One in five android apps access users’ private data

“As many as 20% of applications on Android Market let third parties access private or sensitive information, according to a report from security vendor SMobile Systems,” Mikael Ricknäs reports for IDG News Service.

“In addition, some 5% of Android apps can be used to place a call to any number, and 2% of applications can send an SMS to an unknown premium number, in both cases without user involvement,” Ricknäs reports.

Full article here.

Elinor Mills reports for CNET, “Dozens of apps were found to have the same type of access to sensitive information as known spyware does, including access to the content of e-mails and text messages, phone call information, and device location, said Dan Hoffman, chief technology officer at SMobile Systems.”

Mills reports, “For those who want to download apps without having to worry there is antispyware software from SMobile Systems and others. ‘There are known spyware apps that are on the market,’ Hoffman said. ‘It’s a growing problem.'”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Google. The new Microsoft – in more ways than just poorly copying Apple.