Not all app developers put proper care in the security and privacy protection of their apps and users. In fact, not long ago we covered that Google is doing a massive cleanup regarding Play Store apps in order to make the remaining ones safer and to hunt down apps that fail to comply with Google’s privacy policy. However, even though Apple’s App Store is not known for being the target of privacy related attacks, you must still be careful when installing iOS apps, because you can always run into apps with a large set of permissions or an unusually dubious privacy policy.
Not even devoted Apple fans were prepared for the nasty surprise Will Strafach, the CEO of Sudo Security Group, revealed that his company identified over 70 of the most popular apps for iOSas being vulnerable to Wi-Fi snooping.
According to Strafach, the apps in question have been downloaded around 18 million times which only shows how vast this issue is. However, not all the identified apps pose the same level of risk; in fact, Strafach divided the apps in three groups: low, medium and high risk ones.
While those apps, which fell into the two latter categories, were not named, they were considered vulnerable for dealing with sensitive information (login credentials for medical or financial services, session authentication tokens for users logged onto the network etc.) that could potentially be intercepted. Low risk apps, however, were actually named: the list of such apps included VivaVideo, Snapchat’ Snap Upload, banking apps like FirstBank, some games and even apps designed to increase your privacy such as Private Browser, VPN One Click Professional, and so on. The reason why they were labeled as low risk ones was because the data that could be intercepted “only” included email addresses or login credentials.
Regardless of how high these risk levels are, you should always protect yourself when dealing with sensitive information. One of the possible solutions to be less threatened is to disconnect from public Wi-Fi and opt for a cellular connection when performing sensitive actions such as checking bank balances or entering log details. Although this is a good solution, you’ll be better served with a VPN.
Fortunately, nowadays you don’t need to dig deep to find a VPN app with full-on support for mobile devices, whether your mobile device of choice runs iOS, Android or Windows Phone. These applications assure that you’re constantly protected and invulnerable to snoopers and attackers, even if you’re using apps with questionable security. With a VPN app your data is not only fully encrypted, but you are also connected to a foreign server, thus ensuring that no eavesdropper can figure out your real location and what content you are looking at.
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