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  • 2014-10-01 (xsd:date)
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  • Flashlight Apps Harbor Data-Stealing Malware? (en)
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  • On 1 October 2014, cybersecurity company SnoopWall released a threat assessment report discussing flashlight apps for Android devices and security threats they may pose. Although the report was released to the accompaniment of alarmist news stories about how some flashlight apps could potentially access banking information and cell phone video cameras and send users' personal information to cybercriminals abroad in India, China, and Russia, the SnoopWall report itself neither stated nor offered evidence that such activity was taking place. That report merely charted the permissions accessed by the top ten Android flashlight apps and offered some tips about best practices for increasing privacy and security on your device without spending any money. It is indeed the case that a number of flashlight apps can and do request access to permissions and data on users' cell phones that seemingly has nothing to do with the ordinary functioning of the app, and that such permissions could theoretically enable criminals to obtain sensitive personal information from cell phone users. However: As the Daily Dot observed of the hysteria generated by SnoopWall’s report, it all appeared to be part of a calculated fear-driven marketing ploy for SnoopWall's own products: SnoopWall's threat assessment report suggested that flashlight apps are more prone to requesting access to unneeded permissions and data than any other category of app, but as Wired noted, many other types of apps want access to information they probably shouldn't, and the fact that a given app has access to data doesn't necessarily mean the app is actually stealing that data and transmitting it to internatonal cybercriminals. It may be the case, though, that you're paying for your free app by unwittingly allowing your personal data to be shared with marketers: All in all, as the Guardian noted, developers are often asking for far greater power over a user's device, in order to collect data and sell it on to marketers and ad networks. It's the latest reminder that if you're not paying for an app, its business model may well involve selling your data. Or, as Jeff Werner of the Northwest Florida Daily News observed: One flashlight app developer, Goldenshores Technologies (makers of the Brightest Flashlight app for Android), settled a complaint with the FTC in 2014 over their collecting location data and unique device IDs from users' devices and sharing that data with advertisers. So when it comes to apps — even free ones — caveat emptor. (en)
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