Indian troops posted on China border asked to delete 42 apps

The Indian Defence Ministry has directed troops posted on the China border to delete a number of apps and format their smartphone.

According to a report by The Print Indian soldiers posted on LAC (Line of Actual Control) have been ordered to delete 42 apps, that intelligence agencies have found to be threat to national security, due to possible links to hackers in China. 

The list of banned apps include popular apps (both Android and iOS) such as Weibo, WeChat, SHAREit, Truecaller, Clean Master, UC Browser, 360 Security, ES File Explorer and Xiaomi's Mi Store and Mi Community. These apps are said to be transmitting sensitive personal data to the Chinese authorities, and have the potential to carry out cyber attacks against Indians. You can check out the list below. 

1. Weibo, 2. WeChat, 3. SHAREit, 4. Truecaller, 5. UC News, 6. UC Browser, 7. BeautyPlus, 8. NewsDog, 9. VivaVideo- QU Video Inc, 10. Parallel Space, 11. APUS Browser, 12. Perfect Corp, 13. Virus Cleaner (Hi Security Lab), 14. CM Browser, 15. Mi Community, 16. DU recorder, 17. Vault-Hide, 18. YouCam Makeup, 19. Mi Store, 20. CacheClear DU apps studio, 21. DU Battery Saver, 22. DU Cleaner, 23. DU Privacy, 24. 360 Security, 25.  DU Browser, 26. Clean Master - Cheetah Mobile, 27. Baidu Translate, 28. Baidu Map, 29. Wonder Camera, 30. ES File Explorer 31. Photo Wonder, 32. QQ International, 33. QQ Music, 34. QQ Mail, 35. QQ Player, 36. QQ NewsFeed, 37. WeSync, 38. QQ Security Centre, 39. SelfieCity, 40. Mail Master, 41. Mi Video call-Xiaomi, 42. QQ Launcher

Officers using any of the listed apps should immediately  uninstall them and format/cleanup both their personal and official smartphones to guard against online espionage attempts from across the border.  

“According to reliable inputs, a number of Android/IOS apps developed by Chinese firms or having Chinese links are reportedly either spyware or other malicious ware. Use of these apps by our personnel can be detrimental to…national security,” the instructions sent to troops on November 24th read.

Meanwhile, Truecaller has issued a statement responding to the accusation "In response to certain reports, we would like to clarify that we are a Sweden-based company. We are not sure why the app is on this list, but we're investigating. Truecaller is not a malware, and all our features are permission based and are disabled by default,"

The news comes at a time when troops from India and China maintain high alertness levels along the LAC after the resolution of a bitter border stand-off over Doklam. Also several Indian cybersecurity experts have raised concerns about the possible espionage attempts by Chinese hackers and various military intelligence agencies of China.

This is not the first time such a case has arised. Back in December 2015 defense ministry had restricted internet access and stopped the use of WiFi and Bluetooth enabled devices in South Block due to fear of attack from Chinese hackers.  

Source | Via

Kaiser Bey

Kaiser is a tech enthusiast who likes to write, read and talk about tech. He dreams of going to Mars and never come back. We hope that you find his posts on AndroGuider helpful and informative