Why Mobile App Developers Need to Prioritize User Data Privacy and Security — And What They Can Do to Ensure It

Numerous reports like this one from TechJury underscore our increasing dependence on mobile apps for everything from tracking fitness and monitoring health to ordering food and booking flights. Statistics show that, in 2020, the average smartphone user installed 40 apps, spending 87% of mobile time using them. While offering incredible conveniences, these apps are also a vehicle for malicious hackers to obtain sensitive data and personal information. But before we dive into the work of hackers, it is important to understand user privacy.

While many mobile apps require a user to accept terms and conditions before launching, it's safe to say most people skip over the pages of small print and just hit the "accept" button — trusting the app maker has the best interest of users in mind. This is not necessarily the case, even with the most widely used apps. Take Facebook, for example. When terms and conditions of use are accepted, Facebook has permission to access all of the user's internal phone storage, call logs, texts, contacts, camera rolls, microphone, Wi-Fi connection and user location. Many people respond to this by saying, "I have nothing to hide, so what's the big deal?" Well, here's the big deal: The more dispersed one's personal data, and the more apps that have exposure to one's data, the greater the chance that data will fall into the hands of a hacker. Add to this sort of vulnerability the number of fake mobile apps users are unwittingly downloading to their phones.

To read the full article, click here: Why mobile app developers need to prioritize user data privacy and security — and what they can do to ensure it (securitymagazine.com)