Spy agencies warn troops of threat from Chinese phones

Amid the ongoing military standoff with China on the Line of Actual Control, defence intelligence agencies have issued a strong advisory to formations to ensure that the troops are not using Chinese mobile phones.
“Formations and units are to sensitise their personnel through various forms and channels to exercise caution with such (Chinese) mobile phone devices,” the advisory issued by the defence intelligence agencies said. In the advisory accessed by ANI, the military spy agencies asked the formations to “discourage troops and their families from purchasing or using phones from countries hostile to India.”
The forces issued the advisory as there have been cases where malware and spyware have allegedly been found in Chinese-origin mobile phones by agencies, the sources said.The spy agencies have asked the units and formations to “carry out the transition to other phones against the phones” mentioned in the list attached with the advisory.
The Chinese mobile phones available in the commercial market in the country include Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, One Plus, Honor, Real Me, ZTE, Gionee, ASUS and Infinix.
The spy agencies have been very active against Chinese mobile phone applications also in the past as multiple such applications were deleted from military personnel’s phones.
The defence forces have also stopped using Chinese mobile phones and applications on their devices.
India and China have been engaged in a military standoff since March April 2020 and have deployed heavily against each other on the LAC in Eastern Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.