Here's how this smartphone can spy on you

Some popular apps on your Android phone can actively listen to you, monitor your habits and even secretly take screenshots of your activity and send them to third parties, according to a new study.

These screenshots and videos of the on-screen activity could include user names, passwords, credit card numbers and other important personal information, depending on Researchers.

"We found that each application could record your screen and anything you type. A professor at Northeastern University in Boston

The results will be presented at the Conference on strengthening privacy technologies in Barcelona

For the study, the team analyzed more than 17,000 of the most popular applications on the Android operating system. an automated test program written by the students.

In all, 9,000 of the 17,000 applications showed the potential to take screenshots.

"There was no audio leakage. The application activated the microphone," said Christo Wilson, a professor at the university.

"Then we started to see things we were not expecting, the applications would automatically take screen shots of themselves and send them to others."

Although these breaches of privacy seemed benign, they emphasized how the window of confidentiality of a phone could be exploited profitably

be used for malicious purposes. It's simple to install and collect this information. And what is most disturbing is that it occurs without user notification or authorization, "Wilson said.

Although the study was conducted on Android phones, there is no reason to believe that other operating systems would be less vulnerable.

Another study, published in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, found that apps developed to help people track their migraine pain often share information with others, posing a risk to life private. the sale or disclosure of medical application data to third parties.

"In 2018, it is estimated that nearly half of the 3.4 billion smartphone users will use health-related apps, and currently, there is a wide range of applications" We think that our study could have extended implications for people with neurological disorders and pain, "said lead author Mia Minen of the Langone Medical Center at the University of New York in the United States [19659009].

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