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Mobile ads are smarter and snoopier, security firm warns
Adware on mobile means more than just showing banners, according to Bitdefender senior e-threat analyst, Bogdan Botezatu.
People may have the image of “adware” entailing some onscreen banners or pop ups during the use of software, though Botezatu said adware in PC is not the same as on mobile devices.
“Desktop applications are isolated and the web browser does not know what contacts you have in your email client,” he said. “However, Android is highly integrated, so when you get adware it is basically asking for permission to do anything on your device.”
On desktop PCs, Botezatu said the browser can not get access to installed applications. “It is basically sandboxed and can not see behind the browser,” he said.
While a browser may look at the sites a user may have visited and store them in cookies, it will not have access to mail client such as Outlook and start digging through the content there.
“On mobile, if an application has the right permission it can jump into your contacts, email accounts, and see what other applications are installed,” Botezatu said.
As for why this awareness gap exists, Botezatu said it is a matter of education.
“There has been some bad marketing when it comes to adware,” he said.
To help users be on top of this issue, Bitdefender will soon be releasing Clueful for Android, which is a port of the same app that was released for iOS last year.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2036028/m…k.nl_today
2013-04-21 14:30:07
Source: http://yeoldefalseflag.com/thread-mobile-ads-are-smarter-and-snoopier-security-firm-warns
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