Our phones, computers, tablets continue to be the target of cyber attacks in various ways every day. In particular, your information can be easily accessed through the permissions you give to the applications, the links you click, or different methods.
It was discovered by AppCensus researchers that some apps collect data to capture our information. So what are these apps? How can we protect ourselves and our data so that it does not fall into the hands of malicious people?
Applications that collect user data have been downloaded more than 45 million times in total
As a result of research conducted by malware analysts on applications downloaded from Play Store, many applications turned out to be collected. AppCensus researchers believe that these applications; He said it collects users’ GPS data, MAC addresses, network SSID, phone data, email addresses, and even modem information through a third-party SDK software.
This collected data can be accessed as far as the card information you use via your phone when it is wanted to be used for malicious purposes. Of course, it must be said that your passwords and crypto wallets are also in danger. According to AppCensus, this SDK software is implemented with a base64 code that is hidden inside applications. Let’s take a look at the application names announced by AppCensus after this statement that made us think twice while downloading applications from the Play Store.
Applications using our data, the number of downloads and the data they collect:
- Speed Camera Radar: 10 million downloads – Phone number, IMEI, SSID router, MAC address router
- AI-Moazin Lite: 10 million downloads – Phone number, IMEI, SSID router, MAC address router
- Wifi Mouse: 10 million downloads – MAC address router
- QR & Barcode Scanner: 5 million downloads – Phone number, email address, IMEI, GPS data, SSID router, MAC address router
- Qİbla Compass Ramadan 2022: 5 million downloads – GPS data, SSID router, MAC address router
- Simple weather & clock widget: 1 million downloads – Phone number, IMEI, SSID router, MAC address router
- Handcent Next SMS-Text w/MSS: 1 million downloads – E -mail address, IMEI, SSID router, MAC address forward dirici
- Smart Kit 360: 1 million downloads – Email address, IMEI, SSID router, MAC address router
- AI Quran mp3 (with 50 languages): 1 million downloads – GPS data, SSID router, MAC address router
- Full Quran MP3 (with 50+ languages): 1 million installs – GPS data, SSID router, MAC address router
- Audiosdroid Audio Studio DAW: 1 million download – Phone numbers, IMEI, HPS data, SSID router, MAC address router
What should you do to avoid this type of data loss?
First of all, it should be noted that the applications we have just mentioned above were removed from the application stores by Google shortly after this information emerged. However, the fact that these applications have been removed does not mean that they cannot be replaced by new ones. For this reason, the first thing you should pay attention to is; It should be careful about the permissions you give to any application you download to your phone and the texts you accept. You can actually hand over your data to malicious people with the sentences embedded in the user agreements, without even being aware of it.
Another issue you should pay attention to; It’s something we’ve been hearing for years. If you have received an e-mail or message that you ‘do not understand’, even if it is from someone you know, do not click on the links here and try to contact the person who sent you the message first. In addition, it will be useful to check the permissions you have given to your applications.
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