Most people know about the dangers posed by viruses when we go online or download software from the internet, and this is why anti-virus software is so important. But what about downloading apps to mobile phones?
McAfee, which provides one of the most popular anti-virus products on the market, recently issued a warning about downloading free apps for smartphones due to the risk posed by cyber criminals who are using them to commit fraud, as reported in Business Standard.
The news will come as a shock to many, who will have thought that downloading apps poses no risks. However, in the reported entitled ‘Mobile Security: McAfee Consumer Trends Report’, McAfee found that many apps were asking users to agree to their permissions before deploying malware.
The most common types of apps that contain problems are free games, and those apps that were affected were found to contain SMS scams or would allow fraudsters to get access to the users’ personal information.
Many people simply don’t understand what permissions they are agreeing to when they download apps, and this makes it easy for criminals. One of the apps that was highlighted was FakeRun, which tricked users all over the world into giving it a high rating.
The advice? Whenever you are connecting to the internet via any device, always be careful about what you download and always make sure you know which permissions you are agreeing to before downloading any apps.
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