Android: Flashlight apps climb to the top of the rankings
The ten most popular flashlight apps for Android are spying on users and transmitting data to advertisers, cybercriminals and governments, a US computer security firm warns.
Upon installation, the insidious apps ask the user to give them access to all personal data, GPS and the Wi-Fi network, notes SnoopWall, a company specializing in data protection programs.
Most users accept the terms of use without reading the fine print, so they don't realize what permissions they have granted to the applications.
Gary Milevsky, founder of SnoopWall and former US government cybersecurity advisor, examined the ten most popular flashlight apps for Android, and found that “all seem to access data far beyond the needs of a simple flashlight.”
When the researcher tracked the data transmitted by the apps, he discovered that the recipients are usually located in China, India, and Russia.
" It seems like they're using it for criminal activities. But if a government wants to collect information on American citizens, this would be a good way, since everyone has a flashlight app installed, " Milevsky told the American network Fox News
The full list of rogue apps is available on the Snoopwall website.
From the lens to advertisers
Following complaints from users, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year sued the owners of Brightest Flashlight, an app that failed to inform users that it was transmitting personal data to advertisers.
As part of an out-of-court settlement with the FTC, the software's creators were required to change it so that the privacy policy would appear before the application was run.
The privacy policy is a 25-page document that discloses that the app records the user's movements with GPS and collects all of their personal data. The problem is that most users don't bother to read the entire text.
According to Milevsky, Brightest Flashlight remains the second most popular flashlight app for Android today with 100 million users.
In many cases, SnoopWall points out, uninstalling spy apps is not enough, so deleting all data and restoring the device to factory settings is required.
As for iOS and Windows devices, the company says that while flashlight apps on these two operating systems can behave the same way, they are more difficult to hide.
Milevsky recommends users download flashlight apps that are under 100 kilobytes in size, as rogue apps typically have larger files, ranging from 1.2 to 5 megabytes.
Snoopwall has developed a 72 kilobyte flashlight app that it claims does nothing more than shine a light.
Source: tovima.gr
