After Honeytraps, Pakistani Intelligence has resorted to mobile apps on Android to snoop on Indian defence personals.
The Army had in February 2016 warned its personnel against downloading WeChat, Smesh and Lime applications and asked them to switch off location notification on phones in operational areas.
According to CNN-IBN investigation, one such app which was easily available on Google store, “SMESHAPP” was being extensively used by Pakistan intelligence agencies to snoop on Indian army personnel.
The investigation revealed that the app was also used during the Pathtankot Air Force base attacks earlier in January by the Pakistan militants. It helped them gain access to crucial information on the movement of troops.
Once installed, the app allowed a third party to access personal information such as phone logs, text messages and photographs stored on the compromised device. The spyware not only infected the smartphone but also affected the personal computers of soldiers.
The data collected by the app was reportedly stored on a server in Germany and is hosted by a man based out of Karachi.
The spyware was reportedly targeted at all branches of the armed forces, including the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
Google has removed the SmeshApp from Playstore for now.
