We know that our phones and applications track some of our data, but they do so by actually telling us about it beforehand. However, what if I told you that there are (or rather, were) apps on the Google Play Store that could actually track and stalk you, without your knowledge?
Anti-virus company Avast revealed 7 malicious apps were using the GPS on the phone to track people. Google has gone ahead and removed these apps from the Play Store.?
The apps were able to track the victim's location, get access to their contacts as well as text messages and call history. Pitched as kids and employee monitoring tools.
However, reviews for for one of the apps called 'Spy Tracker' (which also was the most popular among the lot) consisted of comments that indicated that it was being used as an app to stalk romantic partners. These apps had around 130,000 total downloads.
Avast's head of mobile threat intelligence and security, Nikolaos Chrysaidos said in a statement on Wednesday, "These apps are highly unethical and problematic for people's privacy and shouldn't be on the Google Play Store."
"They promote criminal behavior, and can be abused by employers, stalkers or abusive partners to spy on their victims. We classify such apps as stalkerware," he added.
What's worse is that it is hard to figure out if one of these stalking apps were installed on the device as the icon for the app is not visible in the app drawer. Installing a stalker app was as simple as installing any other app from the Play Store.?
It is high time Google took some aggressive steps to safeguard Play Store's as well as an Android user's integrity. A library of over 2.7-million apps cannot come at the cost of the privacy and security of an Android user.?