The British military can no longer use WhatsApp over fears that Russia is hacking the platform to acquire sensitive information.
All personnel, from senior officers to junior soldiers, must stop using the telephone messaging service for professional purposes or face disciplinary action, the Daily Mail newspaper explained.
A Ministry of Defense document confirming the ban made last night developed that there were “significant security concerns” around the use of WhatsApp.
The order, effective immediately, comes after reports emerged over the weekend that Russia was using UK mobile phone data to select targets for air strikes in Ukraine.
Last Sunday’s cruise missile attack on a training camp for foreign fighters, which killed 35 and wounded 134, was It started after UK numbers apparently “turned on” a Ukrainian phone network covering the base.
The British newspaper note explained that high-level government ministers may now be under greater pressure to stop using WhatsApp for official business.
The Prime Minister, Defense Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Interior Minister all use the platform, and it is suspected that their communications may have been attacked by the Kremlin.
Last night, WhatsApp insisted that its “end-to-end encryption” was secure and that governments could not intercept personal messages and calls. But security sources said UK and US intelligence agents intercepted WhatsApp calls and traced message senders for national security purposes. It is considered very likely that Russia has acquired the same capability.
THE ATTACK
At least 35 people were killed and 134 others were injured. after a Russian rocket attack last night against a military center in western Ukraine, close to the border with Poland and in which there were foreign instructors.
Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the state administration in the Ukrainian city of Lviv (also called Lviv), a city close to the attack, confirmed the figures, raising the previous report that indicated nine deaths and 57 wounded.
The political official explained that “the Lviv region was hit by a rocket attack on the International Center for Peacekeeping and Securitywhich is located in the village, Starychi, in the district of Yavoriv”.
At least two loud explosions were reported at the base, which is just 19 kilometers from the border with Poland, a NATO member country.
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