Government officials have been advised not to share confidential information or documents using social media apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. The Center had issued new communication guidelines to address this issue, which order all government employees not to use WhatsApp, Telegram, or other social media platforms to exchange confidential information.
There is a reason for that, since the servers that host these apps are owned by private companies worldwide, and the information may be misused by anti-India forces. According to IANS news agency, officials must only connect via e-office applications during the work from home (WFH) period. In addition to Alexa, HomePod, Zoom, Google Meet, Amazon Alexa, Amazon Echo and more are included in this order.
WhatsApp, Telegram, and other social media apps were ordered after examining the loopholes in the existing system. The Centre released a revised communication advisory created by the Intelligence agencies in response to persistent violations of national communication norms and government directives to prevent classified information leaks. Ministries have been instructed to take ‘immediate steps’ to prevent such violations, and to strictly abide by the communication security policies and guidelines when dealing with sensitive or restricted communications.
According to the new instructions, employees should refrain from sharing sensitive information via the home setup while working from home. NIC’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) should be used only for connecting home systems to the office network. Furthermore, the new communications guidelines have been distributed to all Union Ministries and Departments, and top officials have been instructed not to use smartwatches or smartphones while discussing confidential or national security-related topics.
The new standards of communication advisory also mention the rules for virtual meetings. Since the pandemic began, working from home and holding video meetings have become normal. To prevent having virtual meetings on private apps like Google Meet or Zoom, officials are advised to use the video conferencing solutions provided by the Department of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), and National Informatics Centre (NIC) only, as well as mandatory passwords to access the chat room and waiting rooms.
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