Amid the India-China standoff at LAC in eastern Ladakh, the Intelligence agencies of India have suggested the government to ban or advise people to stop using several apps from China. The agencies claimed that the apps are not safe and are extracting a large amount of data outside India.
As per the reports of Hindustan times, the list of applications sent to the government by the agency includes video conferencing app Zoom, short-video app TikTok, and other utility and content apps such as UC Browser, Xender, SHAREit, and Clean-master.
A government official stated that the recommendation made by the intelligence has been supported by the National Security Council Secretariat agreeing with the fact that these apps can be dangerous to India’s internal security.
The official revealing about the parameters and the risks attached to each app said, “The discussions on the recommendations are continuing.”
The 52 apps flagged by the intelligence report are:
- TikTok
- Vault-Hide
- Vigo Video
- Bigo Live
- SHAREit
- UC News
- UC Browser
- BeautyPlus
- Xender
- ClubFactory
- Helo
- LIKE
- Kwai
- ROMWE
- SHEIN
- NewsDog
- Photo Wonder
- APUS Browser
- VivaVideo- QU Video Inc
- Perfect Corp
- CM Browser
- Virus Cleaner (Hi Security Lab)
- Mi Community
- DU recorder
- YouCam Makeup
- Mi Store
- 360 Security
- DU Battery Saver
- DU Browser
- DU Cleaner
- DU Privacy
- Clean Master – Cheetah
- CacheClear DU apps studio
- Baidu Translate
- Baidu Map
- Wonder Camera
- ES File Explorer
- QQ International
- QQ Launcher
- QQ Security Centre
- QQ Player
- QQ Music
- QQ Mail
- QQ NewsFeed
- WeSync
- SelfieCity
- Clash of Kings
- Mail Master
- Mi Video call-Xiaomi
- Parallel Space
The Home Ministry had issued an advisory on the use of the video-conferencing app Zoom in the month of April on the recommendation of the national cybersecurity agency Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-in). Apart from India, Taiwan had also prevented its government agencies from using the app. The German Foreign Ministry had also restricted use of Zoom to emergency situations on personal computers and the United States suggested it’s Senate members use other modes of communications. The company later responded to the advisory stating that it is serious about the user’s security.
The call for a ban against certain Chinese mobile apps has been witnessed from time to time on the suspicion of the mobile app companies compromising with the user’s data. And companies who have produced apps like Tik Tok, that is owned and operated by ByteDance have also issued denials. Despite that many officials agree that many android or IOS apps which are either developed by Chinese officials or launched by a company with Chinese links possess the potential to be used as spyware or other malicious ware.
Also, several reports have emerged that the security agencies had advised security personnel to refrain from using them in view of the ‘detrimental impact that this could have on data security’.
