With the world rejoicing about the launch of Google’s latest marketplace for Android, little do people know that it can be a big risk to personal information and security.
With the remote App install feature that has recently been added to Android Market, new security threats have cropped up. Now, any application can be remotely downloaded and installed on Android devices; all the user needs is a linked Google account–which is the main source of threat. Earlier, all permissions were limited to the device only, but now the marketplace is online, and with Google’s single sign-in process, it has become easier for cyber criminals to do their trick.
Once an application is downloaded, the Android Market asks for permission only once, and after that, no further notification is given by applications, which gives them a dangerous amount of freedom since they can be used to compromise a single Google login and, in turn, all your personal data, which can also be used to make unauthorised purchases from the Android store.
Security software developer Kaspersky has advised Android users through a blog post to create stronger passwords for their Google accounts and to be careful while giving permission to applications.