FAQs

Indian Citizen Assistance for Mobile Privacy and Security (ICAMPS) is an initiative by the Government of India to support Indian citizens in protecting themselves against Mobile Security & Privacy Issues. The idea behind this initiative is to create an updated and comprehensive central repository of available mobile security & privacy information. The citizen side of the initiative will consist of a Mobile App, a Web Portal and a chatbot, through which the users can access the latest and simplified information on mobile security & privacy that is filtered & curated based on their mobile phones, apps & services used by them.

Mobile phones are an integral part of our daily lives today. This dependency and increased usage puts innocent people at security & privacy risks, a large part of which can be easily mitigated by increasing awareness among the end user. The Government is obliged to ensure the security and privacy of the citizens, hence it has undertaken this initiative to promote citizen mobile security.  ICAMPS helps achieve these goals by empowering individuals with targeted and actionable information on protecting themselves.

No, ICAMPS is not a mobile antivirus application. ICAMPS is a platform which aims to provide users with targeted and actionable information regarding cyber threats through various channels, which include a mobile application, web portal and chatbot. 

The ICAMPS technology stack includes multiple delivery modes to the citizens to provide customised information on mobile security and privacy. Mobile application will be one such mode of delivery.

The information can be accessed by 

• The ICAMPS mobile application (Android only)

• ICAMPS web portal

• Chat Bot on WhatsApp

No, this will be a free service for all the citizens of India. 

A dedicated team duly supported by

• All related departments from the Government;

• Related Industry players; and

• Mobile Security community.

ICAMPS will support all OSs but since Android OS is on 95.8% of phones in India. Hence ICAMPS will begin with Android and later include IOS. 

The objective of ICAMPS is to help users take preventive & protective actions. It will do so by proactively guiding users to resolve vulnerabilities and optimize digital habits that are exploited by bad actors. 

ICAMPS will provide inputs on all six layers of a mobile device - Network, Device Hardware, Operating System, Applications, User Settings, and Services. 

The "Cyber Swachhta Kendra" (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) is a part of the Government of India's Digital India initiative under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to create a secure cyber space by detecting botnet infections in India and to notify, enable cleaning and securing systems of end users so as to prevent further infections. They also provide and recommend security Tools for the users but none for Smartphones. 

M-Kavach focuses only on detecting malware and threat analyser for the user's device, more like an Antivirus solution with deep permissions. ICAMPS adopts a holistic approach by providing information on all 6 Layers of the mobile device without taking deep permissions from the user. 

ICAMPS differs from a Tech News Application in the way it provides information. While tech news applications offer generalized and broad-spectrum information and updates, ICAMPS takes a different approach. It focuses on delivering contextual, relevant, and simplified information specifically related to mobile privacy and security threats. The goal of ICAMPS is to inform and educate the common citizen about these specific threats, offering a more targeted and specialized resource compared to a typical tech news application.

All are restricted to their specific domains and objectives of that particular Ministry or department. ICAMPS will include and combine information from these initiatives and present it to users in a simplified and contextual manner.

ICAMPS is the only Government initiative in the world focused on the benefit of it's citizens free of cost.

i. Indian smartphone users are unique and supporting them does not make a business case hence Govt initiative to support them. 

ii. Multiple Govt departments working under six different Ministries are involved and only a Govt initiative can coordinate with them as well as with industry.

No other way to bring all government departments and different industry segments under one roof.

No, to give customised advice on each phone, the application will not require any personally identifiable information to be transmitted outside the application. The relevant dataset containing security information will be sent to the user's device, and data processing will take place on the user's device itself.

While the initiative is from the Government of India, the responsibility of execution has been given to the Industry with transparent participation of privacy and cyber security experts. The initiative aims to be transparent at each level by publicly declaring the source code, the standards adopted, industry participation, meeting minutes, etc. Public consultations will also be undertaken to streamline the initiative and make the processes even more transparent. 

The Standards Group and the Advisory Committee of ICAMPS will determine the privacy principles for the application. These principles will be aligned with global best practices. The ICAMPS app itself will also be tested and rated against the same standards and procedure. All the results will be published in the public domain.

To give customised advice on each phone, the application will not require any personally identifiable information to be transmitted outside the app. The relevant dataset containing security information will be sent to the user's device, and data processing will take place on the user's device itself. In this way, the app will need limited permissions, but no data will be shared outside the phone, ensuring user privacy.

ICAMPS does not have access to user information hence it can not and does not share it with any third parties.

ICAMPS team will proactively scan the Play Store to identify such apps and create blacklists of potential and confirmed fraudulent apps. At the user's end, the ICAMPS application will crosscheck if any apps in the latest blacklist are being used on the phone and alert the users accordingly. 

Yes, citizens can use ICAMPS application or the web portal to report any cyber/mobile security incident. The complaint will be forwarded to the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre in real time. 

The ICAMPS knowledge management platform will be connected to I4C, NCCC & CERT-IN to receive real-time information on threats and vulnerabilities. 

Antivirus features require extensive user permissions, which will affect its adoption, degrade its privacy aspects and hence its overall acceptability. 

Dedicated ICAMPS teams will proactively scan known APK websites and identify and alert the users accordingly.

Application source code is not a hard requirement for performing security assessment. Instead, these applications will be put through an automated process that will check for privacy and security issues. This will generate useful insights efficiently even in the absence of the source code.

ICAMPS has partnered with Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) and the National Centre for Communication Security (NCCS). The ICAMPS platform is designed to collaborate and obtain useful insights from the existing and proposed labs under these departments. 

Continuous information updation is undoubtedly one of the core aspects of ICAMPS. The platform will have dedicated teams at the backend responsible for liaising with specific sources and organizations and following procedures to ensure continuous updation. 

The advisory group will recommend the list of apps to be tested. It will contain the most used apps in India and specific apps flagged by law enforcement agencies. Again, the platform's primary purpose is not to test apps but to bridge the information gap with the citizens on all mobile security and privacy issues. 

Yes, the entire code base of the app will be public.

The standards which will decide device testing and rating in the proposed platform will be similar to the international standards on device security and privacy, as determined by the Standards Group and the Advisory Committee.

Yes, the standards for testing and ratings will be public.