central government employees can no longer use google drive, dropbox and vpn, details here

VPN | New Delhi: According to a latest directive issued by the government of India, central government employees will not be able to use virtual private networks (VPN) and cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox. The directive, issued by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) and National Informatics Centre (NIC), talks about how VPN service providers should operate in India, Economic Times Reported.Also Read – 7th Pay Commission: 8th Pay Commission For Central Government Employees Soon? Know Here

According to the directive, the employees can no longer save any confidential government files on cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox. Cloud services allow the users to store their data on the internet, and not on the internal memory of their devices. Also Read – Explained | What Is India’s New VPN Rules, And How It Can Affect You

According to the report, the rules set in by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), are aimed at improving the security posture of the government. The Indian government has been of a point of view that VPN services threaten the security of the country as they can be used by terrorist organizations and it becomes impossible to track them. Also Read – Microsoft Adds Free Built-In VPN Network To Edge Browser

What does the NIC directive say?

• The directive states that the employees should not use cloud services to store confidential government data.
• The use of VPN services has also been prohibited.
• The employees are directed to not use third-party applications to scan government documents like Camscanner.
• Employees should not ‘root’ or ‘jailbreak’ their devices.
• Uniform cyber security guidelines should be followed in government offices across the country.
• Cert-In had earlier directed VPN companies to maintain a record of the customers who are using their services.
• Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar had stated that the companies who do not wish to follow the guidelines are free to move away from India.