The social networks They are the most downloaded applications today, which is why they remain in the constant focus of cybercriminals, who are constantly looking for new opportunities to commit fraud by taking advantage of unsuspecting users.
However, this time cybersecurity experts Talal Haj Bakry, Tommy Mysk and Jake Moore They have warned that Facebook and Instagram applications collect confidential information from users who consume these apps from iPhone, which represents a risk factor.
What data are they accessing?
In an interview for Forbes, the specialists revealed that Instagram and Facebook They have been collecting “secretly” information from the iPhone’s accelerometer, which reflects the activity and movements of the user, making it possible to track their location without the need to provide location permissions.
Facebook reads accelerometer data all the time. If you don’t allow Facebook to access your location, the app can still infer your exact location just by grouping it with users who match the same vibration pattern that your phone’s accelerometer records.
These researchers ensure that other competitors such as TikTok, WeChat, iMessage, Telegram and Signal do not access this information.
Although the accelerometer data appears to be innocuous, it is amazing what applications can do with these measurements. Applications can determine the heart rate, movements and even the precise location of the user. Worse still, all iOS apps can read the measurements from this sensor without permission. In other words, the user would not know if an application measures their heart rate while using it. – Mysk.
The researchers reiterate that “All personal and unique data should be considered sensitive and should be protected,” so they invited users who do not want to be monitored to uninstall both applications, especially if they have iPhone devices, which is where it was detected. this “failure”.
Via | RT News
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