Ars Technica reports on a research team's finding that many of the libraries used in free Android applications to display ads pose a threat to privacy. The North Carolina State University researchers found that cyber attackers can use the libraries to circumvent Android security. The researchers, led by Xuxian Jiang, examined 100,000 apps and found that almost half tracked users' GPS locations and one in 23 "allowed that data to be passed back to the advertiser." In some cases, users' call logs and phone numbers were listed, the report states. Such allowances could invite malicious codes to be installed, the researchers say.
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