DELHI: Indian defence establishment has issued a fresh red alert to ensure physical as well as cyber security of classified information as ever-increasing espionage attempts by foreign intelligence agencies, especially from China and Pakistan.
Citing “inputs” from the home ministry and elsewhere, the defence ministry has directed the armed forces and other organizations working under it to strictly implement the fresh security measures to prevent any classified matter from being leaked.
“Defence personnel, especially those serving in lower formations, privy to sensitive information relating to organization/matters pertaining to the armed forces continue to be targets of foreign intelligence espionage efforts/agents,” said the MoD directive, issued on March 12.
Some of the security instructions deal with monitoring of photocopying machines, police verification of all staff employed on “an outsourced basis”, restricted access to divisions dealing with confidential matters, close watch on suspicious conduct, caller ID spoofing and the like.
But the bulk of them are connected to cyber-security and computer-usage norms. They range from strict access control and proper firewalls to “air gap” between secure and insecure networks and curbs on use of digital storage devices.
“There have been cases of data being leaked through the use of pen-drives, removable hard disks and CDs. Moreover, Chinese hackers have also broken into military networks through worm-infected USB devices to exfiltrate information,” said an official.
