Central Equipment Identity Register

Central Equipment Identity Register

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Awareness in IT

Context: The CIER initiative was started by the DoT in Maharashtra in 2017 to address the issue of the theft of mobile phones as well as the growing number of counterfeit mobile phones in the market.

CIER initiative

• It is essentially an equipment identity register that tracks the International Mobile Equipment Identity Register (IMEIR), the unique 15-digit identification code for each mobile device.
• Using the IMEIR, the CIER project can block mobile devices that have been reported to be stolen and facilitate recovery of the mobile device by local police if the stolen device is activated. This will protect the valuable data of the consumer present on the device. Similarly, counterfeit mobile phones can also be identified since they don’t have these unique IMEIR.
• TAF-COP is also set for a pan India expansion, and might be consolidated with CIER.

What is TAF-COP

• TAF-COP is a cybersecurity project that notifies consumers about all the mobile phones listed under an Aadhar number.
• Consumers can enter their Aadhar number into the TAF-COP portal and get a detailed account of mobile phone connections registered under their name.
• In case there is fraudulent registration of mobile numbers under a person’s name, they will be able to regularise the matter.
• At present, TAF-COP is live in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry. However, DoT is planning to expand TAF-COP nationwide by May as well.