Turn off Alexa and Siri on phone, avoid WhatsApp: I&B ministry tells officials

The Information & Broadcasting Ministry has issued an advisory to all its officials regarding sharing of classified documents or information over the Internet. 

The ministry has asked them to share the documents on Internet through networks that have deployed commercial AES 256-bit encryption. 

It has further stated that usage of WhatsApp, Telegram among other messaging apps for sharing confidential documents is a violation of information security instruction in the manual of Departmental Security Instructions and National Security Policy guidelines. 

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The ministry also said that the use of government email (NIC email) facility or government instant messaging platforms is recommended for the communication of confidential and restricted information. 

In the context of the e-Office system, it is advised that proper firewalls and whitelisting of IP addresses are to be deployed. The top-secret or secret information shall be shared over the e-Office system only with leased line closed network and SAG grade encryption mechanism. 

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For video format, the government video conferencing solution offered by CDAC, CDOT, and NIC may be used. The meeting ID and password will have to be shared only with authorized participants. 

For officials who are working from home, they will not share any top-secret information. 

Digital Assistant devices like Amazon's Echo, Apple's Home Pod, Google Home may not be kept in the office, it said. Alexa and Siri among other devices should be turned off in smartphones, watches used by the employees. 

While discussions on classified issues, the employees may deposit the smartphones outside the meeting room.

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• AES 256-bit encryption
• Alexa
• Departmental Security Instructions
• Echo Dot
• I&B ministry
• Information & Broadcasting Ministry
• Internet
• NIC email
• National Security Policy
• Siri
• Telegram
• WhatsApp
• classified documents
• devices
• e-Office system
• messaging apps
• secure Internet
• secure network
• smartphone
• work from home
• smartwatch