Concerns on the rise about mobile apps watching and tracking South African users, finds Kaspersky Lab
The monitoring capabilities of mobile apps are becoming a concern for South African users, many of whom are worried that the apps on their connected devices might be able to track them down, watch what they’re doing, or share their data. But these dangers could be easily averted by putting some simple security measures in place, warns cybersecurity experts from Kaspersky Lab.
There are rising concerns among consumers about just how much of their Internet activity is being watched, or whether they are traceable through their online footprint. Kaspersky Lab has found, for example, that 71% of South Africans are uncomfortable with sharing their location information with websites and applications – a figure that has risen significantly from 53% in 2016.
Furthermore, 65% are very concerned that someone can see everything they do or watch them on their device where 59% fear that someone could track them down using geolocation information from their device.
These concerns are well-founded. Kaspersky Lab experts have found that apps can not only access a huge amount of data (such as crucial details about where users are, information about their contacts, activities and so on.