Researchers find Android apps can secretly track users' whereabouts

Researchers find Android apps can secretly track users' whereabouts

Researchers find Android apps can secretly track users' whereabouts

They created an algorithm that could place data taken from the sensors onto OpenStreetMap's maps of the world's roads to work out the five paths a phone could have travelled between any given points."Just using these sensors, which do not require permissions, we can infer where you live, where you have been, where you are going," said Noubir.The researchers tested the app by simulating road trips around 11 cities, including Berlin, London, Rome, Boston and Atlanta, while the app tracked their phones' position, the angles of turns and the trajectory of curves.

Android apps can secretly track user's whereabouts

Android apps can secretly track user's whereabouts

Researchers from Northeastern University in the US built an Android app and tested it.File Photo/Agencies Researchers from Northeastern University in the US built an Android app and tested it.File Photo/AgenciesAndroid apps can be manipulated to access built-in sensors in smartphones and track your whereabouts and traffic patterns, without your knowledge or consent, a new study has warned.

Android apps can secretly track users' whereabouts, researchers find -- ScienceDaily

Android apps can secretly track users' whereabouts, researchers find -- ScienceDaily

Three years ago, the Federal Trade Commission dimmed hopes for the Brightest Flashlight app for Android, slapping its developer with charges of consumer deception.The app was transmitting users' locations and device IDs to third parties without telling the users or getting their permission.Permissions, though, are only a small part of the Android- app privacy story.