MHA to upgrade National Information Security Policy and Guidelines to secure government data

July 9, 2018

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will be upgrading National Information Security Policy and Guidelines (NISPG) to secure government data and control access to it inorder to prevent sensitive information making its way to internet. The upgraded and updated policy will cover issues pertaining to the Official Secrets Act.

Background

MHA has been designated as the lead agency for the protection of the “Information” in Cyberspace. In 2013, cybersecurity, which was sole preserve of MHA, was moved to National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) under Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Besides, critical infrastructure was moved to National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and non-critical part to Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY). Recently in June 2018, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had presided over meeting to review evolving cyberthreats and had directed that NISPG to be upgraded and updated for government sector.

National Information Security Policy and Guidelines (NISPG)

NISPG has been prepared by MHA, based on experience of existing security standards and frameworks and global best practices and experience of implementation in the wake of expanding information security threat scenario. It aims at improving information security posture of organization possessing any information, including classified information and does not restrict organizations from adopting additional stringent practices over and above these guidelines. It elaborates baseline information security policy and highlights relevant security concepts and best practices, which government ministries, departments, and organizations must implement to protect their information.