Corporate VPNs will reportedly not be affected by the new VPN guidelines in India

• The Indian government recently issued new guidelines for VPN service providers in the country.
• The government is expected to release a new FAQ document to answer some of the questions raised in the country.
• The government is expected to exempt corporate VPNs from the new guidelines.

The Indian government recently released guidelines for companies offering virtual private network (VPN) services in the country, directing them to record and store the details of their users.

The directive was issued by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the country’s cyber watchdog. According to a report by Economic Times, CERT-In is expected to soon issue an FAQ document answering some of the doubts raised by users and companies.

Relief to corporates and employees in the country

In a major relief to corporates and employees in the country, the new directive will reportedly not be applicable to enterprise and corporate VPNs. According to the report, the document will reveal that the new guidelines are applicable only to those VPN service providers that offer their VPN services to the general public.

Since the pandemic began, several companies have offered a work from home option to several of their employees. However, employees are required to use a VPN to connect to the corporate network. The new guidelines will reportedly exclude such VPNs so that employees are able to connect to VPNs without any issues.

Only commercial VPN providers to maintain user data

According to the report, the new guidelines that mandate the VPN service providers to maintain user data are applicable only to commercial VPN providers that offer their services to the general public.

“For the purpose of this direction, VPN Service provider refers to an entity that provides “Internet proxy like services” through the use of VPN technologies, standard or proprietary, to general Internet subscribers/users,” CERT-In states in its document accessed by ET.

VPN companies may exit India

Anonymity is one of the most important parts of VPNs and the new guidelines completely remove anonymity from this as CERT-In can at any time ask these service providers to furnish user data such as name, address, phone number, email and more.

NordVPN has already expressed its reservations against the new bill, saying it is committed to protecting customer privacy and is willing to remove its servers from the country if there are no other options.

NordVPN isn’t the only company considering exiting the market. “PureVPN is a no-log VPN, user anonymity and security is a central priority but if that is compromised by this policy then we will have to consider our position in India,” Uzair Gadit, chief executive officer of PureVPN told Business Insider India in a statement.

The FAQ document from CERT-In will clarify doubts about the new VPN guidelines.
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