Android: Lens applications climb the top of the ranking
The 10 most popular camera lens applications Android spy on users and transmit data to advertisers, cyber criminals and governments, warns US computer security company.
When installing them, sneaky apps ask the user to give them access to all their personal data, GPS and Wi-Fi, says SnoopWall, which specializes in data protection programs.
Most users accept the terms of use without reading the fine print, so they do not realize what permissions they have granted to the applications.
Ο Gary Milivsky, founder of SnoopWall and former adviser to the US government in issues cyber defense, looked at the ten most popular flashlight apps for Android, and found that “everything seems to have access to data far beyond the needs of a simple lens».
When the researcher traced the data the apps were transmitting, he discovered that the recipients were usually in the China, India and Russia.
«It seems they use them for criminal activities. But if a government wants to collect information about US citizens, that would be a good way, since everyone has a lens app installed» he said Milivski on the American Fox News Network.
The complete list of sneaky applications is available on the Snoopwall website.
From the lens to the advertisers
Following complaints from users, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year sued Brightest Flashlight, a applications that did not inform users that it transmits personal data to advertisers.
Under an extra-judicial agreement with the FTC, software creators were forced to change it so that privacy policy appears before the implementation of the application.
Privacy policy is a 25 page document that states that the app records the user's gestures with GPS and collects all his or her personal data. The problem is that most users do not bother to read the whole text.
According to Milivski, the Brightest Flashlight is currently the second most popular Android Lens app with 100 million users.
Σε πολλές περιπτώσεις, επισημαίνει η SnoopWall, η απεγκατάσταση των κατασκοπευτικών app δεν είναι αρκετή, οπότε απαιτείται η διαγραφή όλων των δεδομένων και η επαναφορά της συσκευής στις factory settings.
As for iOS and Windows devices, the company says that lens applications in these two operating systems can behave in the same way, but they are more difficult to hide.
Milivsky recommends users download a size apple under 100 kilobyte, as sneaky apps usually have larger files, from 1,2 to 5 megabytes.
Snoopwall has developed a 72 kilobyte lens application for which it asserts that it does nothing beyond brightening.
Source: tovima.gr
