IIT Madras-incubated firm develops Atmanirbhar mobile operating system for security, privacy

NEW DELHI: An Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) incubated firm has developed a mobile operating system that claims to benefit India's 100 crore mobile phone users. The 'BharOS Service' provides a secure environment for users and will have a major contribution towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat.’

The service is currently provided to organisations that have stringent privacy and security requirements whose users handle sensitive information that requires confidential communications on restricted apps on mobiles. Such users require access to private cloud services through private 5G networks.

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The IITM-incubated firm product, BharOS provides access to apps from organisation-specific private app store services (PASS). A PASS gives the user access to a curated list of apps that have been vetted and met certain security and privacy standards of organisations. This means users can be confident that the apps they are installing are safe to use and have been checked for any potential security vulnerabilities or privacy concerns.

The BharOS was developed by JandK Operations Private Limited (JandKops), which has been incubated by IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation. The Foundation is funded by the department of science and technology (DST), government of India, under its national mission on interdisciplinary cyber-physical systems (NMICPS).

In addition to this, the 'BharOS' has no default apps (NDA), which means that users will not forced to use apps that they may not be familiar with or that they may not trust. This approach allows users to have more control over the permissions that apps have on their device, giving them an option to choose apps that they trust to access certain features or data on their device.

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Addressing a press conference today, to announce this Indian Mmobile operating system, IITM Madras, director, V Kamakoti, said: “BharOS Service is a Mobile Operating System built on a foundation of trust, with a focus on providing users more freedom, control, and flexibility to choose and use only the apps that fit their needs. This innovative system promises to revolutionise the way users think about security and privacy on their mobile devices.”

He further added that, “IIT Madras looks forward to working closely with many more private industry, Government agencies, Strategic agencies and Telecom Service Providers to increase the usage and adoption of BharOS in our Country.”

Speaking on th occasion, JandK Operations Pvt Ltd, director, Karthik Ayyar, said: “In addition, BharOS offers ‘Native Over The Air’ (NOTA) updates that can help to keep the devices secure. NOTA updates are automatically downloaded and installed on the device, without the need for the user to manually initiate the process. This ensures that the device is always running the latest version of the operating system, which includes the latest security patches and bug fixes. With NDA, PASS, and NOTA, BharOS ensures that Indian mobile phones are trustworthy.”