Just when Apple began to play big brother over its customers its shocking to find out there are several Google Android applications that have been secretly collecting your private data. A study shows that out of the vast applications available for the Android around 20% of those applications expose your private info for example
CNet reports that a recent report from security firm SMobile Systems says five percent of 48,000 downloadable apps in the Android marketplace can place calls to any number without the user doing anything and 3 percent can allow an app to send unknown SMS messages to premium numbers that incur expensive charges.
SMobile Systems' report says 5,783 applications in the Market request three or more notable permissions with notable permissions being ones that grant access to personal identifying information, location or service that could be used maliciously. Twenty-nine applications were found to request the exact same permissions as known spyware (and have been categorized and detected as such by SM), eight applications explicitly request a specific permission that would allow the device to brick itself, or render it absolutely unusable.
"Just because it's coming from a known location like the Android market or the Apple App store doesn't mean you can assume that the app isn't malicious or that there is a proper vetting process," Dan Hoffman, Chief Technology Officer at SMobile Systems, is quoted as saying.
This is a real eye opener to show that just like unknown PC applications there are just as dangerous applications for even the Android phones. With the number of Android apps in the store and the large number of people coding apps for the OS its not surprise that one or even a handful of those coders is making malicious code for the application in secret.
Source: Tom's Hardware
