News
Kaspersky Comment: My phone is listening to me, say 60% of people
February 2021 by David Emm, Principal security Researcher at Kaspersky
Following the recent story that six in ten people are concerned that their mobile devices are listening to their private conversations, please find a comment below from David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky.
“The findings reported by the Commission for Communications Regulation on digital services and online safety paint an interesting picture of public awareness around digital security in today’s interconnected world. On the one-hand, the majority of people expressed concern about security of their personal data, specifically related to private conversations, yet on the other side almost a quarter of people were willing to trade their data for free services.
To me, this says we’re in a major transitional period regarding the way that the average person considers and trades their personal data. We subscribe to services that collect our data, process it and sell it, giving us something like a social network platform or movies on demand in exchange. Most of the time we don’t even read those terms of agreement and jump right into sharing our private data with everyone.
The most important thing to understand is: your data costs as much as you value it. So make sure your privacy isn’t the price you pay later for giving it away now.
Remember, a popular app with an unremarkable privacy policy can compromise your sensitive data. Therefore, we recommend that you treat mobile apps with caution:
• Do not just install them for no reason. They can spy on you, even if you never use or open them. If you no longer need an app that is already installed, delete it.
• Use AppCensus and Exodus Privacy to scan unfamiliar apps prior to installation. If the result disconcerts you, look for another app.
• Do not necessarily grant apps all of the permissions they ask for. If unclear about why the app would need this or that information, deny access to it. Check out this post for more about permissions in Android; also, you can easily control apps and permissions using Kaspersky Security Cloud.
