Security researcher labels nearly 300,000 Google Play Android apps as ‘high-risk’

“One-quarter of more than 400,000 Android apps examined in the Google Play store pose security risks to mobile-device users, according to new research,” Ellen Messmer reports for Network World.

“Security vendor Bit9 categorized these Android apps as ‘questionable’ or ‘suspicious’ because they could gain access to personal information to collect GPS data, phone calls, or phone numbers and much more after the user granted ‘permission’ to the app,” Messmer reports. “‘You have to say ‘yes’ to the application or it won’t run,’ pointed out Harry Sverdlove, Bit9 CTO. Games, entertainment, and wallpaper apps especially seem to want to grab data, even though the their functions would seem to have little direct use for it.”

Messmer reports, “Bit9 notes this doesn’t mean these apps are malware per se, but they could do damage if compromised because the user has granted so much permission… Of the 412,222 Android apps evaluated from Google Play, Bit9 says more than 290,000 of them access at least one high-risk permission, 86,000 access five or more and 8,000 apps access 10 or more permissions ‘flagged as potentially dangerous.'”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: “Open” in all the wrong ways.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David G.” for the heads up.]

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