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Report: Be Wary of Free Android Apps By Barry Levine November 6, 2012 11:11AM     Nearly 7 percent of free Android apps could access user address books, the Juniper Networks study found, while slightly more than 2 percent of paid ones could, and 2.5 percent of free Android apps could silently send text messages versus 1.45 percent of paid apps. In other capabilities, such as secretly initiating calls, free apps also outnumbered paid.   Related Topics Android Apps Google Play Mobile Security Privacy Latest News Oculus VR Gets Huge Funding Boost Huawei Phone Is a Quarter-Inch Thin Yahoo, Apple Disclose Data Requests Free Video Messaging Comes to Skype Prism's Secret: Bigger Data Seizure As many as one-quarter of free Android apps track location data . That's one of many findings in a new report that raises security concerns in free apps available in Google Play, the technology giant's online store. The report audited 1.7 million apps and was undertaken by Juniper Networks' Mobile Threat Center over 18 months in 2011 and 2012. Many of the free apps, the report said, "collect information or require permissions unnecessary for the described functionality of the apps." This is not the first report to find that mobile apps are collecting, and, in some cases, transmitting information irrelevant to their purported needs. In late 2010, for instance, The Wall Street Journal reported a large portion of sampled smartphone apps were transmitting the device 's unique ID to other companies without users' awareness or consent, and some were also sending location, age and other personal details. Collecting for Local Ads? However, that story, undertaken two years ago with a much smaller selection, determined that the Android apps it analyzed transmitted less data than iPhone apps that the paper also reviewed. The more comprehensive Juniper report said that a significant number of Android applications "contain permissions and capabilities that could expose sensitive data or access device functionality that they might not need." For instance, while some of the Android apps use location data to customize local ads, the report found that many more apps were collecting that information than were actually serving up ads. Nine percent of apps worked with the top five ad networks, but 24.1 percent tracked location. This fact that so many more free apps are using location tracking than are serving local ads, the company warned, led it "to believe that there are several apps collecting information for reasons less apparent than advertising." 'Most Concerning' Category In addition, nearly 7 percent of free apps could access user address books, while slightly more than 2 percent of paid ones could, and 2.5 percent of free apps could silently send text messages versus 1.45 percent of paid apps. In other capabilities, such as secretly initiating calls in the background or accessing the device's camera, free apps also greatly outnumbered paid apps. (continued...) 1  |  2  |  Next Page >   Tell Us What You Think Comment: Name: Robert: Posted: 2012-11-07 @ 11:54am PT NOTHING is without cost.... Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com CommVault is a data and information management software company dedicated to providing organizations worldwide with a radically better way to manage data and information. Their unique Solving Forward philosophy allows them to deliver complete solutions with infinite scalability and unprecedented control over data and costs. Be among the first to experience Simpana 10 software. Click here now.  Mobile Tech 1.   Why Google's Project Loon is Smart 2.   Authorities Want Phone 'Kill Switch' 3.   Small Business Gets Mobile Ad Boost 4.   Apple Bides Time, But Markets Moving 5.   MS Office 365 for iPhone Hits Market Verizon, Samsung Look Beyond 4G LTE AWS to give Verizon a capacity boost. Average Rating: Authorities Want Phone 'Kill Switch' One-third of thefts said to be phones. Average Rating: Small Business Gets Mobile Ad Boost Online marketing adapted for mobile. Average Rating:

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Enterprise Hardware Spotlight

Samsung Offers Tiny, Superfast PCIe SSDs for Ultrabooks Solid-state drives are continuing their march forward. On Monday, Samsung Electronics announced it has started to mass produce the first PCI-Express 3.0 SSDs for the new wave of Ultrabooks.   Amazon.com Joins 3D Printer Craze, Enabling Wide Availability Commercially available 3D printers have recently moved from being expensive hobbyist devices to being pricey but accessible consumer and manufacturing machines. And now, Amazon.com will sell 3D printers & supplies online.   New Facebook Data Center Uses All Home-Grown Servers Facebook has opened its new data center in Lulea, Sweden. The data center is a first in two ways: the first in Europe and the first to be equipped with all Facebook-designed, Open Compute servers.

Mobile Enterprise Spotlight

Why Google's Project Loon is Smart Business Google is once again proving that it's much more than a search engine or even a mobile-device company, with Project Loon. The initiative aims to bring "balloon-powered Internet" to isolated areas of the world.   Authorities Want Smartphone 'Kill Switch' To Fight Thefts Law enforcement authorities are calling on the smartphone industry to adopt "kill switch" technologies that would deter theft by squeezing the market for selling stolen devices, which would be worthless if "bricked."   Small Business Gets Boost from Mobile Marketing Aside from the requisite e-commerce tricks, small businesses are turning their attention to the mobile arena to engage social media-savvy customers, as mobile marketing tools offer more channels.

Enterprise Technology Spotlight

New Facebook Data Center Uses All Home-Grown Servers Facebook has opened its new data center in Lulea, Sweden. The data center is a first in two ways: the first in Europe and the first to be equipped with all Facebook-designed, Open Compute servers.   Cisco Telecom Router Ready for Internet Traffic Flood The Carrier Routing System-X unveiled by Cisco for the telecommunications industry is a 400 Gbps per slot system that can be expanded to nearly 1 petabit per second, enough to deal with the coming flood in demand.   HP's IT in a Box Targets SMBs by Using Google Apps Hewlett-Packard is partnering with Google on HP SMB IT in a Box, which it bills as a "one-stop shop" solution for small and medium business customers. The move is likely to ruffle Microsoft's feathers.

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