"Angry Bird" was a secret weapon

Many people know that some mobile phone software will leak information such as the whereabouts of users. American researchers have discovered that such stealing software is not rare, and that some software stealing methods are hidden, and people are unknowingly or even actively providing information such as whereabouts and address books. The most covert stealing software includes "the brightest flashlight" and "angry bird".

10 "most hidden stealing software"

Researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University Research Institute of Human-Computer Interaction have researched whether the 100 most popular software applications in the Google Android App Store collect user information and investigate the reaction of users when they learn of mobile phone software theft, listing 10 “most hidden Stealing software."

The researchers found that 56 software collects information about the user’s whereabouts, device identification, or address book.

Users are often unaware of this, or do not know how to use this information to steal value. Of the respondents, 58% did not know that the device ID could be used for marketing.

95% of respondents were surprised

The most covert stealing software is the "brightest flashlight", "Angry Bird", "Throw Paper", "Talking Tom Cat", "High-Definition Wallpaper", "Dictionary", "Save the Mouse" , "Star Constellation", "Music Radar" and "Pandora Music Radio".

Jason Hung, who chaired the study, told NBC reporters that there may be no one who was surprised to see where Google Maps was collecting information on the whereabouts. However, when respondents were told that the “brightest flashlight” would track the whereabouts of users, they felt very Puzzled.

“There is no reasonable reason to explain why a flashlight software needs the user's whereabouts,” Hong said. “95% of respondents were surprised by the software's collection of personal information.”

Expert reminds

Don't blindly "I accept" while downloading the program

Some software explains to the user the need to collect certain information or the use of information, making it easier for users to accept. Hong uses the "dictionary" to collect whereabouts information as an example. He said that the "Dictionary" software contains a function - to understand the words searched for by nearby people, so that users find it interesting, no longer consider the issue of personal privacy violations.

However, many users ignore this kind of advance notice. When you download an Android application, a dialog box appears telling you what kind of information the software may collect. A number of previous surveys have shown that most users ignore this content and jump directly to the end. Click "I accept" to download.

Another researcher, Norman Sadeh, believes that the transparency of the collection process is not enough. "In addition to telling the user 'I need your consent to collect this information', I must tell the user how you will handle the collected information."