The British Army can no longer use WhatsApp for fear that Russia is hacking the platform to acquire confidential 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 explained.
A document from the Ministry of Defense confirming last night's ban developed that there were “significant security concerns” around the use of WhatsApp.
The order, effective immediately, comes after information emerged over the weekend that Russia was using data from UK mobile phones to target air strikes in Ukraine.
Last Sunday's cruise missile attack on a training camp for foreign fighters, which killed 35 and injured 134, began after UK numbers apparently “turned on” a Ukrainian telephone network covering the base.
The British newspaper article explained that high-level government ministers may now be under increased pressure to stop using WhatsApp for official affairs.
The Prime Minister, the Secretary of Defence, the Foreign Secretary and the Minister of the Interior 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” system was secure and that governments could not intercept personal messages and calls. But security sources said intelligence agents from the United Kingdom and the United States intercepted WhatsApp calls and located senders of messages for national security purposes. It is considered highly probable that Russia has acquired the same capacity.
THE ATTACK
At least 35 people were killed and 134 others were injured after a Russian rocket attack last night on a military center in western Ukraine, close to the Polish border and involving foreign instructors.
Maksym Kozytskyi, head of 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 injured.
The politician explained that “the Lviv region was hit by a rocket attack on the International Centre for the Maintenance of Peace and Security, which is located in the village, Starychi, in the Yavoriv district”.
At least two strong explosions were reported at the base, which is only 19 kilometers from the border with NATO member Poland.
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