SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has secured more than 4,500 government devices with advanced Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) systems as part of its ongoing Cyber Security Action Plan, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo said on Tuesday while reviewing the Union Territory’s defence against emerging digital threats. An additional 2,300 devices have been equipped with Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) tools, with the process underway in major Heads of Department and Deputy Commissioner offices.
Chairing a high-level meeting attended by senior officials from the IT Department, National Informatics Centre, civil administration and police, Dulloo reiterated that no compromise would be made in safeguarding the UT’s critical IT infrastructure. He said the government was committed to building a secure, modern and resilient digital ecosystem that would ensure uninterrupted delivery of e-governance services.
The review covered rapid-response measures, structural reforms and long-term capacity-building initiatives, including the Cyber Security Contingency Plan, for which a detailed proposal has been submitted to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for approval.
Officials reported that VPN access for government systems is now restricted to multi-factor authenticated users with geo-fencing to prevent logins from outside India. Of the UT’s 239 government websites, 140 have been restored post-compulsory security audits, complying with CERT-In and OWASP norms, and equipped with web application firewalls.
Work is also in progress to merge departmental data centres into a single State Data Centre (SDC) within six months to ensure uniform security standards. Augmentation of the SDC in Jammu is being planned with capacity for 300 racks, Tier III/IV compliance, high redundancy, and dedicated Network and Security Operations Centres for real-time threat monitoring.
Other measures under implementation include IT asset mapping across departments, secure web protocols for video conferencing, transition from IPv4 to IPv6, USB port whitelisting, and awareness campaigns like Cyber Jagroota to promote cyber hygiene.
The Chief Secretary appreciated the progress made so far and directed departments to expedite pending measures to further strengthen J&K’s cyber resilience.
