After combatting many years of desktop spyware, users must be more cognizant now of the apps, webpages, and content they put on their mobile devices as smartphones are gaining more potential. At the Black Hat security conference, Lookout, which does analysis of web applications and the access that is given to apps on phones, have identified a number of vulnerabilities on the iOS iPhone platform as well as Google Android. The project is called the App Genome Project, which found that 14% of free iPhone apps and 8% of freeware apps on Android have the ability to collect contact data on a phone–all without the user’s knowledge.
News of the latest vulnerabilities on smartphones comes days after it was revealed that an app for Android wallpapers on Google’s mobile platform can be classified as a malicious app that collects user’s information–including telephone number, SIM details, and more–without consent or knowledge by the phone’s operator; that information is sent to China.
The iPhone is also making headlines when Lookout published its report earlier this week that a quarter of iOS apps contain code that gives these apps broad access to pictures, text messages, search history, and other information in addition to contact lists.
It should be interested if lawmakers will address privacy concerns on mobile platforms as the Senate is trying to crack down on Internet privacy on the desktop.
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