Uninstall Mitron app, it can put personal information at risk: Maharashtra Cyber Cell

Maharashtra Cyber Cell issued an advisory against the usage of short video making app Mitron, which was recently removed from the Google Play Store. "Users are advised to uninstall this app as it can put your personal information and data at risk," it said.

Mitron had been pitched as an Indian alternative to popular Chinese app Tik Tok. However, later it was found to be a re-packaged version of Tik Tok App that was sourced back to Pakistan. The new app that shot to fame due to the growing sentiment against Chinese hardware and software. Now, the Maharashtra Cyber Cell department has asked people, who have installed the app on their phone to uninstall it due to security concerns.

The advisory was posted online on Twitter with various reasons stating why the app is not safe and should be uninstalled from all phones.The advisory clearly states, “As a precautionary measure, users are advised to uninstall this app as it can put your personal information and data to risk.”

One of the biggest reasons, the cyber cell quoted was that the app does ask the user to log in using Google account but the app never used it. Instead, the app used a unique ID to let the user log in. This unique ID is easily available publicly in the page source.

They also claimed that Mitron didn’t use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol for the login. Skipping this could let hackers take control of the account and send messages, follow others and even comment on their behalf.

Google Play Store had taken down the app earlier this week so no new users can download the app. However, this advisory will be helpful for people who have already downloaded the application on their phone. The app was already downloaded by 50 lakh people before Google could take it down from the Play Store.

Another app that was built to cater to the growing sentiment against China was ‘Remove China Apps’ which has also been taken down by Google Play Store. The app, as the name clearly suggests, was built to remove apps that are based in China. It was built by an Indian firm OneTouch AppLabs.

Since late May, the app had been downloaded over 50 lakh times and had been garnering more and more downloads. However, it has now been taken down from Google Play Store and is no longer showing up in search results.