The report spoke of breaches that can create cyber threats by harvesting user data for profiling to conduct targeted cyber attacks on Indian users.
WATCH VIDEO: BGMI Ban REAL REASON: Govt officials say it’s a BIG CYBER THREAT for India
According to a senior government official, the app has several problems, but the most important one is that it communicates with servers directly or indirectly located in China. Sources also confirmed that other rebranded apps are also communicating with servers in China and are under scrutiny.
The move to ask Google to remove the app from the Play Store came after multiple rounds of analysis by Indian agencies.
“The analysis also showed that this app has malicious code and also gains a number of critical privileges, which could be used to compromise user data for camera/microphone monitoring, location tracking and malicious network activities,” a senior official told News18 government official. under the condition of anonymity.
“Such applications are detrimental to India’s sovereignty and integrity and can be very dangerous to India’s security grid. The details were shared with us and immediate action was taken without any delay by the government,” an official working in Meity told News18.
The official order to ban BGMI from India is yet to come, but the process has already been started by Meity asking the concerned companies to remove it from app stores like Google Play.
The company will now represent its case and the final decision on the total ban will come out afterwards.
Developer Krafton said it is working to bring the game back. In a recent statement, the company said it is committed to the Indian market and is positive about the opportunities in the country. “At KRAFTON, the security and privacy of our users’ data is of the utmost importance to us. We have always complied with and will continue to comply with all laws and regulations in India, including data protection laws and regulations.”
Meanwhile, Google has officially announced that it has received an official order from the government to remove the game. “On receipt of the order, following due process, we notified the affected developer and blocked access to the app which remained available on the Play Store in India,” it said.
WATCH VIDEO: Thanks govt for banning BGMI, says NGO that told govt BGMI is same as PUBG Mobile
Rebranding won’t work
According to senior officials responsible for analyzing such apps, the banned Chinese apps have been rebranded in India, but without a server in the country. “These apps were relaunched in India like old wine in a new bottle, but they did not install any servers in India. They also collect data that can be misused, such as location, audio and access to other critical information. BGMI is also a revamped version of PUBG,” said a senior official. Earlier, too, the government banned some Chinese apps that were renamed and released under new names.
Constant observation
The government, through agencies, strictly monitors Chinese apps and analyzes them from time to time. The government has been constantly banning Chinese apps that allegedly violate various Indian rules. In February this year, 54 more Chinese-origin apps were banned, citing them as a “threat to India’s security” as border tensions continue. Most of these were copies of apps that had been banned by the government after the Galwan Valley conflict but had been rebranded and quietly relaunched in India. With the addition of 54 more banned apps, the total reaches 324, which includes the popular Tik Tok and PUBG (older version) which was forced to work with companies based outside China due to the ban in India. Read all the Latest news and Breaking news here