The Indian government on recommendation of intelligence agencies has announced a list of mobile apps on both android and iOs which are reported as Chinese spyware. In big war of data, cyber security is a big concern these days. These Chinese apps have the potential to carry out cyber attack against India.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has warned Indian government that China could be collecting vital information about the Indian security installations through its popular mobile phone apps and devices which are widely used. Cyber breach in security is very common in this digital age we are living.
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Army and defence personnel have been asked to immediately uninstall the 42 mobile apps as well as format their smartphones. This is not the first time that the government has issued warnings against Chinese apps. Some of these Chinese apps are – Weibo, WeChat, ShareIT, True Caller, UC News, UC Browser, Beauty Plus, 360 Security, DU Cleaner, DU Battery Saver, We Sync, QQ Launcher, ES File Explorer, You Cam Makeup, SelfieCity, MI Community, Vault Hide – NQ Mobile Security, Baidu Translate and many more.
TrueCaller mobile app has replied to the issue. It said: "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."
There is a huge possibility of these Chinese apps transmitting sensitive personal data of Indian citizens to the Chinese authorities, which could be a major security disaster, the advisory states. Defence personnels are also advised not to use Chinese manufactured phones like Xiomi.
Thus, being aware citizens we must be resilient towards cyber attacks and keep uninstalling such malicious Chinese apps. Your data is your personal information, you must be vigilant towards its theft. Stay aware, Stay alert.
– by Shaurya Ritwik, Shaurya is Sub-Editor at NewsGram and writes on Geo-politcs, Culture, Indology and Business. Twitter Handle – @shauryaritwik