Apps may make life more convenient, but they are also invading users’ privacy, a recent inquiry has uncovered.
An 18-month investigation by Juniper Networks of more than 1.7
million apps available on Google Play has revealed users may be sharing
more of their personal information than they realize.
“While these apps make our lives easier, they also give a wider group
of application developers and advertising networks the ability to
collect information about our activities and leverage the functionality
of our devices,” the network security company’s blog reads.
“Even though a list of permissions is presented when installing an app,
most people don’t understand what they are agreeing to or have the
proper information needed to make educated decisions about which apps to
trust.”
Free apps are the worst privacy offenders — they are 401 percent more
likely to track a user’s location and 314 percent more likely to access
a user address books than their paid peers, the company found.
Top Findings of the Investigation Are:
• 24.14 percent of free apps have permission to track user location, while only 6.01 percent of paid apps have this ability;
• 6.72 percent of free apps have permission to access user address books, while 2.14 percent of paid apps do;
• 2.64 percent of free apps have permission to silently send text messages, whereas 1.45 percent of paid apps can;
• 6.39 percent of free apps have permission to clandestinely initiate
calls in the background, while only 1.88 percent of paid apps do; and
• 5.53 percent of free apps have permission to access the device
camera, whereas only 2.11 percent of paid apps have this access.
While collection of information through apps is used by advertisers
for marketing purposes, that is not always the reason behind the
amassing of data. Juniper analyzed 683,238 app manifests, discovering
the percentage of apps with the top five ad networks is 24.14 percent
lower than the total number tracking location.
“This leads us to believe there are several apps
collecting information for reasons less apparent than advertising,”
Juniper’s report says.
One of those reasons could be to gain access to users’ devices. In
some cases, permissions are being requested by apps that leave users
vulnerable to covert outgoing calls and SMS messages and a device’s
camera being used.
“An application that can clandestinely initiate a phone call could be
used to silently listen to ambient conversations within hearing
distance of a mobile device,” the post says. “Similarly, access to the
device camera could enable a third party to obtain video and pictures of
the area where the device is present.”
In other words, some apps are a ruse used simply to siphon sensitive
information from a Smartphone or tablet. Such apps can be used to call a
1-900 for instance.
The biggest offenders are cards and casino apps. According to
Juniper’s findings, 94 percent of such free apps have permission to make
outbound calls, 83.88 percent have permission to use the camera and
84.51 percent have permission to send SMS messages. There is no
description, however, on why “the apps would justifiably use this
capability.”
Juniper found, however, some apps had legitimate reasons for
requesting so much information from users, but simply failed to explain
why. In most cases, it was to increase functionality for the user.
Juniper has created a list of recommendations and improvements for
app providers that revolve around one central theme: offering users more
information.
“Helping people understand what is actually
occurring on their device and with their data has considerably more
value than a list of permissions,” Juniper’s report reads. “More
educated users means they are more comfortable installing apps and less
likely to uninstall once they see the number of permissions being
requested without explanation.”
Post from: SiteProNews
