There are, by Google’s estimation, around 675,000 apps on the Play store. However, a large chunk of those have been classified as ‘high risk’ in research published today by security vendor Bit9, PCAdvisor reports.
What’s more, only 400,000 apps were examined, and that over half were deemed ‘questionable’ or ‘suspicious’ is unacceptable. The apps were classed in that way due to their ability to potentially gain personal data such as location and phone numbers after the user giving permission to run the app.
Here are some stats:
* 42% access GPS location data, and these include wallpapers, games and utilities
* 31% access phone calls or phone numbers
* 26% access personal data, such as contacts and email
* 9% use permissions that can cost the user money
Bit9 also added that 86,000 access five or more high risk permissions while 8,000 access ten or more.
In a survey conducted alongside the above, 84% of respondents claimed they felt safer with iOS, which is no wonder.
It’s certainly worrying stuff for Android, and it cements the fact that it isn’t a secure platform, or at least insecure compared to iOS. Having said that, a bit of common sense and research should ensure that you won’t download anything nasty. But still be cautious.
