British Army personnel have been warned that Russia will be looking to "pull information" from their mobile phones - including loved ones' personal details - while they train as part of a large-scale Nato exercise in Northern Europe.
The troops, currently stationed in Estonia, are knee-deep in Nato's Steadfast Defender 2024 - a wide-ranging training exercise set to gear up the bloc for war with Putin's forces, set to finish at the end of this month.
Lieutenant Colonel Grant Brown has warned soldiers about the looming threats, saying: "We must be under no illusions - Russia will be watching us as we prepare, as we deploy, and as we are operating in Europe.
"That's a good thing, it is the whole point of this deployment.
Lieutenant Colonel Grant Brown said Russia "will be watching us as we prepare"
PA/Reuters
"But it will mean a rigorous approach to things like the use of mobile phones while out in theatre.
"We must expect Russian agents to be conducting an electronic collect on us while there, so the measures we will have in place are designed to protect all of us."
As simulated battle exercises unfolded in the Estonian village of Nurmsi this weekend, one soldier in the British Army's airborne signaller squadron said that "in terms of personal devices", the main threats remain "geolocation" and "pulling information from mobile phones".
"Typically what you would see particularly in the Operation Herrick days [the code-name for the Afghanistan campaign], is them getting access to personal contact details of loved ones at home and just trying to use that against us.
MORE LIKE THIS:
British forces were pictured in the far north as the Northern Lights swept across Europe this weekend
Ministry of Defence
"They’re just trying to use any asset that is available to them... So, again, it's why it's very important to stick to the guidance that's pushed out from above," the soldier told the Times.
The threats follow a persistent pattern of cyber-espionage from Putin's agents; in 2017, Estonian forces at a base just over the Russian border had claimed "strange things" were happening to their phones - just before troops from France and the UK were set to arrive.
A subsequent investigation revealed that Russian snoopers had been using a transportable antenna to scour soldiers' phones in order to steal and erase their data.
The tech threats had even prompted Estonian soldiers to be told to jump into lakes during operations in order to ensure they were not carrying any at-risk devices or phones.
Nato forces are knee-deep in a training regime set to prepare them for war with Putin's troops
Reuters
British Army personnel receive strict guidelines on mobile phone use, which tells them to never post details on social media "about your work that could be used by criminals, terrorists or potential enemies to harm you or your colleagues".
The diktat continues: "Remember, even a restricted online profile, visible only to 'friends', can be easily accessed by uninvited third parties."
