Coming hard on Cyber Threat, Home Ministry issues social media norms for government employees
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New Delhi, Jul. 12: Social media is one of the most important aspects of today’s life. But along with this merriment of social media, the cyber threat and issue of security arise with time. Tackling this evil is the major task in front of governments. Furthering in this regards, Today Home Ministry take the major decision for ix government’s internet vulnerability to adversaries. Home Ministry issues 1st ever internet and social media policy for government employees.
In its first social media and Internet policy for government employees, the Union home ministry has given clear guidelines against accessing social media on official devices, including mobile phones and computers, unless permitted.
It also directed officials not to carry out classified work on computers connected to the Internet and instead use standalone systems.
24-page MHA note stated, All personnel, including employees, contractual staff, consultants, partners, third-party staff who manage, operate and support information systems, facilities, communication networks and information created, accessed, stored and processed by or on behalf of the government, unless authorised to do so, shall not disclose official information on social media or social networking portals or applications.
The ministry’s note also said, “No classified information of government can be stored on private cloud services (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, etc) and doing so may make you liable for penal action, in the case of data leakage.”
The note also clarifies that only officially allocated removable storage devices can be used for storing the data and that the data should be encrypted before copying onto the devices. The note goes on to list several other directives and other best practices to be followed for ensuring the safety of government data.
The note is part of the government’s focus on securing Indian data and systems with as many as 30 attempts being made by foreign entities to extract such information.
As per the official statement, The note is part of the government’s focus on securing Indian data and systems with as many as 30 attempts being made by foreign entities to extract such information.
As per Niti Aayog’s study, by 2020, there would be 730 million Internet users in India and of them, 75% would be new users from rural areas. The findings also suggest that in the next two years, the country would have 175 million online shoppers and travel and e-commerce transactions would also grow by 50% and 70%, respectively.
The statement said, A large number of employees use smartphones and at times get exposed to malware infected website unknowingly. It also said, “only officially allocated removable storage devices can be used for storing the data and that the data should be encrypted before copying onto the devices. The note goes on to list several other directives and other best practices to be followed for ensuring the safety of government data”.