Hacker group Anonymous claims that Reliance Jio is secretly selling user call data to targeted ad networks in the US and Singapore.
BusinessLine reports that the group which is known to hack companies and governments to expose them, said that Jio apps My Jio and Jio Dialer, are sending user information to an ad network called Mad-Me.
The group says that data being sent overseas is encrypted in order to prevent the leaking of these packets.
Image Courtesy: NDTV
Anonymous in blog post has listed step-by-step instructions that can be used by anyone to verify their claim. The hacker group also posted a screenshot that allegedly proves the data is being sent overseas.
“From the above it is clear that Jio app is using third party SDK and not verifying what data the SDK is collecting and where it is sending. This violates the [sic] user privacy,” claims Anonymous.
Responding to the allegations made by Anonymous, Reliance Jio Infocomm spokesperson said, “Jio takes its customers’ security and privacy very seriously. In keeping with its highest standards of governance, Jio does not share its customers’ data with any other entity.”
Back in 2015, Anonymous group had claimed that Jio was sending user data to Chinese IP, without even bothering to encrypt it. They alleged that Jio chat app was collecting user data and leaking it to the Chinese.
However, the company down-right dismissed these allegations. “This is a common practice for any app wishing to provide location-based services within China. However, when used Globally, Jio Chat (outside of China) always uses Google Maps,” the company said.
