In A First, Home Ministry Issues Internet and Social Media Policy For Government Employees 

The Home Ministry under Amit Shah has moved to fix government’s internet vulnerability to adversaries with its first internet and social media policy for government employees, Economic Times has reported.

The ministry has reportedly issued a 24-page note to employees in this regard to prevent leakage of government data to adversaries.

“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 note reads.

It also cautions officials from accessing social media from official devices while directing them to carry out classified work only on standalone systems not connected to the internet. Storing classified government information on private clouds can make the employees liable to penal action.

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 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, the report says.