Swiss Army Banned The 'WhatsApp' of Security And Privacy concerns
Swiss Army has warned its army to use the foreign Messenger Apps like WhatsApp and Telegram due to security and privacy concerns.
Instead of using the foreign social media Apps to make communicate with each other, the army told his soldiers to use the private-owned country App which is used for messenger ‘Threema’ is a swiss App.
Highlighted Facts
- The army personal has been told by the Swiss army to use social media apps that are foreign like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram.
- The primary reason that was told was the capability of the US authority to access the data and will reveal the privacy of individuals.
- The spokesperson of the Swiss Army has told about the order mere a recommendation.
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Due to data protection concerns, the Swiss army has told to all its soldiers to replace the use of messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Signal, and Telegram. It was said as per the new rules that came into effect from December in which the use of Own native Apps was promoted to use in place of foreign Apps.
In December, the commanders and chief of the army staff were told via an email that all the troops should use the private made App that is named ‘Threema’ and the main cause of this was cited as the serious conce5rn over privacy matters.
The email was consist of the statement that was sowing the ban over such apps having the foreign address and use of the native apps also said “All other services are no longer permitted” but still it is unclear about the sanctions for the soldiers who do not switch the use of the app from foreign to private.
Swiss military official spokesperson Daniel Reist told the AFP “The recommendation applies to everyone in the army, including new conscripts and those returning for refresher training.” The Swiss Authority also cited the need to secure communications as Swiss soldiers needed to operate in multiple regions in a way to support the response of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Alpine country.
They also said about the WhatsApp that is owned by The US-based Company Facebook that is named currently as ‘Meta’ and also it will act in according to the acts of the government and it can easily track where the servers are located.
It also has been told that the ‘Threema’ does not have its servers in the United States and hence it would not be liable to stand in any court of such courts.
India’s Work
A similar issue over the reason of the security reason of data and national security has been raised in Indian, and also the news has been spread to all the officials of the military that the foreign apps might compromise the security.
Recently in the past year in 2020, the central government of India has banned the many apps of the Chinese and other country apps including g Facebook and PUbG, Zoom, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, etc. also Indian Army asked its soldiers to ban such apps.
Also in the step that has been taken by the Indian army for the security purpose of the defence of India, the Indian army launched an App called the ‘Army Secure IndiGeneous Messaging application’ this App can be used on smartphones using the internal army network.
Defence Ministry Statement
The Indian Defence Ministry also said about the issue “ASIGMAis being deployed on the army’s internal network as a replacement for the army-wide area network (AWAN) messaging Application which has been in service for the past 15 years.”
Personal Opinion
In the recent world full of online and Networking sources, privacy and data leakage has become a primary concern for all the countries including India too. Our suspicious information can be revealed by the Networking and application using the location and many other functions hence the use of the foreign apps by the defence official should be replaced by the Indigenous Application system.
