{"id":21151,"date":"2022-01-17T14:06:47","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T19:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/?p=21151"},"modified":"2022-04-27T13:59:47","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T17:59:47","slug":"are-your-apps-leaking-data-how-to-know-and-what-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/are-your-apps-leaking-data-how-to-know-and-what-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Your Apps Leaking Data? How To Know and What To Do"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the ways we make our world more convenient these days is by loading apps from platforms, services, and companies we buy from or consult frequently. Most companies have invested in their apps to make them more useful, and also invested in promoting those apps to us, with special deals or promotions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the sense of ease and security we have when dealing with the teller at our local bank, or flying on our favorite airline, may not serve us well when we use an app provided by a company we know well \u201cIRL\u201d (in real life).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe widespread development of apps by businesses is not only good for marketing and sales,\u201d remarks Emilio Simoni, Director of Research at PSafe\u2019s dfndr lab, \u201cbut it also feeds a billion dollar business in re-use of your data.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Data Means Dollars<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Modern day operating systems for both iOs and Android provide some mechanisms for you to limit the way apps can track your behavior across the web, but these only offer limited protection. \u201cThe data you use in everyday interactions with these apps is of tremendous interest to hackers,\u201d Simoni observes,\u00a0 \u201cand data breaches for some of the world\u2019s biggest and most respected companies have become almost commonplace.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leaked data is commonly resold or accessed on the dark web, and once procured, it can be used in a variety of ways. It\u2019s fairly common for leaked data to be used to fuel scams that entice users to expose even more information, or, to provide direct access to financial levers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat users need,\u201d Simoni explains, \u201cis the means to see the whole picture for their apps and the data they use.\u00a0 This is what we provide with dfndr security Pro: a <\/span><b>Privacy Scan,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which gives users the ability to see<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in one place, a complete picture of how apps are using and sharing your data \u2013 whether voluntarily, or through leaks<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s what that complete picture shows:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The data and access permissions you have granted for each app<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where each app sends the data it collects<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A data breach history for each app (more than one breach is not unusual).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apps you have installed that may be malicious or known to pose risks\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Obviously the first thing you can do with this information is to make judgments about which apps you want to keep \u2013 but it may also help guide you to further steps, like changing passwords, or changing settings on the app. It can also give you important information for staying aware of likely hacks or doing further research to determine precisely what sort of personal data may have been compromised.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cGetting this comprehensive picture is really the best way to see context and to stay alert and ahead of the game,\u201d Simoni says.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Before You Load Apps<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PSafe\u2019s <\/span><b>dfndr security Pro<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> also includes a feature called <\/span><b>Safe App,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which enables you to evaluate apps <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">before<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> you load them on your phone. Safe App tells you if an app is known to be malicious, or if it has previously been breached.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Try PSafe dfndr security for Free<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The easiest way to see how both Safe App and Privacy Scans work is to try dfndr security for yourself. You can start with the Free Version of the app, which will help you manage your phone\u2019s memory, storage, and battery power \u2013 and also give you some good basic security capabilities like a URL checker and an Antivirus App scan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Add dfndr security Pro. and you\u2019ll be able to do a quick Privacy Scan and see where you stand, and you can check any new apps you want to install with Safe App. You\u2019ll also get Anti Theft functionality to locate your phone (and protect your data) if it\u2019s stolen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use this link to learn more and try out the free version of PSafe\u2019s dfndr security.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Stay Alert<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe capabilities a good security app can provide offers essential protection,\u201d Emilio Simoni emphasizes, \u201cbut staying alert ourselves is another key element of our overall defense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to procuring and using a proven security solution like dfndr security Pro, Simoni suggests the following \u201cdata hygiene\u201d habits for users:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Strong Passwords:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Use a password manager and make sure you never use the same password for more than one account.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Take Care With Social Media:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Many social media accounts these days, asking questions and offering quizzes, are simply storing and selling clues to hackers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Beware of Phishing: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hackers are certainly not above using news about data leaks as an occasion for reaching out to defraud users. For any communications you receive about data, passwords, accounts, or any transactions you\u2019ve made (or pines you haven\u2019t!) \u2014 always double check the source.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWith a good security app and the conscientious use of privacy \u2018best practices,\u2019 your use of apps can provide the convenience and ease you\u2019ve come to expect from them,\u2019 Simoni concludes. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to research viruses and hackers methods to make sure we\u2019re doing our part to maintain our interesting-leading solutions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the ways we make our world more convenient these days is by loading apps from platforms, services, and companies we buy from or consult frequently. Most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":21152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21153,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21151\/revisions\/21153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}