Mobile Apps - How Private Are They?
Smart phones and other mobile devices use applications, or “apps” as they are more commonly referred to. These are downloadable programs to allow you to play games, access weather, news, music, videos or books. While these programs may be useful in your everyday life, have you ever thought about what other information is being downloaded on your phone or device that is gathering personal information about you and your habits that you did not even know about?
When you download apps, you are asked to accept certain agreement terms. How many people actually read these terms before clicking “OK”? These agreements may be worded in a way that you are giving complete access to the information stored on your phone or mobile device, which could be anything from your phone number, email contacts, call logs, private text messages, internet usage, calendared events, unique IDs, the location in which the device is being used, and how exactly the app is being used. Also, depending on how the agreement is worded, you may also be allowing collected information to be shared with other companies, which in turn allows them to contact you and send information or advertisements to your phone or mobile device.
Please be sure to completely read the agreement that you are accepting. If the app is asking to access your personal text messages, you should be asking questions as to why they would need that. Contact the developer to inquire. If no contact information is provided for the developer, you then need to ask yourself whether it is worth compromising your personal information to someone you don’t know. Hackers have been known to create apps to infect phones and mobile devices to access your information.
If you notice that your phone or mobile device is sending text messages or downloading other apps that you yourself did not send or request, this could be a sign of malware or a virus that has been loaded to your phone or mobile device. You will need to contact your customer support for that device to ask for assistance in removing it.
Be smart. Be aware. Be safe.
IDENTIFY A SCAM BEFORE A SCAM IDENTIFIES YOU!
