A company based out of IIT Madras has created an indigenous mobile operating system called "BharOS," according to officials on Thursday, January 19. The system can be implemented on readily available commercial handsets and is currently being offered to organizations with strong privacy and security standards, whose users handle sensitive information and need secure conversations on constrained mobile apps. These consumers require private 5G networks and access to private cloud services, as reported by PTI.
JandK Operations Private Limited (JandKops), which has been incubated at IIT Madras, created the BharOS. “BharOS Service is a Mobile Operating System built on a foundation of trust, with a focus on providing users more freedom, control, and flexibility to choose and use only the apps that fit their needs,” said IIT Madras director V Kamakoti.
“This innovative system promises to revolutionise the way users think about security and privacy on their mobile devices...We look forward to working closely with many more private industries, government agencies, strategic agencies and telecom service providers to increase the usage and adoption of BharOS in our country," he said, as per the PTI report.
The BharOS operating system offers unique features such as No Default Applications (NDA) and Native Over The Air (NOTA) updates, according to Karthik Ayyar, director of JandK Operations Pvt Ltd. NDA allows users to have more control over the permissions that apps have on their device, as they can decide to only give trusted apps access to certain functions or data. NOTA updates automatically download and install on the device, ensuring that the device is always running the latest version of the operating system with the latest security patches and bug fixes. With these features and access to a carefully curated list of apps through Private App Store Services (PASS), BharOS aims to ensure that Indian mobile phones are trustworthy.
"This means users can be confident that the apps they are installing are safe to use and have been checked for any potential security vulnerabilities or privacy concerns," he said.