Even though many of us rely on apps to entertain us, guide us, manage our exercise, and connect with family and friends, they are notoriously hard to trust.
In an age when technology is constantly evolving, it is almost impossible to tell if a certain app is tracking the user at face value, and no security measures are foolproof since technology is constantly evolving.
Even though the app behaves well today if the company behind the app is sold, the direction of the company changes, or if a flaw results in the app becoming compromised, the app could become a bad actor tomorrow.
Having said that, the sheer number of mobile apps is dizzying, as are their privacy policies; however, smartphone apps are joyous, laugh-inducing, and sometimes even catch the attention of the world due to their viral nature.
A new privacy setting on Android and iOS for Android and iOS can prevent apps from tracking users' data and will allow them to delete the data Google has saved about their data, along with ways to find and delete this data.
A user in most cases consents to sharing their information with other apps, and they enable device permissions with their consent as well.
The reason why apps require such permissions is usually for very good reason.
It is common for cloud-based apps to gain access to the camera, location, data, and contacts on the user's phone.
Users never know how much sensitive information might be intercepted by cloud-based apps.
As a consequence, if unknowingly, employees give the keys to the company's back door to hackers, fraudsters, and spies, particularly if their company naively uses the same login information for external apps as it uses for internal apps, then the company is giving these nefarious types of people the keys.
Password managers are apps that keep all your passwords in one place, encrypted, password-protected and they generate and remember strong passwords for you.
Several apps will save passwords for you, including Google Chrome and Samsung's proprietary phone app, but security experts always advise using a password manager to store passwords.
According to 46 per cent of Android apps and 25 per cent of iOS apps, camera access was the most commonly requested common risky permission.
It was followed closely by location tracking, which was requested by 45 per cent of Android apps and 25 per cent of iOS apps.
There was 25 per cent of Android apps requested the ability to record audio files, while 9 per cent did for iOS apps.
Another 15 per cent of Android apps asked for the ability to read SMS messages, as well as 10 per cent of Android apps asked for the ability to see call logs.
Explore these four trending apps that might compromise your personal information, along with valuable tips to ensure a secure experience with smartphone applications.
As is the case with Voilà AI Artist, it is unclear how the app uses users' likenesses after it takes a picture.
Users are free to share their User Content with the app as long as they are not a commercial entity.
Ensure that the user account is only visible to people the user knows in real life, and opt out of targeted ads and tracking, as well as ensure that only the app sees what users do.
This Cyber News was published on www.cysecurity.news. Publication date: Mon, 18 Dec 2023 14:28:05 +0000