This article is from June, 2011 - I read it this past summer and didn't think about it again until today when a fellow virtual assistant told me her information had been stolen and used to make unauthorized purchases in iTunes. She suspected it was related to a batch of apps she had recently downloaded to her iPad. Coincidentally (or not?) she had in fact downloaded one of the apps mentioned in this article that previous week.
Better safe than sorry, so I thought I'd share the article here with other VAs who may use some of the apps mentioned in the story.
The point of posting this is not to stir up panic but to remind all of us to be aware of what we're downloading and what information we share with the apps we use.
One thing to note is that Apple handles all of the financial aspect of purchasing an app, even for in-app purchases and developers/apps do not have access to that information. BUT, when an app asks you to enter your personal information like credit card, social security number, bank account info, or similar it's best to think twice and be very scrupulous about which apps you trust. As you can see from the article, even the 'big name' apps aren't immune from irregular security practices when it comes to their iPhone and Android apps, leaving the information you share potentially vulnerable to hackers.
From the article:
Major mobile apps compromise your personal data
"On Android-powered devices, LinkedIn, Netflix and Foursquare store usernames and passwords in unencrypted format, reports the Wall Street Journal. Emails sent by the apps in question are also visible, including those relating to the user’s Netflix movie queue. The iPhone version of Square’s mobile payments app was also found to expose transaction amount history the most recent digital signature of a person who signed a receipt in-app.
This violates the commonly accepted best practices of the computer security industry. As many people use the same username and password across a wide range of sites – from banking and social networking to shopping and more – the danger malicious hackers and identity thieves could pose is obvious. A thief with physical access to a user’s phone or malicious software installed on the device could exploit the security hole."
Read the full story here.
Major mobile apps may compromise your personal data
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