According to Hindustan Times, the army recently issued an advisory to its men alerting them about the risk of being automatically added to WhatsApp groups created by intelligence operatives from the neighbouring country, after a soldier reported that he was added to one such group without his consent, said one of the officials cited above.

Another official told the leading daily that officers holding critical appointments have been asked not to share any information on the messaging service, they have also been asked to not share any official communication on WhatsApp. According to the advisory, “A case has come to notice wherein one army pers (personnel) was automatically added to a Whatsapp gp by a suspected Pak No…The indl (individual) with presence of mind took the screenshot and exited the gp.” The development showed that Pakistani operatives were “actively targeting” Army personnel, the advisory said.

Former army vice-lieutenant general AS Lamba (retd) told the Hindustan Times, “As far as the armed forces are concerned, security is paramount no matter what the platform. One needs to be specially careful on social media and messaging services as these are the easiest way to subvert an individual or group of individuals in order to collate sensitive information.”