Starting today, TRAI mandates whitelisting of web links via SMS

Before the regulatory body enforced the new rule, previously, links in SMS messages could lead to unknown sources, posing threats of financial loss or privacy breaches.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has made a much awaited announcement, which aims to reduce the risk of users being directed to malicious websites. From Today onwards, mobile phone users in India will receive only approved web links via SMS, as per mandated by TRAI.

As per the mandate, telecom service providers have to ensure that only whitelisted links are transmitted via SMS. TRAI in August issued a directive, instructing all access providers to block any traffic containing URLs, Android Package Kits (APKs) or over-the-top (OTT) links that have not been whitelisted.

Before this new rule, links in SMS messages could lead to unknown sources, posing threats of financial loss or privacy breaches. Under the new rules, any link received via SMS will be from a verified source, enhancing user security. The initial compliance deadline for telcos was set for September 1, but it got extended to October 1, giving operators additional time to implement the necessary changes.

As a result, it is expected that the directive may cause some disruption in receiving messages from banks and other services that send updates via SMS. However, the regulatory body noted that over 3,000 registered senders have already complied with the requirement, having whitelisted more than 70,000 links.