Security in the digital world continues to become more and more important with every passing year. 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.
There has been a tremendous transformation in mobile phones since their invention in the 1970s when they became readily available to the public. 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. Regardless of what smartphone app you use, make sure to take precautions to ensure that private information is never exposed to potential risks. During sharing and playing, a user should keep himself or herself safe.
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.
While there is no doubt that users can do a lot about protecting their data privacy and improving the security of their smartphones, digital security experts mention a few steps that users should take to minimize the risk of data privacy and security breaches.
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.
There is nothing stronger than a series of letters, numbers, and symbols in no particular order that is unlikely to be found in the dictionary and will be more difficult to crack with brute force by a computer. This makes the strongest passwords. There are some disadvantages to complex passwords, however, such as the fact that they are difficult to remember.
The password manager app comes in handy in this respect. 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. There is no option in iOS to enable either of these permissions.
Explore these four trending apps that might compromise your personal information, along with valuable tips to ensure a secure experience with smartphone applications.
FaceApp
As with Voilà AI Artist, FaceApp could also be a risk to users' privacy. As is the case with Voilà AI Artist, it is unclear how the app uses users' likenesses after it takes a picture. In the terms of the use agreement, FaceApp clearly states that the selfies that are uploaded to the app belong to FaceApp. Users are free to share their User Content with the app as long as they are not a commercial entity. It can also be used, reproduced, modified, adapted, developed into derivative works, distributed, performed, and displayed.
Pokémon Go
There are several security vulnerabilities present in the premises of Pokémon Go, which are likely to be replicated by the next viral app that sweeps the world. The augmented reality in Pokémon Go makes players feel as if they are seeing a Pokémon walking through their living room. The app uses augmented reality technology, which means its camera, contacts, pictures, chats, and locations can also be accessed by it.
TikTok
In a recent statement, TikTok mentioned that it is under suspicion for data mining tactics, a practice in which corporations collect personal information from individual user profiles and pass it on to advertising, marketing, and analytics companies to target advertising campaigns.
Safety Tips for Using Smartphone Apps
When downloading a trending app, it is worthwhile to conduct a quick search of the news for any specific concerns that may be raised before installation of this app.
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.
