Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 25: In a significant step to strengthen cyber security, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has ordered an immediate ban on the use of USB and pen drives in all official devices across the Union Territory.
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A circular issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) of the UT said the decision aimed at enhancing cyber security posture of the region by safeguarding sensitive Government information and preventing data breaches, malware infections, and unauthorized access.
Through the circular, the Government has directed all the Administrative Government Departments in Civil Secretariat Jammu and Srinagar, as well as Deputy Commissioners’ offices in all districts to immediately disable the use of pen drives on official systems.
However, in exceptional cases where operational requirements make their use unavoidable, the Government has clarified that the departments may seek controlled whitelisting of up to 2–3 pen drives.
“Such requests must be formally routed through the Administrative Head to the State Informatics Officer, NIC, and approved drives will need to be registered and reconfigured before use,” clarified the Government.
Meanwhile, as an alternative, the Government has recommended the adoption of GovDrive (https://govdrive.gov.in), a cloud-based, multi-tenant platform offering 50 GB of secure storage for every Government official.
“This platform ensures centralized access, synchronization across devices, and enhanced protection of official data,” read the GAD circular. Accordingly, the departments have been asked to prioritize the use of GovDrive.
The Government has also strictly prohibited the use of public messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or unsecured online tools like iLovePDF for processing, sharing, or storing official or confidential material.
“All sensitive technical information, including ICT architecture, system configurations, IP addressing schemes, and strategic plans, must be handled only through approved secure channels, in line with best practices issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), CERT-In directives, and departmental data classification policies,” ordered the Government.
Further, it has been made clear that failure to comply with these instructions will be taken seriously and could lead to disciplinary action under service rules governing official conduct, IT usage, and administrative responsibility.
Accordingly, the departments have been directed to give top priority to the implementation of the guidelines related to use of GovDrive to ensure secure and safe e-Governance in Jammu and Kashmir.
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