Govt orders immediate disabling of pen drives on official devices

Jammu, Aug 25: The government has ordered the immediate disabling of USB (Uniform Serial Bus) or pen-drives (USB flash drives) on all official devices across all its administrative departments in the Civil Secretariat, Jammu and Srinagar, and Deputy Commissioner offices in all 20 districts.

Non-compliance will invite disciplinary action, it has been warned.

The move is aimed at enhancing the cyber security posture of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, protect sensitive government information, and minimise the risks of data breaches, malware infections, and unauthorised access.

Asking the departments to adopt Gov Drive-a cloud-based, multi-tenant platform as a secure alternative, the government has, however, in exceptional cases, permitted “controlled whitelisting for up to 2-3 pen drives per department” yet only after prior permission and that too with a rider.

As per rider, after approval pen drive must be physically submitted to the respective National Informatics Centre (NIC) Cell for reconfiguration, authorization, and ownership registration prior to use.

Besides, the government has reiterated the prohibition on the use of WhatsApp or other unsecured online services for processing, sharing, or storing official or confidential materials.

“To enhance the cyber security posture of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, protect sensitive government information, and minimize the risks of data breaches, malware infections, and unauthorized access, it has been decided to prohibit the use of pen drives on official devices across all administrative government departments in Civil Secretariat Jammu and Srinagar, Deputy Commissioner Offices in all districts,” Commissioner Secretary, General Administration Department M Raju, while explaining circular instructions of J&K Information Technology Department, has directed.

He has, however, specified that in exceptional cases where operational needs justify their use, controlled whitelisting may be permitted for up to 2-3 pen drives per department, upon formal request routed through the respective administrative head to the State Informatics Officer (SIO), National Informatics Centre.

“As a secure alternative, the departments are strongly encouraged to adopt (https://govdrive.gov.in) GovDrive cloud-based, multi-tenant platform offering every government official 50 GB of secure storage with centralized access and synchronization across devices,” Raju has instructed while sharing annexures containing details of devices along with the user manual.

GAD Commissioner Secretary has reminded that the “use of public messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or unsecured online services like iLovePDF for processing, sharing, or storing official or confidential materials is strictly prohibited to uphold data sovereignty and prevent security breaches.”

He has directed that all sensitive technical information, including ICT architecture diagrams, system configurations, vulnerability assessments, IP addressing schemes, and strategic technology plans, must be “classified as confidential and handled exclusively through approved secure channels in accordance with Information Security Best Practices by MHA, CERT-In directives, and departmental data classification policies.”

He has warned that failure to adhere to these instructions will be viewed seriously and may invite disciplinary action under relevant rules governing official conduct, IT usage, and administrative responsibility.

Asserting that the directions, issued with the approval of the competent authority, will come into immediate effect, Raju has asked all departments to “accord top priority to the implementation of these guidelines in the interest of the secure and safe e-Governance.”