Muslim prayer app, others banned by Google after finding spyware linked to US national security contractor
Google bans apps
Popular Muslim prayer apps, with more than 10 million downloads, are among other applications that have been banned by Google, a popular tech site Gizmodo reported. The report also mentioned that among other apps, there was a barcode scanner and a clock app also.
As per the report, Google has banned over a dozen apps from Play Store after it found that they included a line of code that was secretlyharvesting user data.
The secret code was apparently engineered by a company linked to a United States defence contractor and they paid money to the software developers to incorporate the code into their apps. The code was siphoning off personal data phone numbers, contacts, etc from the devices.
Gizmodo noted that The Wall Street Journal originally published a report on the invasive code, which was discovered by researchers Serge Egelman and Joel Reardon.
The researchers have co-founded AppCensus, an organisation that basically looks after auditing mobile apps for user privacy and security. They noted their findings in a blog post, in which they revealed the full list of apps that were banned.
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WSJ noted citing Reardon that the apps weren't removed from the Play store until March 25, though they had contacted Google with their findings in October 2021.
Google stated in response: "All apps on Google Play must comply with our policies, regardless of the developer. When we determine an app violates these policies, we take appropriate action."
The researchers have stated that a company registered in Panama called Measurement Systems might be behind all this. In their report, the researchers have clearly mentionedn that Measurement Systems was actually registered by a company called Vostrom Holdings.
The company is said to be a firm based in Virginia. Itapparently has ties with the national defence industry. WSJ has noted that Vostrom contracts with the US federal government through a subsidiary firm called Packet Forensics.
Watch this report: