Consumer Digital Privacy Protection Advisory: Top Mobile Flashlight Applications Spy on Users, Warn SnoopWall Cybersecurity Experts

NASHUA, N.H., Oct. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SnoopWall (www.snoopwall.com), the world's first counterveillance security software company, has issued a consumer protection advisory that consumers should delete their flashlight apps immediately.  According to SnoopWall's cybersecurity experts, all flashlight app users are being spied on and warn that flashlight apps should be considered well designed "malware".  A heightened warning was issued for users with mobile banking apps co-installed on their smartphones, tablets or laptops.

"The top 10 free flashlight apps in the Google Play store alone account for nearly 1/2 billion installations alone, and that does not include the Microsoft Windows Phone and Apple iTunes apps," said Gary Miliefsky, CEO of SnoopWall, an IT security and counterveillance expert.  "The cyber threat from flashlight apps is epic," he warns.

SnoopWall cybersecurity reviewers revealed that the top 10 flashlight apps geolocate users, read contacts lists, read device storage looking for personal, sensitive pictures and videos, read and write files, check to see what apps are running, look for ways to communicate over the internet (wifi or cellular), get users phone number and much more.  All the flashlight applications reviewed revealed easy exposure of a user's personal information to potential cybercriminals or other nation states such as India, China and Russia.  

SnoopWall cyber experts report that these flashlight application sizes were unusually large, ranging from of 1.2 to 5 megabytes, which would support the malicious app behavior revealed.  According to Miliefsky, "an optimized flashlight application should only be 72k which is 10-50 times smaller than the smallest one of these apps.  The size is significant because there is more code than necessary embedded in these applications which allow them to eavesdrop on you. "

For a full copy of SnoopWall's "Flashlight Apps Threat Report", visit http://www.snoopwall.com/threat-reports-10-01-2014/

"Why does Brightest Flashlight need to Geolocate you? It doesn't," Miliefsky stated.  "If users are performing Mobile Banking on the same device as one of these free Flashlight Apps, they are at an even higher risk of a severe data breach."

The FTC recently sued the Brightest Flashlight app developer, but the FTC seemed mostly concerned with the app developer's privacy policy. Most users never review the privacy policy of the apps they install. For more details of the flashlight app settlement, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/04/ftc-approves-final-order-settling-charges-against-flashlight-app

About Gary Miliefsky

Counterveillance expert and founding member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,  Gary Miliefsky, is the Founder of SnoopWall and the sole inventor of the company's technologies. He has successfully advised two White House administrations on cyber security, filed more than a dozen patents of his network security inventions, and licensed technology to major public companies, including IBM, BlackBox Corp. and Computer Associates International.  He also founded NetClarity, Inc., an internal intrusion defense company, based on a patented technology he invented. He also advised the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in their development of The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. Miliefsky serves on MITRE's advisory board and its CVE Program (http://CVE.mitre.org) and is a founding Board member of the National Information Security Group (www.NAISG.org). He is a member of ISC2.org, CISSP® and Advisory Board of the Center for the Study of Counter-Terrorism and Cyber Crime at Norwich University.  The former Editor of Cyber Defense Magazine, Miliefsky is a prolific author, a frequent presenter and subject matter expert on topics related to digital privacy, counterveillance and cybersecurity for corporations and the news media.

 About SnoopWall

SnoopWall is the world's first counterveillance software company focused on helping consumers and enterprises protect their privacy on all of their computing devices including smartphones, tablets, and laptops. SnoopWall augments endpoint security (antivirus, firewall, intrusion prevention) through patent-pending technology that detects and blocks all remote control, eavesdropping and spying, thereby preventing data leakage while increasing device battery life/performance. SnoopWall's technology suite includes Privacy App™ and Privacy Shield™. SnoopWall's software is proudly made in the U.S.A. and is part of the growing suite of next generation security products being delivered by SnoopWall and their OEM partners.  Visit snoopwall.com and follow us on Twitter: @SnoopWallSecure.

Media Contact:

Nancy Rose Senich
202-262-6996 cell/txt 
[email protected]

SOURCE SnoopWall