GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

RAJYA SABHA

QUESTION NO. 691

ANSWERED ON 08.02.2019

Vulnerabilities in App used in Smartphones

691. SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state

 (a)  Whether Government is aware of the recent research which has exposed the vulnerabilities of "ES File Explorer", being widely used in smartphones; and

(b) The steps taken by Government to ban it and create awareness among users, given that it has more than 100 million downloads and can be misused to remotely hack the user's data?

ANSWER

(a) and (b): There were media reports about vulnerability in the application "ES File Explorer" used in smart phones. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has published a vulnerability note on this issue in January 2019 and alerted the users to upgrade their software so as to prevent any unauthorized access.

CERT-In issues regularly alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats and countermeasures. CERT-In has also published advisories and security tips on its website to enable users to secure their mobile/smart phones.

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