By Anu Passary | Nov 05, 2012 09:01 AM EST
The last decade has seen a significant demand for smartphones and Android is the operating system for a majority of the smartphones available in the market. Recent research now indicate that over 100K Android apps on Google Play store are either 'suspicious or questionable'.
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Bit9 an advanced threat protection company, which protects intellectual property, released a report which reveals that 25 percent of the 400K applications tested on Google Play store were questionable or suspicious due to the type of permissions they requested, the reputation of the application's publisher, and other factors.
"Our research shows that 26 percent of apps in Google Play have access to personal information such as contacts and email, and in our survey, 96 percent of employers, who permit personal devices to access their networks, allow employees to connect to company email and contacts," said Harry Sverdlove, CTO of Bit9.
Sverdlove further added "Most consumers are willing to click 'Allow' for mobile apps in situations they probably would never have allowed on a Windows computer, this is because people do not yet consider their smartphones as vulnerable or as sensitive as they do their desktops and laptops, even those smartphones are essentially just smaller computers, and debatably store even more personal information than the average laptop."
IDC reports suggest that Google's Android-based smartphones accounted for 75 percent of the Smartphone market in Q3 2012. The report indicated that Android-based smartphone's shipments increased by 91.5 percent during Q3 2012. The report from IDC reflects the increased demand of Android run smartphones.
"Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008," said Ramon Llamas, research manager, Mobile Phones at IDC. Llamas further added "In every year since then, Android has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition. In addition, the combination of smartphone vendors, mobile operators, and end-users who have embraced Android has driven shipment volumes higher. Even today, more vendors are introducing their first Android-powered smartphones to market."
The increase in Android smartphones means that users will access more of Android apps, which may be vulnerable and compromise the user's privacy. The question remains how Google will tackle the malicious Android apps issue.
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