Soldiers with top-secret clearances say they were forced to use an app that could endanger them

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2019/11/12/soldiers-with-top-secret-clearances-were-forced-use-an-app-that-could-endanger-them-they-say/

By Alex Horton
The Washington Post
November 12, 2019

Soldiers in an intelligence unit with top-secret clearances were ordered by
their commander to download an information app, triggering fear their secretive
work could be harnessed and exploited by adversary governments, soldiers in the
unit told The Washington Post.

Army Col. Deitra L. Trotter, the commander of Fort Hood’s 504th Military
Intelligence Brigade, told her soldiers in late October a new app developed for
the unit could provide weather updates, training changes and other logistics.
She then told the soldiers to download it onto their personal smartphones,
according to the Texas-based soldiers in the unit.

But the soldiers — many of whom have jobs in interrogation, human intelligence
and counterintelligence — soon noticed that the app’s terms of service said it
could collect substantial amounts of personal data and that the developer has a
presence overseas.

That caused widespread concern that a hack could put individuals and missions
worldwide at risk, soldiers in the unit said.

“We do top-secret work,” said one noncommissioned officer, who like others spoke
on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution by their chain of
command. “If our personal information is being put out there to a foreign power,
what can they get from our brigade?”

[...]

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