Apps Security: 92% of Top 500 Android Apps Carry Security or Privacy Risk

Apps carry security risks

About 460 of the top 500 Android applications create a security or privacy risk when downloaded to Android devices, according to new research. And that’s largely because of a lack of user education, and the fact that mobile users don’t mind sharing personal information for free apps in return.

MetaIntell, a vendor that specializes in cloud-based mobile risk management (MRM), set about testing the top apps in a range of stores, including Amazon, CNET, GETJAR and the official Google Play store. It found that more than 92% of the applications it tested used non-secure communication protocols, while 60% communicate with domains that are blacklisted by a reputation service.

Additional risks included developer reputation, content vulnerabilities and 20% of the apps tested had the ability to load external applications either locally or remotely – all without the express consent or knowledge of the user.

Digging deeper into the data, MetaIntell rated the risks so high on many applications that 42% of them should not be allowed onto any consumer or enterprise-owned device.

These results are from an analysis of the apps that people download the most – suggesting that much more user education is necessary when it comes to mobile use.

Read more: Infosecurity - 92% of Top 500 Android Apps Carry Security or Privacy Risk