Android alert for Samsung, LG, HTC, Xperia users: 1 in 4 apps on Google Play spies on you According to a new report published this morning by security software developer Symantec, 23 per cent of all apps in the Google Play store this year contained aggressive ad libraries, compared to 15 percent in 2012. The apps that use aggressive ad libraries, known as Madware, leak personal information, says Symantec. “More than two-thirds of ad libraries collect device information, such as its IMEI number or phone producer and model,” says Symantec. “Some of these libraries can leak personal information or exhibit annoying behaviors such as displaying ads in the notification bar, creating ad icons or changing Web browser bookmarks. We refer to these libraries as aggressive ad libraries,” it says in the report and has predicted that the number of Google Play apps using madware will grow to 25 per cent within the next couple of months. “By the end of this year, we can expect one in four free apps available on Google Play to contain madware,” says Symantec analyst Bartlomiej Uscilowski, adding that “two-thirds of madware apps collect device information, such as its IMEI number or phone producer and model. Additionally, a third of madware apps display ads in the notification bar, which can annoy users.” The new report presents Android trends in both malware and madware, and according to the company, both are rising at an alarming rate. The volume of known malware samples (excluding madware and grayware) reached almost 275,000 in June 2013, according to Symantec, which is a four-fold increase from June 2012. “In the middle of this year, 65 ad libraries were known and over 50 percent of them were classified as aggressive,” adds Uscilowski. According to the report, the percentage of apps that use aggressive ad libraries has been on the rise since 2010, increasing every year, and reached 23 per cent in the first half of 2013. “According to our report, users can expect the most madware when downloading apps from the Personalization category, followed by the Utilities & Demo category and the Racing Games category. This contrasts with the presence of malware, which is most likely to be found in the Photography, Arcade & Action Games and Entertainment categories,” the report reveals.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 05:29:54 +0000
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