Cyber thieves who prey on their victim’s personal data know that photos are among the best sources from which to obtain data, which means popular photo apps are high up there among the best places to infiltrate. Given the popularity of photo apps, including those that edit your photos, add cool effects like filters, and help you glam up by adding “beauty” details like makeup and blurring, it’s getting more and more difficult to keep track of all of the apps out there that could be vulnerable to these types of attacks. But a recent report was released that uncovered a number of photo editing and beauty apps in Google Play Store that are actually stealing photos from users and are leaving users vulnerable to malicious activities and cyber attacks. Here’s what you need to know to see yourself safe.
How do attackers infiltrate photo apps?
Researchers from Trend Micro labs discovered that 29 photo editing and beauty apps contained code that rendered them able to perform malicious activities on people’s phones. Those that downloaded these apps (a whopping 4 million in total before Google Play removed them from its play store) didn’t always know something was wrong. But then once the user tried to delete the app, it was discovered that it had created a shortcut that hid its icon from the app list.
In some cases, users would receive ads for pornography or fraudulent content whenever they unlocked their devices. Some of these ads would lead them to phishing websites that attempted to steal their info by tricking them into believing they had won a contest and needed to provide personal info like their address to collect their prize.
Which apps were affected?
The sheer number of apps affected is what makes this discovery so shocking. One such app is the popular Prisma app, according to Dan Charles, CEO and founder at Codarity. “Prisma is yet another well-known photo editing program that gives users the ability to apply a wide variety of artistic filters on the photographs they have taken,” Charles says. “It was discovered that the software was collecting and storing the personal data of its users, including information about their location and their devices. In addition, the software asks for access to the photo libraries of its users, which means that it can view all of the pictures that are stored on your device. According to the privacy policy of the app, the app can share user data with third-party partners for advertising.”
Other apps that were found to contain code and were subsequently removed from Google Play include:
Pro Camera Beauty
Cartoon Art Photo
Emoji Camera
Artistic Effect Filler
Art Editor
Beauty Camera
Selfie Camera Pro
Horizon Beauty Camera
Super Camera
Art Effects for Photo
Awesome Cartoon Art
Art Filter Photo
Art Filter Photo Effects
Cartoon Effect
Art Effect
Photo Editor
Wallpapers HD
Magic Art Filter Photo Editor
Fill Art Photo Editor
ArtFlipPhotoEditing
Art Filter
Cartoon Art Photo
Cartoon Art Photo Filter
Art Filter Photo Editor
Pixture
Art Effect
Photo Art Effect
Cartoon Photo Filter
How can you protect yourself?
Sometimes cyberattacks just happen and you’re caught in the cross fire and have to repair the situation. But since it’s always easier to prevent an attack than to perform triage after the damage has been done to your phone, it’s a good idea to get into the habit of reading reviews for apps before downloading them. If an app lacks reviews, or it has a number of poor reviews, you may want to skip it and search for a similar app that has a larger fan base.
