One-In-FiveCould Be Signing Away Their Privacy When They Install A New App, KasperskyLab’s Quiz Shows
Kaspersky Lab hasdiscovered that consumers are installing apps on their devices, without beingaware of the potential consequences. A shocking 63% of consumers neglect toread the license agreement carefully before installing a new app on their phoneand one-in-five (20%) never read messages when installing apps; they simply gothrough the motions of clicking ‘next’ and ‘agree’, without understanding whatthey could be signing up to.
Kaspersky Lab’s “Are you cyber savvy?” Quiz, which questioned 18,507 consumersabout their online habits, found that an alarming number of consumers areleaving their privacy – and the data on their phones – exposed to cyberthreats becausethey are not installing apps on their devices safely.
When users neglect to read license agreementsor messages during the app install process, they do not know what they areagreeing to. Some apps can affect user privacy, prompt the installation ofother apps, or even change the OS settings of a device completely legally,because the user has ‘agreed’ to it during the install process.
The quiz also discovered that just under half (43%)of users could be at risk from the apps on their mobile device, because theyare not ‘cyber-savvy’ enough to limit app permissions when installing apps.15% of respondents to the quiz do notlimit what their apps can do on their phone at all and 17% give appspermissions when prompted, but then forget about it, while 11% think they can’tchange those permissions. When apppermissions are left unchecked, it is possible – and legal – for apps to accessthe personal and private data on mobile devices, from contact information, tophotos and location data.
Commenting on thefindings, David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab says, “Internetusers are entrusting their devices with sensitive information about themselvesand others – such as contacts, private messaging etc., yet they are failing toensure that their information is entirely safe. This can turn their devicesinto their ‘digital frenemies’. Because they are not taking precautions whenthey install apps, many consumers are granting apps permission to intrude ontheir private lives, watch what is stored on their devices and where they are, installadditional unwanted apps and make changes to their devices, right from themoment of installation. At Kaspersky Lab, we want to help consumers become morecyber-savvy, and protect their precious data – and themselves – from thesedangers.”
To protect themselves consumers should:
- Only download apps from trusted sources, - Select the apps you wish to install on your devicewisely, - Read the license agreement carefully during theinstallation process, - Read the list of permissions an app is requestingcarefully. Do not simply click ‘next’ during installation, without checkingwhat you are agreeing to, - Use a cybersecurity solution that will protect yourdevice from cyberthreats.
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Post time 18-3-2016 09:19 AM
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