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Indian Defence Ministry Set To Use Locally Developed OS Maya To Prevent Cyberattacks, Says Report

The Defence Ministry of India has decided to replace the current operating system in their computers with OS Maya to combat the sharp increase of cyber and malware attacks. The other three Services are also considering a switch in the future.

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The Indian Defence Ministry adopts locally-built Operating System Maya. (representational image)
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The Defence Ministry has said that they are going to switch to Operating System Maya in all their computers in place of the Microsoft OS to prevent cyber and malware attacks. OS Maya was built locally based on open-source Ubuntu.

With the increase of cyberattacks on defence and the critical infrastructure of the country has led the Defence Ministry to take this step.

An official involved in this process told The Hindu, “Maya has the interface and all functionality like Windows and users will not feel much difference as they transition to it. To begin with, the direction is to install Maya on all computers connected to the Internet in South Block before August 15."

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Reportedly, a Chakravyuh will also be installed in the systems to avail an ‘end point detection and protection system’.

The OS Maya is being installed on the computers of the Defence Ministry only and not on the rest of the Services. But the report says that the three other Services will soon adopt the operating system as the Navy has already cleared it and currently it is being evaluated by the Army and the Air Force.

The government agencies developed Operating System Maya within six months, reportedly and aims to prevent the sharp increase of cyberattacks and malware attacks. 

The report also said that there were measurements taken to combat the series of malware and ransom attacks before and thought of replacing the Windows Operating System with a locally built one. 

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