Xiaomi has clarified that its smartphones are not a security threat. The Chinese smartphone maker has made the clarification after the Indian Air Force (IAF) had issued a circular to its 175,000 personnel to shun the use of Xiaomi smartphones either by them, or their family members on suspicions that the company is using their phones to spy on its users on behalf of the Chinese government.
The company says that it offers opt-in secure internet service that is optional and users can turn them off whenever they wish. Xiaomi provides Mi cloud that enables users to back up and sync their data on cloud while it also offers cloud messaging that allows free text messaging among other Mi device. Xiaomi further stated that it does not collect any data associated with services such as Mi Cloud and Cloud Messaging until the user provides explicit consent by turning on the corresponding service(s).
Xiaomi also claimed that it uses high encryption and security standards including AES-128 standard to protect user data. It said that extremely strict access control policies with multiple authorizations is required for its engineers building services that access any personal data.
“We believe the advisory circular issued by IAF is based on events about 3 months back. It refers to the F-Secure test done on the Redmi 1S in July 2014 about the activation of our Cloud Messaging service (which enables users to send text messages for free, similar to other popular messaging services).
said Xiaomi in an official press release.
The company had announced last week that it is migrating user data from China to international servers. Xiaomi is planning to launch a local data center in India in 2015.