Posted
by Erica Nochlin
on Tue Jul 27, 2010
Last updated
Jul 27, 2010
As smart phones, like Blackberries and I-phones, gain popularity, a new type of risk is emerging that can harm your technology and threaten your private data. You may even be downloading these scams and viruses to your phone and paying for them. They can come in the form of mobile applications, also known as apps.
The Popularity of Apps
There are now apps for pretty much everything, from your forecast and your favorite food to shopping and social networking. Statistics show the average smart phone owner has downloaded more than 20 apps, and experts believe that number will grow.
"I think apps really are going to change the way we work, we play and everything we do," University of Missouri Database Programmer Jeremy Cook said. "Apps are massively popular."
MU's upcoming "Go Mizzou" application will soon be added to the more than 200,000 applications available on Apple's App Store alone, and with billions of downloads already, it's clear the appetite for apps is huge.
"The fact they're so popular, they're so easy to get, they're so quick to get, many of them are free, they're fun, that all plays into why this is going to be so lucrative for cyber criminals," Cyber Crime Attorney Craig Chval said.
The Risk of Downloading Apps
Chval says scams, viruses and fraud on apps will be just as bad as we've seen on the web, and potentially worse.
"It's so easy to obtain them, sometimes it just lulls people into a false sense of security."
"I trust software too much," admitted Columbia software designer Chris Ellingsworth. "With your phone, it hasn't been really considered a device that can be malicious, you don't hear of viruses on people's phones, at this point." But when asked if we could, Ellingsworth said yes. "I think the risks are going to get greater and greater."
Potential problems include fraudulent applications, like a bogus bank app asking for your passwords, malicious apps that could place a virus on your phone or hack into your account to make purchases, or an app publisher could potentially access all of your phone's content with spyware apps if its security system is disabled. In fact, the possibilities are almost endless.
"Whenever there's a new technology, new application, there's always a heightened risk of exploitation, and the learning curve is always behind the criminal curve," Chval said.
Cell Phone Companies Refuse Legal Responsibility
So who is answering the call for more security? No one seems sure.
"It's hard to say how much of a grasp Apple and Google have on it," Ellingsworth said.
"No one is making the claim they're inspecting every line of code for every application, and it would take an incredible amount of human resources and technology to actually do that," Chval said.
ABC 17 News asked Apple, Google and the maker of Blackberry to explain the process they go through before approving an app. Only a spokesperson for Blackberry responded but even she didn't get specific, saying in an email, "[…]while consumers are always encouraged to download apps from trusted sources, the Blackberry solution has a number of built-in user-selectable security features that can protect the user from malicious applications."
ABC 17 News then sifted through the legal jargon for all three companies. We found that in both terms of services for Apple's App Store and Blackberry's App World, it says the company does not "guarantee the service will be free from loss, corruption, attack, viruses, interference, hacking, or other security intrusion."
The document for Google's Android Market says, "you are soley responsible for any damage to your computer system, mobile device or other device, or loss of data that results from such use."
Not only are you agreeing to those terms when you download an app, but the app itself may also have certain conditions.
"How many people actually read the terms of service when they purchase an application?" asked Ellingsworth.
Avoid Problems with Apps
The best advice is to look into what you're buying and who's selling it.
"I think everybody has to take responsibility of their own security," Cook said.
Sometimes that means simply waiting.
"You might not want to be the first kid on the block to have a brand new app, you might want to give people an opportunity to test it out and see what happens," Chval said.
Other App Issues
The federal government recently gave cell phone users permission to break electronic locks on their devices. The move allows you to download unapproved apps, but that could increase your risk of coming across malicious ones.
Another issue is apps that are simply useless or don't do what they promise. For example, ABC 17 News found one that promises to change the flavor of your cigarette if you buy it for a dollar.
