NEW DELHI – The Indian Army issued an advisory on Sunday, warning thatChinese hackers could extract data from digital platforms such as WhatsApp.

A video posted on Twitter by the army’s official handle, AdditionalDirectorate General of Public Interface (ADGPI), said: “The Chinese use allkinds of platforms to penetrate your digital world. WhatsApp groups are anew way of hacking into your system. Chinese numbers starting with +86barge into your groups and start extracting all the data.”

Issued in “service interest”, the force also asked people to regularlycheck their online groups and scrutinise unknown numbers. “Destroy the SIMcard if you change your number, and delete your Whatsapp on that number.”the video, which was retweeted by the defence ministry, said.

Last year Indian Army had warned the force’s communications system isriddled with security flaws and could be infected with Chinese malware thatcan bring down India’s military network.

The ADB report had also highlighted the need for military-grade security toprotect data and made a case for utilising software-based encryption as anadditional security feature.