. India has not officially acknowledged that it deployed the spyware from Israeli group NSO.

Now, with the new data protection law, authorities also have broader powers to bypass privacy safeguards, FT reported critics saying, who state that it legislates 'carte blanche' for government surveillance.

Rules of surveillance

Indian security and law enforcement agencies have to access data via monitoring equipment but it does not require them to obtain a court order.

Pranesh Prakash of Bengaluru-based Centre for Internet and Society told FT that the need to request permission from the Home Secretary is little more than a "procedural safeguard" and it "doesn't make clear" the distinction between targeted and mass surveillance.

India's growing telecom markets has proved lucrative for vendors selling lawful interception tools. Vehere, founded in 2006, with joint headquarters in India and US, advertises "state of the art monitoring solution" to help telecom companies "fulfil their legal obligation to intercept calls and data while maintaining maximum privacy protection".

An industry insider told the publication that surveillance products by Israeli companies have proved to be more popular than international rivals with Israelis being more willing to do business as compared to American and European counterparts.

Israel-based Septier, founded in 2000, has sold its interception technology to telecom groups like Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, as per the company press release quoted by FT.

A person familiar with the matter told FT that AI is used to search for and copy the data after the technology helps extract "voice, messaging services, web surfing and email correspondence" of targets.

Septier said, "Our company’s sales to foreign entities are regulated by the Israeli authorities and all of our business is conducted in complete compliance with applicable law," as per FT, adding that the products it sells and information about its customers are confidential.

As for Cognyte, in 2021, Meta alleged that the company was among several whose services were used to track journalists and politicians in many countries, though India was not named.

While the Indian government, Cognyte, Vehere, and Reliance Jio did not respond to FT, Vodafone Idea said it "remains strictly compliant to licensing conditions mandated by [the] government of India and the prevailing regulations in force at any given time".