Can you trust the apps you use?

With the advent of smartphones, the word “app” has almost become a synonym for pleasure. Whatever you need, whatever you want is right there at your fingertips, located in a few huge online marketplaces, ready to be downloaded and used in minutes, often for free.

The problem with this is that many users enjoy the instant gratification, but don’t think about the loss of security and / or privacy that goes with using apps (on whatever platform) from well- and lesser-known developers.

Users often don’t realize that by using a specific app they have allowed it to harvest their device and sometimes even their personal information, and that they have allowed it to access to – and read, post to, and modify – some critical online accounts.

In this podcast recorded at Virus Bulletin 2013, Bullguard’s Alex Balan asks the question: “How much control we have over our security once we’ve allowed apps access to our private information?”, and explains the unwelcome answer.

Listen to the podcast here.


Ethical Hacker, Security Researcher and Evangelist, Alex Balan is currently the Head of Product Management for BullGuard Software, following a 9 year career in Product Management tied with 10 years of activity in the security industry.