Apple, Mac, MacOS, iOS4, iPad, iPhone and (in)security...

Summer 2013 App Reputation Report to examine the hidden behaviors behind free and paid mobile apps

 

The cloud-based, fully automated Appthority App Risk Management Service performed static, dynamic and behavioral app analysis on the 400 most popular free and paid apps on the iOS and Android platforms.

 

  

Appthority analyzed each app for particular behaviors within a test environment

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Highlights from the App Reputation Report are:

 

- Overall, 83% of the most popular apps are associated with security risks and privacy issues.

 

- iOS apps exhibited more risky behaviors than Android apps. 91% of iOS apps exhibit at least one risky behavior, as compared to 80% of Android apps.

 

- 95% of the top free apps and 77.5% of the top paid apps exhibited at least one risky behavior.

 

- 78% of the most popular free Android apps identify the user's ID (UDID).

 

- Even though Apple prohibits its developers from accessing the UDID, 5.5% of the tested iOS apps still do.

 

- 72% of the top free apps track for the user's location, compared to 41% of paid apps.

 

- Although paid apps already generate revenue when downloaded, 59% of paid iOS and 24% of paid Android apps still support in-app purchasing.

 

- Furthermore, 39% of paid iOS and 16% of paid Android apps still share data with ad networks.

 

Via Gust MEES

L’iPhone 5S a été mis à mal par une équipe de Corée du Sud, qui a réussi à profiter d'une combinaison de deux bugs dans Safari pour en prendre le contrôle. Le Samsung Galaxy S5 non plus n'a pas réisté aux assauts des hackers. Deux équipes ont profité de failles dans la gestion du protocole NFC pour en prendre le contrôle. le Nexus 5 a lui aussi été piraté via NFC, grâce à une technique étonnante, qui a consisté à forcer un appairage Bluetooth entre deux appareils.

 

 

 

 

A malicious app that slurps mobile users' phonebooks and uploads them to a remote server has been spotted being offered both on Google Play and Apple's App Store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more:

http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2174

 

Via Gust MEES

Consumerization is happening now, but many IT departments simply aren’t prepared to deal with the new challenges and complexities it entails.

 

With IT managers increasingly urged by CEOs to stop saying ‘no’ and start supporting consumer tools, they need to reappraise their traditional approach. Put simply, IT needs flexible standards – they can’t say no but neither can they say yes to everyone.

 

Cyber crime is a multi billion dollar industry, funded and resourced like legitimate business operations. The criminal gangs need to know that any investment in their own resources is going to provide a decent return, and the best way of guaranteeing that is by targeting the one large homogenous platform, just as they did with Windows in the 90s. In the mobile world, this means iOS.

 

What is clear is that Apple is not the panacea for secure, manageable consumer devices in the enterprise that many believe.