J&K government ups security to prevent unauthorised access to ‘sensitive data’

“It has been felt necessary to prohibit unauthorized personnel from accessing data from e-office files and references,” the circular stated, referring to the provisions of the IT Act read with the Information Technology Security Guidelines notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for the security and confidentiality of sensitive official information.

It also advised all the departments “to ensure that officers/officials who have been transferred out of the secretariat, or left their respective departments/organization and no longer need access to e-office, shall not get the privilege of any access to their previous accounts”.

“Further, all the departments shall designate a nodal officer for liaisoning with the Information Technology Department, in future, with regard to such officers/officials whose accounts need to be closed on account of their transfer or superannuation etc, so that their accounts are closed/suspended on time,” the circular further said.

Pointing out that unauthorised access to sensitive data is a breach of extant IT rules and is treated as a penal offence under Chapter XI of the IT Act, 2000, it said that all officers/officials working on the e-office platform are, as such, strictly prohibited from accessing any sensitive data for which they do not have explicit authorisation from the designated/competent authority.

Official sources told The Indian Express that though they have not come across any instance of unauthorised access to its e-office files so far, one cannot rule out such an incident in the future. “To safeguard sensitive information/references in official files, the UT’s e-office will soon have an extra layer of protection in the form of a firewall,” a senior official said, adding that work in this direction was in progress.

The need for an extra layer of security has been felt at a time when the e-office system has been implemented in all Jammu and Kashmir government offices, even up to the district level, saving nearly Rs 200 crore annually – an amount that used to be incurred while physically transporting over 300 truckloads of files during the annual ‘Durbar Move’ between Jammu and Srinagar, the two capital cities in the Union Territory. It has also led to an uninterrupted work culture in the Union Territory and the simultaneous operation of the civil secretariat in Jammu and in Srinagar, without any official break throughout the year.

With 913 online services, Jammu and Kashmir has achieved second place after Madhya Pradesh in the country, overtaking Kerala, which provides 911 services online. The number of online services in the UT increased exponentially from 35 services in 2021 to 913 services to date under the ‘Digital J&K Programme’ that was launched last year.