Popular Android apps are stealing data

The ten most popular flashlight apps for Android devices spy on users and transmit data to advertisers, cybercriminals and governments, warns an American computer security company. 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.

,Milevsky told the American network Fox News.

The full list of rogue apps is available on the Snoopwall website.

From the lens to advertisersFollowing 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, requiring a complete wipe of all data and a factory reset. As for iOS and Windows devices, the company says that flashlight apps on those two operating systems can behave in the same way, but are harder 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