Robocall-barring apps assure to relieve customer’s from hoaxed and spam phone calls. But are they as dependable as they appeal to be?
In recent times, one of the security investigators stated that many of these apps can intrude upon your privacy as soon as they are opened.
Dan Hastings, who is a senior security adviser at a cybersecurity company NCC Group, had investigated some of the most widespread robocall-barring apps —
- TrapCall,
- Truecaller
- Hiya
He had found these apps outrageously violating customer’s privacy.
Robocalls are getting dangerous day by day, with some receiving tens or dozens number of calls a day. These pre-set calls often try to hoax you into receiving the call by bluffing their number to seem like a local caller. As much as the networks are attempting to reduce down on spam, many others are bending to third-party apps to screen their incoming calls.
What Are These Company’s Doing?
Hastings also added that these companies primarily function by sending customer information to third-party data analytics firms. These firms then monetize on this data without getting any permission from the customer.
One of the apps called TrapCall, had sent consumers’ phone numbers to a third-party analytics company called AppsFlyer, without informing their users. Hastings also noticed apps such as Truecaller and Hiya uploaded device information, device type, model number and software version, along with other things much before the consumer could even accept their privacy policies.
The Involvement of Other Apps
The ones mentioned above were just some examples. Various other apps tested by Hastings instantly sends some consumer information to Facebook as soon as the app loaded.
None of these firms proceeded on mails sent from Hastings notifying about the privacy concerns. Only after when he got in touch with Apple, one of the app TrapCall revised its privacy policy. He kept aside some critique for Apple, observing that app privacy policies do not seem to be monitored is what he discovered with Truecaller and Hiya.
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Hasting lastly said that privacy policies are good, but apps really need to get better about enduring by them.
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