Messages being hacked or reaching the wrong sources is definitely a cause of concern. Especially in forums like that of the army, secure messaging is priority. As a solution to the same, a new messaging application has been developed.
Secure Application for Internet (SAI) is the name of the newly developed messaging application by the Indian Army so that message leaking is prevented. This course of action is done so that information that is classified and intended for personnels in the intelligence agencies remains so.
An officer explained the working of the application saying that SAI is a secure and simple messaging app for Android platforms. Using the internet, army officials can send end-to-end secure voice and texts as well as video calls whenever necessary. Its main objective is to aid in facilitating all army officials to securely transfer messages within the service.
The initial development of SAI was by Colonel Sai Shankar, the Commanding officer of a Rajasthan signal Unit. The app was then upgraded to suit military-grade standards. Col. Shankar was appreciated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for his efforts. The minister lauded his skill and ingenuity.
According to an officer, SAI is similar to other messaging apps like Whatsapp, SAMVAD, GIMS and Telegram by the fact that SAI also follows the protocol of end-to-end encryption in messaging. The security features along with local-in-house servers as well as coding can be changed or improved to suit the requirement.
Critical examination and assessment of the application has been done by the auditor of CERT-in which is the Indian Computer Emergency response team. The assessment has also been done by the Army Cyber Group.
Currently, efforts to file Intellectual Property Right application, to host the same on the National Informatics Centre and improving it so that it can be accommodated in iOS platforms are ongoing.
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