Apps take personal details of your contacts without your knowledge, permission
NAGPUR: Using mobiles, especially smartphones, for surfing the internet has caused a definite increase in cyber crime. Some of the apps which are widely used and advertised unknowingly make the users share a lot of sensitive information not only about themselves but also about those in their contact lists.
Bangalore-based security expert Na. Vijayashankar, popularly known as Naavi, spoke about this during his recent visit to the city. He added that the hackers have become so focused onmobile phone users that even viruses now come in a set of twos, one for mobile and one for the computer.
"There are several such viruses that can automatically activate camera or video feature of a phone and record a conversation or other happening. Then there are those apps that claim to provide you with information about all the numbers in the world. What they do is when you agree to their terms, which most of us never bother to read, it can take information stored in your contact list like people's numbers, email addresses, etc," he said.
This, he said, may seem right as the person downloading the app has agreed to share this information. The unsuspecting people on his contact list may not even know that there personal details are being stored in the database of the company and being used. "Before adding somebody's information on their database, the company does not take permission nor even notify them about a friend having shared it," he said.
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