Android apps are ‘secretly colluding’ to spy on the private lives of MILLIONS of users
Researchers say that this could lead to security breaches and data leaks
Apps can share geolocation data, contacts and other private information
Apps designed around the personalisation of ringtones, widgets and emojis are most at risk of security breaches
By HARRY PETTIT
DailyMail.com
3 April 2017
Android apps are ‘secretly colluding’ to share information with one another without asking for permission, new research has found.
This data sharing could lead to security breaches with user location, contact details and other private information at risk.
Apps designed around the personalisation of ringtones, widgets, and emojis are the most at risk, the researchers said.
In a study of more than 100,000 of Google Play’s most popular apps, the team found 23,495 colluding pairs of apps.
Once downloaded, apps can communicate with one another without user permission, and some take advantage of this feature to read personal data.
‘Apps that don’t have a good reason to ask for extra permissions sometimes don’t bother. Instead, they manage to get information through other apps,’ study coauthor Professor Gang Wang, a computer scientist at Virginia Tech University, told New Scientist.
The types of threats arising from app data sharing fall into two major categories, the team said.
User data could be breached using a malware app that is specifically designed to launch a cyberattack, or using normal apps that simply allow for collusion.
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