Shillong, March 6: A Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Arunachal Pradesh has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to ban Chinese manufactured Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) at government offices in India.
In the letter, MLA of Arunachal Pradesh’s Pasighat (west) constituency, Ninong Ering has said that the CCTVs made in China could be used as ‘eyes and ears of Beijing’ and can be damaging for the country.
In a letter posted on Twitter, Ninong Ering has stated, “Chinese hackers have regularly attacked Indian institutions, including a thwarted attempt to jeopardize the seven major electricity load dispatch centers near the LAC to Ladakh. In connection with this, a US-based cyber security firm has revealed that Internet Protocol (IP) cameras, often used in CCTV networks and internet-operated Digital Video Recording (DVR) devices were compromised in the operation by Chinese hackers”.
He further stated that many countries including the USA, UK and Australia have identified the dangers associated with using Chinese infrastructure in CCTV systems and have explicitly put public statements and banned their use in areas sensitive to their national security.
“In the present state of affairs, when China has repeatedly shown hostility not just on our LACs but also by attacking India’s IT infrastructure, it is evident that India must take decisive action to curb this looming Chinese threat. Hence, I will request that you immediately direct a ban on the installation of Chinese CCTV systems in Indian government offices” the MLA wrote.
