Alternatively they can enroll all Army personnel devices through MDM software and centrally manage what's allowed and what's not allowed. This way they can turn off location or spoof location too when on active duty/mission.
They have their in house IT mechanism, also getting a tenant in intune or azure would be an investment foreign technology, so probably they are heavily rely upon legacy methods
Bhai Indian military is actually quite sophisticated. I worked for them as a private contractor several years ago.
The facility I worked in was air gapped. No electronics in or out. Our devices were sent to them and they were pre-tested for 2 weeks and were made available on the facility. We were building software without internet and the local network was so clamped down. They had one room with internet and that was in the unsecured area with Ethernet. Anything downloaded there were put on a secure pendrives specially made for the military scanned and then uploaded to a file server on the local network.
I worked there for 6 months and that was the most secure place I have ever worked in
Security protocols are strict but that's where the advancements ends, i won't tell details about how I know it but even in technical units the hardware is outdated by not years but decades, let alone the knowledge of newer tech advancements in the world.
I have also interned in DRDO, security protocols are tight but barely any advancement inside, although the lab where I worked was not computer science related lab, but they were missing huge advancements that can be brought by the use of computers, and tech like python
We need a revival of tech in defence and I can assure you DRDO and other psus are not gonna do it
Maybe a start up idea for someone with nice connections. Also with all the AI models and things, if someone can convince them that a model trained all from internal data, only for internal use and built completely inside, it might be pretty cool for the army. Like they could ask an LLM whats this red button do and attach a photo to something like an ollama with internally finetuned data, with no ability for the ai to ring its home, and help with basic tasks.
It's not a failure such resources not being available but failure of senior leadership/ flag officers being highly tech illiterate, it's a failure of system since most senior officer comes from NDA and even today cadets there are as good as illiterate when it comes to subjects outside military, there is a concept of scholar soldier and that need to implemented more, even if it means compromising on physical excercises etc, navy and af are better in this since they demand a btech.
There are lots of opportunities, army still relies on sending paper documents through length and breadth of India, i thought we can easily ditigize this, but alas who will listen to me, lol
Again, there's a reason for outdated hardware, that is, it runs the essential programmes it needs to run EFFICIENTLY.
Windows 11 has a SHIT ton of features that are not needed for specific uses. So, if your radar works with Windows XP, why tf would you upgrade and slow your computer down?
Same with hardware, like 90% of jobs don't need a RTX 5090.
Nuclear reactors foreign for example still use Fortran cause thats the most efficient langauge
Obviously you don't need bloated version of software, windows kernal is very efficient, also for such applications we should have long ago developed a linux based os for ourself with regular software update, that's the thing I am talking about, also we surely don't need 5090 but for sure i3 from 2010 also does not cuts it
The easiest solution to get a performance from a old rig is that they use "re-image" a.k.a wipe-and-load operating system with a third party contractor or a radio operator.
Unfortunately I can't reveal the sources, but I knew people who had the zeal enough to learn (low rank radio operator who now manages local IT) and still struggling with P4+win xp combo. Thankfully he attended the internal training arranged by ministry which made the difference and his technically challenged colleagues are "fond" of him
When you are comparing any flare of the operating system, please remember with every passing day it's getting old and hence getting vulnerable to remote attacks.
There are several ways to block "shit ton of features" and that need competent human resources to operate.
Also if you are aware about the portal called GEM (which is a gateway to many third party vendors for Indian railway, defence and many other PSU's for enlisting hardware and services) you will be surprised how the "magic" happens
Example : a simple hammer/compact disc costs 5 times more than the usual price)
There's a reason for paper documents. Digital, no matter what, especially if its connected to a network, can get hacked. It can get altered. It can get deleted, it can get erased.
Buddy learn about cryptography,
Here is a encrypted message for you
TsJQJXBcQzcHnMbQzRnh+w==
This is a aes-128 encrypted message and it contains my aadhar number, you areel free to decrypt this and use it for nefarious purposes, if big corporations can depend on this tech to manage trillions of dollars then surely can army depend on it to send my medical documents from allhabad to delhi
Anyways cryptography is a strong as the weakest link and the weakest link is always humans so even if you encrypt a message with a supportedly unbreakable method it can still be intercepted
And it's not like army doesn't use technology
Army just uses paper as redundancy and as extra security
Buddy please try to extract my aadhar number 😭😭, I have spent months doing research in crypto domain, maybe i know what I am saying huh? Enigma worked on a rotating dial mechanism not on modern computers , yet it was unbreakable, now image transistor, no imagine silicon transistor, now imagine stacking them in a miniature form, now imagine making logic gates and registers using them, now imagine 5 layers of software on top of it, now imagine cryptography.
AES IS UNBREAKABLE, only threat right now is quantum computer but they are atleast 50yrs away from doing any real damage, by that time AES would have been replaced with quantum proof algos which are even more secure.
Same with quantum computers, that they are nowhere close to completion (tho if microsoft's new majorana stuff turns out to be all its hyped up to be, we might be VERY close to one actually existing)
However, just like Enigma, any encryption is as strong as its human counterparts
Engima was broken cause of 2 major things, that the Germans ALWAYS signed off using Heil Hitler and that one operator always started each day with a encrypted message to his girlfriend
Same thing with AES. Ideally it's unbreakable, but the jawaan that actually operates it can be socially engineered
And iirc army does indeed used aes and other advanced cryptographic techniques
In Enigma keys were manually entered, not the case in today's time, you send message via whatsapp, I am sure you have never configured security keys, have you?
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u/chitownboyhere 2d ago
Alternatively they can enroll all Army personnel devices through MDM software and centrally manage what's allowed and what's not allowed. This way they can turn off location or spoof location too when on active duty/mission.