The world of technology and the internet has picked up quite the pace in the past two decades. We have seen technology transition from huge sized computers to mobile phones that easily outperform them. With this steadfast development in the technology and internet sector, we are becoming more dependent on technology than ever. This ever increasing dependence on technology comes from the ease that it provides us with. Technologies like mobile phones and the internet surely make most of our daily tasks easier.
While mobile phones and the internet sure have a lot of benefits, they also have a few disadvantages. The most primary disadvantage being hacking. Hackers since the start have been developing new tricks which they can use to harm users. One technique that has been quite popular in recent years is the use of mobile applications to hack into users' devices.
Recently a study regarding the security vulnerability of Android applications was conducted by Synopsys. The study was conducted amongst the 3,335 (paid and free) apps that belonged to 18 different categories on the Google play store. The app categories were then compared based on the amount of vulnerabilities they had, the study revealed that amongst 3.3K applications 63% had some form of security vulnerability.
Out of the 18 categories, the category found to be the most vulnerable was top free gaming apps. Almost 96 percent of these free gaming applications had some form of security vulnerabilities. Apart from the top free games category another gaming category named ‘Top grossing games’ came second on the list.
The category that sits on the third, fourth and fifth position are banking, budgeting and payment applications. Almost 80% of applications belonging to the three of these categories have security vulnerabilities which surely is alarmingly high since people trust these applications with their hard earned money.
The categories that sit on the seventh to twelfth position in the list are ‘Average, Top-grossing, Top free, Productivity, Educational, Tools for teachers, Entertainment. The study suggests that around 50 to 60 percent of these applications have security vulnerabilities thus it is better to only download trusted ones.
On the 15th and 16th position of this lists sits dating applications, which are quite popular nowadays. The study shows that 44% apps belonging to the dating category are vulnerable.
On the 17th position is the paid apps category. The study revealed that almost 44% of these paid apps have some kind of vulnerability. This surely is bad for people that have paid to use these applications yet are still vulnerable to hacking.
On the 18th and 19th place is the Lifestyle and fitness category, this category of apps has picked quite the pace since COVID began. If you are someone that uses these apps make sure you use ones that are trusted.
While the insights provided by this study might make a lot of people worry about their security and data. It was also revealed that only 44% of the vulnerabilities in these applications are classified as high risk.
Charts courtesy of Atlas VPN.
Read next: Tests Show Subpar Performance for Android’s Built-in Malware Defenses
While mobile phones and the internet sure have a lot of benefits, they also have a few disadvantages. The most primary disadvantage being hacking. Hackers since the start have been developing new tricks which they can use to harm users. One technique that has been quite popular in recent years is the use of mobile applications to hack into users' devices.
Recently a study regarding the security vulnerability of Android applications was conducted by Synopsys. The study was conducted amongst the 3,335 (paid and free) apps that belonged to 18 different categories on the Google play store. The app categories were then compared based on the amount of vulnerabilities they had, the study revealed that amongst 3.3K applications 63% had some form of security vulnerability.
Out of the 18 categories, the category found to be the most vulnerable was top free gaming apps. Almost 96 percent of these free gaming applications had some form of security vulnerabilities. Apart from the top free games category another gaming category named ‘Top grossing games’ came second on the list.
The category that sits on the third, fourth and fifth position are banking, budgeting and payment applications. Almost 80% of applications belonging to the three of these categories have security vulnerabilities which surely is alarmingly high since people trust these applications with their hard earned money.
The categories that sit on the seventh to twelfth position in the list are ‘Average, Top-grossing, Top free, Productivity, Educational, Tools for teachers, Entertainment. The study suggests that around 50 to 60 percent of these applications have security vulnerabilities thus it is better to only download trusted ones.
On the 15th and 16th position of this lists sits dating applications, which are quite popular nowadays. The study shows that 44% apps belonging to the dating category are vulnerable.
On the 17th position is the paid apps category. The study revealed that almost 44% of these paid apps have some kind of vulnerability. This surely is bad for people that have paid to use these applications yet are still vulnerable to hacking.
On the 18th and 19th place is the Lifestyle and fitness category, this category of apps has picked quite the pace since COVID began. If you are someone that uses these apps make sure you use ones that are trusted.
While the insights provided by this study might make a lot of people worry about their security and data. It was also revealed that only 44% of the vulnerabilities in these applications are classified as high risk.
Charts courtesy of Atlas VPN.
Read next: Tests Show Subpar Performance for Android’s Built-in Malware Defenses
