China's top messaging app WeChat banned from Hong Kong government computers Hong Kong’s government has updated infosec guidelines to restrict the use of Chinese messaging app WeChat, alongside Meta and Google products like WhatsApp and Google Drive, on computers it operates. On Tuesday, secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong discussed the matter [VIDEO] during an appearance on …
There are some things which simply shouldn't be used in/by government, no matter who develops/hosts/controls the service.
Social media of any sort, Viber/WhatsApp/etc., anything which isn't related directly to government work and/or provided/installed by the government's IT specialists, shouldn't be used.
The only communication channel to the outside should either be secure messaging servers hosted by the government, or email with a bunch of DLP policies.
Those two things alone are enough of a compliance nightmare already, the idea that up until this point they had access to an uncontrolled end-to-end encrypted messaging service on their devices is stressing me out.
Its astonishing the amount of use of back-channels like WhatsApp groups by UK politicians. Its either gross stupidity or willful neglect of duty. Either should be enough to get them taken round behind the sheds and "re-educated".
In the commercial world we are constantly warned that this sort of behaviour is against policy but in the commercial world the risk of sanctions is real for both for the individual and the firm. Approved communications channels are there for one reason and one reason only, so that the contents can be archived for future reference. Going outside of that says either you don't get it or you don't want to get it.
IT specialists?
Remember the Scottish minister who took his Parliamentary iPad on holiday, the one with government and constituency business on it (or at least accessible via it)? Who then let his kids use it as a hotspot to watch streaming football matches and racked up a bill of tens of thousands in roaming charges? Who was extremely economical with the truth when the charges were highlighted by the media and was protected by the party elders for months until, even to them, his position became untenable?
Apart from all the political and personal failures to act with integrity, what sort of IT organisation sends out official devices that allow that sort of use?
Much as I agree with the thought, it'd almost certainly be quite impossible for many government agencies in China, Hong Kong or anywhere else to function that way. For example, how is purchasing to buy paper for the printers or find a cleaning agent that might kill that weird purple stuff growing in the urinals without access to the general internet? Use their cell phones? Do you really want a large part of your daily government activity operating outside the purview of IT? And what do you do if all the information on Mr Chang's efforts to procure new buses are in his personal accounts and Mr Chang (and his cell phone) have been run over by a tram?
I don't think there are simple answers to the problem. The systems I've seen to handle similar/analogous issues tend to be quite expensive and to have a set of rules and exceptions so hideous and complex that people either ignore them or find often dubious work-arounds.
Given that even school teachers have to take oath/ swear allegiance to the city, NSL, Winnie etc. I think including WeChat is either a move just to show fairness or those involved in the change of the guidelines are still doing their best to 'embarrass' the government, very small things but the commies are extremely sensitive if something hits the international news. I hope is the latter :)
Like all governments, there seems to be an issue understanding what is a business requirement and what is a personal desire. i.e. I want to use all my personal shite at work.
Do government officials need all this at your fingertips technology?
Most governments and their subordinate agencies don't do anything quickly, so why the need to instant messaging tooling coming out of your ears?
FIFY:
"Although various government departments have deployed multiple cyber snooping measures, the use of end-to-end encryption technology in services such as personal webmail, public cloud storage and instant messaging may circumvent such measures and make it impossible for us to snoop", it explained.
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