HUA Ministry suspects its info 'compromised', asks officials to follow online security guidelines

Suspecting its information being "compromised", the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has asked its officials to strictly follow the IT Ministry's online security advisory, which includes avoiding surfing of "inappropriate websites" and use of personal USBs in office computer.

Last week, the government informed Parliament that over two dozen websites of central ministries, departments and state governments were hacked till May this year, as per information by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).

In its written communication to all officials and subordinated offices, the HUA Ministry said some malware and vulnerable issues have come to the notice where security of information appear to be "compromised".

It has also attached "Do's and Don'ts" advisory received from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology along with written communication issued on June 25.

"All the officers/personnel/users of this ministry are to strictly adhered to Do's and Don'ts so that any malware and vulnerable issues may not damage the systems," the HUA Ministry stated.

According to the advisory on 'Information Security Awareness - Do's and Don'ts", officials have been asked not to surf inappropriate websites that they are not fully aware of, just out of sheer curiosity.

It has also asked them not to use personal USBs or other devices in office computer without permission from the IT department and access sensitive information from a non-secure computer.

"Be aware of surroundings when printing, copying, faxing or discussing sensitive information. Stay alert and report suspicious activity to CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) of your department," It also stated.

It asked that officers should not use personal email address for accessing personal social media accounts.