1.7M mobile apps analyzed: Users tracked and put at risk, and it's unjustified
Summary: Network security company Juniper Networks investigated 1.7 million mobile apps. It concluded that free apps cost us our privacy, expose us unnecessarily, and most app permissions are unjustified. By Violet Blue for Zero Day November 6, 201 ZDNet Juniper Networks' Mobile Threat Center (MTC) analyzed over 1.7 million apps on the Google Play market from March 2011 to September 2012. Juniper found that most app users are being tracked, surveilled and put at risk for exposure, and this activity is disturbingly unjustified by the majority of app makers. Juniper wrote, "We found a significant number of applications contain permissions and capabilities that could expose sensitive data or access device functionality that they might not need." Free apps, in particular, Juniper said, "are 401 percent more likely to track location and 314 percent more likely to access user address books than their paid counterparts." Most smartphone owners download lots of applications, and the number of downloads is expected to reach upward of 45 billion in 2012 (21 billion going to Apple apps). It's widely believed that free apps take and collect more data - such as tracking user location - than users are comfortable with. ... http://www.zdnet.com/1-7m-mobile-apps-analyzed-users-tracked-and-put-at-risk-and-its-unjustified-7000006885/ _______________________________________________ Please be sure to include a URL to the article. Reply to the sender with a "Thank you" if you like this post. _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
