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JAMMU: After Rajouri and Poonch, now authorities in Jammu’s Kathua district have suspended Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for two months, citing security concerns.The preventive action has been taken under section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita as VPN services are being misused by certain individuals and groups to bypass cyber restrictions and access prohibited applications, websites and digital content, the order issued by district magistrate Rajesh Sharma on Wednesday stated.The suspension came into force with immediate effect (Dec 24), and will apply to all individuals, institutions, cyber cafes and internet service providers operating within the district, “except those explicitly permitted by govt through a specific official order”. Any violation will invite legal action under the relevant provisions of law, the order said.Kathua SSP has been directed to ensure strict enforcement of the order.On Nov 30, Poonch DM Ashok Kumar Sharma had ordered suspension of all VPN services in the border district for two months, citing their potential misuse for unlawful activities. “The SSP informed that there has been an unprecedented high usage of VPNs in the past few days at different locations of the district by suspicious internet users,” Sharma said in the order.It was informed that VPN transmit gets encrypted and creates a point-to-point tunnel, masks IP addresses, and sidesteps website blocks and firewalls on the internet, thus making sensitive data vulnerable to cyber attacks. A day before, on Nov 29, Rajouri DM Abhishek Sharma had issued a similar order following a communication from police.Prior to this, the Doda administration had, through an order on May 6, ordered suspension of VPNs citing public safety, cybersecurity and integrity of digital governance in the district.
