Indian Defense Ministry to install ‘Maya OS’ for cybersecurity

If hackers choose to access the computer networks of India's Ministry of Defence, they have to face Maya before doing so. According to an anonymous source, the government has opted to forgo Microsoft, in order to settle for a regional operating system called Maya operating system. By 15 August, the Maya OS will be set up on a few ministry computers for trial purposes, the source claimed.  

Indian Navy decides to put Maya OS in systems 

The information from the source further revealed that the ministry is certain about the new operating system, which is built on an open-source foundation, and is claimed to improve cyber security. The government intends to install Maya on all systems connected to it in the future. 

In 2021, the Indian Defense Ministry first conceived the idea of creating Maya OS, which was said to be more secure and reliable than Microsoft's existing operating system. The government created this operating system which holds the feature of endpoint detection and protection as one of its additional security measures, the insider said. 

While the Army and the Air Force are still evaluating Maya OS, the Indian Navy has decided to put it in its systems. The Army started taking efforts in April 2023 to establish specialised internet networks in all six combat commands in light of the effectiveness of cyber warfare and the potential for cyberattacks, espionage, and data theft. 

Indian Army holds strong opinion for cybersecurity amid attacks 

The Defence Cyber Agency held cybersecurity drills in May 2023, with participation from several national security branches. Its main objective was to assess how well the firewalls protecting the country's critical infrastructure were working. 

As soon as it was discovered that Chinese hackers were involved, action was taken to stop the attacks and protect the cyber infrastructure. To note, the attack which took place in November 2022 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi included hackers based in China. 

Globally, cyberspace is becoming more open to hacker attacks. According to a report, India alone had over 500 million cyber attacks in the first quarter of this year.