On top of that, the investigation discovered that four in 10 popular child-monitoring apps feature malicious links. What’s worse is that none of the apps received a high privacy grade. Parents should watch their own backs, too; they’re also being tracked and followed.
The child-monitoring apps that are tracking parents, too
The child-monitoring apps that are tracking parents, too
The Cybernews research team analyzed 10 child-monitoring apps found in the Google Play Store. Each app was installed at least one million times; the most popular of the group garnered a whopping 50 million downloads. Cybernews used the Mobile Security Framework (MobSF) benchmark, a common security analysis tool, to determine the apps’ privacy and security fitness. The score ranges from zero to 100; 100 represents the best score one can get. Below, you’ll find the list of apps Cybernews analyzed in order of their MobSF score (from worst to best).
How parents can protect their kids moving forward
How parents can protect their kids moving forward
Cybernews consulted with Jason Glassberg, cofounder of Casaba Security, and Karim Hijazi, CEO of Prevalion, a cyber-intelligence company. Both Glassberg and Hijazi agree that the hazards of tracking one’s kids with a child-monitoring app outweigh the benefits of keeping tabs on them “By installing this type of app on the child’s phone, you’ve essentially embedded a fully capable trojan on their most personal of devices, which, in addition to having access to their browsing activity, communications, friends, etc, can also track their real-time location,” Hijazi said. If parents still feel compelled to monitor their children, Chris Hadnagy, CEO of cybersecurity firm Social-Engineer, suggests that parents sift through reviews of their desired apps before downloading them. You should also keep your devices fortified from malware by installing one of the best antivirus apps on the market.
