Where is the way out to a threat free world?

Hundreds of applications detected leaking private information

Did you ever realize that your favorite Android apps that you download so often can even leak your private information to third parties? If not, think again.

A study by Dasient, a California-based anti-malware firm, has caught the attention of many. The study revealed that there are many Android apps which are leaking your private information and details to remote web servers which unauthorized parties manage.

Of the 10,000 Android applications that the firm analyzed, 800 applications were found revealing information to third parties. In addition to this, the firm recognized 11 such applications which were sending unwanted SMS to premium numbers. It is needless to say that that users who download such apps end up paying high amount of bill for the SMS messages. All this is the handiwork of malware associated with such apps.

Another type of malware, as found by Dasient, gets access to the phones of the users when they are not installing anything, yet just browsing their smartphones. The only mistake the users do is that they inadvertently access a site with malicious content. As a result, the malware gets safe access to their phones and their handiwork starts.

So, what do the poor users do now? At most they can do is avoid installing apps which they don’t have much clue about. Secondly, they can protect their mobile device with powerful antivirus software. But how long a user is going to use a device in such a restricted way when the world of apps is giving the call?

The only way out to finish this restriction is when both the service provider and the device maker come together and work towards making more secure devices and create more powerful operating systems.