Home ministry formulates phone guidelines for officials

After cracking the whip and barring officials from taking files outside the home ministry, further norms have been put in place to make the North Block more secure. The North Block which houses the Union Home Ministry has faced several security related issues such as missing files and also phones of officials being hacked.

During a probe it had been found that malware from Pakistan were being sent to the phones of the officials in a bid to steal sensitive information. It had been found that the malware were being sent through some mobile apps. The Home Ministry has now decided to strengthen security and has advised all officials not to connect their phones to their laptops.

Malware on phones:

During the probe it had been found that Pakistan based hackers were sending malware to phones of officials. Malware such as talking frog, top fun, vdjunky and mpjunkie had been sent to the phones. This called for a quick revamp of the phone policy.

It has now been stated that officials shall not connect their phones to their laptops. They would not even be allowed to charge their phones on their laptops. While the new policy is now applicable only to those officials falling under the Home Ministry, it would soon be applicable in all other ministries as well.

No files can go out:

In addition to this the Home Ministry has barred officials from taking files outside the ministry. The IB in a detailed report stated that even the senior officials should be prevented from taking files outside.

The IB says that officers in the rank of Joint Secretary and above too should not be permitted to take files outside the ministry. Once they take it out there is every chance of them photo copying it and sharing it. Within the ministry too the IB has said that the surveillance must be increased to prevent sensitive information from getting leaked. yers

Following this report and a couple of embarrassing incidents, the government decided that the IB report will be implemented. While surveillance within the ministries has been increased, a thorough check of officials leaving the premises is also being conducted.