Even as the Government of India directed all field formations of the Army and paramilitary forces to delete certain apps created by Chinese companies or having Chinese links from their mobile phones, whether official or personal, Xiaomi India on Friday reiterated, "we take security and privacy very seriously." A Xiaomi spokesperson reaffirmed this fact in an email statement to India Today Tech adding that the company is "currently investigating the advisory."
A country wide advisory has been sent to all defense personnel warning of a cyber-attack through mobile phones. The advisory comes in the wake of inputs received by the Union Home Ministry from agencies like the R&AW and NTRO.
"As per reliable inputs, a number of android/iOS apps developed by Chinese developers or having Chinese links are reportedly either spyware or other malicious ware. Use of these apps by our force personnel can be detrimental to data security having implications on the force and national security," reads the advisory.
All personnel have been advised to immediately uninstall apps being dubbed as Chinese spyware and format their cellphones. As many as 42 apps figure in the list including TrueCaller, Weibo, WeChat, UC News, UC Browser and Baidu Maps. Popular Xiaomi apps like Mi Store, Mi Community and Mi Video Call that come pre-bundled on almost all Xiaomi-branded phones have also apparently been black listed.
style="text-align: justify;">"At Xiaomi, we take security and privacy very seriously. Our global e-commerce platforms and user data for all international users is located on Amazon AWS data centers in California and Singapore. We are currently investigating the advisory and would like to assure Mi Fans that we are fully committed to storing and transferring our users' data securely at all times," Xiaomi told India Today Tech.
It isn't clear whether any agency has reported any case of espionage against any of the aforementioned apps (of Xiaomi and others) in recent days but it surely isn't the first time that red flags have been raised over defence forces being targeted by China-based hackers. It's not the first time that red flags have been raised over India, in general, with regards to users' online security and privacy either.
The Government of India, earlier this year, had directed as many as 21 phone manufacturers -- a majority of them hailing from China -- to outline the procedures and processes adopted by them to ensure security and privacy of their users' data.
The Government's directive -- that came in early August -- came amid standoff between India and China over Doklam, something that has since been seemingly resolved by both the parties. Concerns over imports of Chinese IT and telecom products, however, still remain.
"Any device sold in the country should be compliant with global security standards. If companies fail to comply, further action will be taken," the Government of India had mandated.
