Just three months after issuing a warning, the Indian Army has cautioned its troops once more against the dangers of instant messaging apps and social media.
Particularly, it¡¯s warning soldiers of Chinese hackers reportedly gaining access to WhatsApp groups and extracting information therein.
This is just a few months after the Indian government issues a report, of supposedly compromised apps on both Android and iOS. Compiled with inputs from agencies like the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), it¡¯s a list of what India¡¯s intelligence agencies believe are Chinese spyware apps.
As such, all army personnel have been told to immediately uninstall any of these 41 apps they may have on their smartphone, as well as format their device for good measure.
1. Weibo, 2. WeChat, 3. SHAREit, 4. UC News, 5. UC Browser, 6. BeautyPlus, 7. NewsDog, 8. VivaVideo- QU Video Inc, 9. Parallel Space, 10. APUS Browser, 11. Perfect Corp, 12. Virus Cleaner (Hi Security Lab), 13. CM Browser, 14. Mi Community, 15. DU recorder, 16. Vault-Hide, 17. YouCam Makeup, 18. Mi Store, 19. CacheClear DU apps studio, 20. DU Battery Saver, 21. DU Cleaner, 22. DU Privacy, 23. 360 Security, 24.? DU Browser, 25. Clean Master - Cheetah Mobile, 26. Baidu Translate, 27. Baidu Map, 28. Wonder Camera, 29. ES File Explorer 30. Photo Wonder, 31. QQ International, 32. QQ Music, 33. QQ Mail, 34. QQ Player, 35. QQ NewsFeed, 36. WeSync, 37. QQ Security Centre, 38. SelfieCity, 39. Mail Master, 40. Mi Video call-Xiaomi, 41. QQ Launcher
These 41 apps supposedly send user data back to servers in China, which Indian intelligence believes could be used to carry out cyber attacks against the country. TrueCaller was in the previous list issued in December, but it seems to have been removed since, after their protest that they¡¯re headquartered in Sweden.