THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a significant development, the Kerala police have decided to cease using their personnel at the Cyberdome for in-house app development and instead, outsource the task to private firms.The motive behind this choice is to break free from the practice of confining tech-savvy officers to coding roles and transform Cyberdome into centres of excellence exclusively dedicated to cyber security and the investigation of cyber crimes.
This decision, implemented earlier this month, will result in channeling Cyberdome’s resources solely towards enhancing cyber security and delving into serious cyber crimes with widespread implications. Cyberdome is a technological research and development initiative by the state police in collaboration with private entities, aiming to establish a secure cyber ecosystem. Beyond fortifying the cyber realm, Cyberdome is designed to aid in combating intricate cyber crimes and providing technical support for cyber investigations. Recent developments have seen Cyberdome investing excessive efforts in creating apps for the police department, which, according to senior officials, is “purely an industrial job that even startups can undertake.”
“We were misallocating our resources on trivial tasks like app development. Numerous firms specialise in app development. However, Cyberdome’s purpose is distinct, and to fulfill that, we’ve decided to terminate the app creation practice within the force. This task will now be outsourced to private firms. We don’t wish to confine our skilled workforce to coding and app development. They are capable of engaging in more advanced and substantial responsibilities,” affirmed an officer.
Currently, the police have five apps in operation, most of which were developed by Cyberdome. In light of this new decision, specific research domains have been assigned to the Cyberdome units in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kozhikode. “Previously, the tasks of these three units occasionally overlapped. Now, we have streamlined and assigned distinct responsibilities to each unit. Our objective is for these units to cater to the cyber investigative needs of the police force,” added the officer.
While the primary intention behind this decision is to augment the efficiency of the department, concerns have been raised regarding data privacy and app security. However, the officer dismissed such apprehensions, stating, “We will obtain the source codes from the app developers and subject the security to certification tests. Any vulnerabilities will be addressed, and the apps will be uploaded to the State Data Centre. The Computer Emergency Response Team Kerala (CERT-K) will oversee the entire process from that point onward,” the officer reassured.
How it works?