Nowadays, most people use mobile phones for everything. There are countless applications that help people in their daily lives. Some of them are related to health. However, a researcher has discovered that these applications put users' personal data at risk.
Axelle Apεvrille, a principal researcher at Fortinet, discovered some malicious Android apps that target people with diabetes.
Hackers often use health-related apps to steal users' personal data or to install malicious programs.
One of the malicious applications discovered by the researcher claims to be able to predict the lifespan of users. All the user is answer various questions about their health. However, these answers are sent to a remote server, which the users are not aware of.
Another diabetes-related app is even more dangerous. Users can download it for free, but in order for it to work properly, other apps must be downloaded, which have adware.
"I couldn't access the app until I agreed to download apps that are full of pop-up ads," Apvrille said.
Meanwhile, the app has thousands of downloads.
Finally, another app, which supposedly provides diabetes advice, tracks all the user's movements. It has access to GPS, IP address, other applications on the device, etc., resulting in a violation of users' privacy. In addition, it displays pop-up ads to victims.
Users who have diabetes and need these apps are forced to accept the existence of these ads.
“Cybercriminals are profiting from this,” the researcher said.
Unfortunately, people are increasingly using these types of apps to manage their health problems. Criminals know this and are taking advantage of it. They are constantly creating malicious apps to attract more victims. In this way, they gain access to sensitive personal information, especially that related to the health status of the users.
Hackers are already selling victims' medical records on dark web forums. Through the malicious applications they create, they obtain more data.
