A group member changed the number he was using for WhatsApp, letting adversaries covertly enter the group.
New Delhi: A recent incident of leaking of information from a WhatsApp group that had serving and former Indian army staff in it, has resulted in the compromising of certain information related to the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength and equipment of units and formations of the armed force, technically known as ORBAT or Order of Battle in military terms.
The WhatsApp group had, among others, members of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. According to initial information, one of the group members changed the number that he was using as his WhatsApp number. This action was used by the adversaries to covertly enter the WhatsApp group and get access to information that was shared among the group members. No official confirmation has been revealed regarding the antecedent of the said adversaries.
The information that was compromised, and likely is in the hands of unintended recipients, was of “sensitive” nature. Since it has been termed as “compromised”, the same information is of no use to the recipients as protocols that are in place to deal with such eventualities call for cancelling/rescinding all such orders, information that are deemed to be compromised. The group was being used by the army officers to share insights, feedback about the topics that they were studying and researching on.
Following this incident, the army headquarters has issued a series of guidelines to its officials that includes regular checking of the credentials of the individuals that are members of the WhatsApp group, strict prohibition on sharing official data, letters, policy related documents on any group and clear instructions to exit the group where such information is being shared apart from other instructions of generic nature.
While hacking of computer networks or trying to extract information by impersonating or through honey trap or spoofing has happened in the past, this is for the first time that military related information has leaked in this way. One of the most high profile alleged targeting of an Indian asset by using the method of honey trap had taken place in 2018 when a 27-year-old scientist, who was employed with Brahmos Aerospace, was allegedly honey-trapped through the use of Facebook profile. The scientist at that time was working for hydraulics-pneumatics and warhead integration in the Production department of the project. He was also honoured with the “young researcher award” by DRDO in 2017.
In 2020, The Sunday Guardian had revealed how the Pakistan Military Intelligence (MI) was recruiting young, educated female graduates from premier colleges of the country and drafting them into the job of intelligence gathering, primarily from India. These newly recruited individuals, among others, had been taught the art of gathering information from Indian army officials posted in critical areas.
The Sunday Guardian had accessed the profile of one such lady officer who was recruited into the service in 2017. The 28-year-old individual, who was a management graduate from the International Islamic University, Islamabad, had emerged as one of the top most experts on India due to her “impressive’” ability to gather information from officers and jawans.
She, at the time, was a part of 414 INT desk of the Directorate for Military Intelligence, GHQ, Rawalpindi, that focuses on gathering critical information related to India and the movement of troops along the border areas. The desk at that time was headed by Major Omer Zeb Khan who was also handling 206 SVY that looks after Afghanistan.
This lady officer, who visited China very frequently as her passport details and travel plans accessed by The Sunday Guardian showed, elicited information from unsuspecting jawans by dialling the landline numbers of army offices listed on the Indian army website. In one of her conversations that she had with an army official in one of the border areas, she pretended that she was calling from the Ministry of Defence, New Delhi. When the official answered the landline number, she told him, in impeccable Hindi, that she was seeking the present location of a particular unit. In a show of confidence, she told the officials to search for the information sought even as she waited and told him that she will call again after a few minutes, which she did.
She also called a local district education officer in Karu, Leh, to know about the ground situation, pretending to be a journalism student from Delhi University. In another conversation, she called the residence landline number of a senior army officer and with complete authority, asked the jawan who took the call, about the current whereabouts of his “sahib” and asked him if a particular unit was still under him in a particular sector and which other units were there in the sector. Not surprisingly, the unsuspecting and visibly intimidated jawan shared all the information with her.
Impressed by her capabilities, this particular female officer is now working in close tandem with Chinese officials and has spent a considerable time in China. The cover that she uses to go to China frequently is “educational assistance” that she receives from CPEC-related projects.