Friday, October 17, 2014

2014 Cyber Security Awareness month Tip – SMART Phone Apps and Privacy- Android’s “Flash Light Mobile” Apps could be stealing your personal information


CPAM members and community, today  one of our CPAM members brought a serious concern to my attention about SMART phone “Flash light “ mobile apps.   In 2013, the FTC fined one Android  SMART phone mobile app developer for misleading consumers for their free app which provided a flash light but also planted “malware” on their phones to read email, capture personal financial information, delete information, obtain geo tracking information, and sell information collected to third parties. 
 
We are all at risk with the use of “free” apps for our SMART phones and our personal information being stolen and used.  I’ve attached a link to the FTC report with details on their findings below.

I am also attaching a report by the company “Snoopwall” that has published a report “Flashlight Apps Threat Assessment” . This report summarizes the privacy and risk of the top ten Android Flashlight Apps. 
 
This is not an endorsement of  Snoopwall which has develop a mobile flashlight app but what I see as a crime prevention practitioner a comprehensive report of  how / what developers are doing to gain access to your personal information. This report also provides tips on how to delete and reset your SMART phone if you’ve downloaded one of the products. 
 
Snoopwall’s  website (www.snoopwall.com )states that they are  the world’s first counterveillance software companies focused on helping consumers and enterprises protect their privacy on all of their computing devices, let’s hope they are true to their mission, data breaches, and privacy concerns should be at the top of every consumers concerns !   Check their website and the report at the links below.

 
Rich Coleman, CPAM

 
 
 

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