It has been reported that certain smartphones have been found to send user data to China. Despite the Play Store generally being a safe source for Android apps, harmful apps occasionally manage to make their way onto the platform. The most recent suspicious applications discovered on the Play Store are File Recovery & Data Recovery and File Manager.
Apps that send your data to China?
According to Pradeo, these apps, developed by the same person, have been downloaded by 1.5 million users. While they appear to be file management software, they are actually malware that secretly transmits user information to servers in China.
File Recovery and Data Recovery has been downloaded over a million times, while File Manager has been installed by 500,000 users. Although the apps claimed that they wouldn’t collect any data from devices, Pradeo’s analysis revealed otherwise.
The analysis showed that the apps collect personal data such as contacts, email and social network contacts, pictures, audio, videos, real-time user location, country code, network provider name, operating system version, and device model. Most of this information is unnecessary for file management and data recovery purposes. The apps also do not seek user consent for collecting this data. Furthermore, the apps hide their home screen icons, making them difficult to delete. Both apps send data more than a hundred times, which is a concerning amount.
According to Bleeping Computer, the apps have recently been removed from the Google Play Store. If you have these applications on your phone, it is highly recommended to uninstall them immediately. If you don’t see them on the home screen, you can go to the settings and delete them from the app list to ensure they are completely removed from your device.
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