TSOC identified over 3mn vulnerabilities in telecom infra since Jan 1, 2023: Minister in LS

The TSOC predicts and identifies cyberattacks on national telecommunications infrastructure, and identifies the machines which are initiating such attacks or under attack.

The Telecom Security Operations Centre (TSOC), under the Department of Telecommunications, has identified more than 3.15 million vulnerabilities across Indian telecommunications since 1 January 2023, and shared the information with relevant stakeholders for remedial actions, Union minister of state for communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani informed the Lok Sabha in a written response on Wednesday.

Union minister of state for communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani in the Parliament. (PTI Photo)

“To safeguard the telecommunication network from potential cyber threats, the Department of Telecom has set up a Telecom Security Operations Centre (TSOC) for detecting potential cyber threats to Indian telecommunication network and providing alerts to relevant stakeholders for necessary actions,” Sekhar said in response to a question by YSRCP MP PV Midhun Reddy.

According to the Press Information Bureau, the TSOC predicts and identifies cyberattacks on national telecommunications infrastructure, and identifies the machines which are initiating such attacks or under attack. It is also used to identify “the presence of blocked applications, malicious communications provided by some applications, etc.” and is the main source for providing inputs to Telecom Computer Security Incident Response Team (Telecom-CSIRT).

According to the 36th report of the parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology, presented in March 2022, the DoT said that the TSOC can analyse internet traffic of telecom service providers and internet service providers for vulnerabilities, threats and cyber intrusions in “near real time” and regular inputs are generated and disseminated to TSPs and ISPs.