Candy Crush Saga and Tinder App: The specialty of smartphones is their wide range of apps and games, but these apps and games can become a threat to your privacy. According to the report published by 404 Media on January 9, a case of data leak has come to light in location data broking company Gravy Analytics. The report states that some popular apps are tracking the real-time location of users.
leaking data
Although the complete details of this data leak are not yet known, the sample data published by the hacker includes apps like Candy Crush Saga and Tinder. According to the report, the hacker stole several terabytes of consumer data from Gravy Analytics’ servers (which were on the Amazon Cloud platform). This company maintains a large collection of consumer data.
The incident came to light when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) banned Gravy Analytics and its subsidiary Venntel from selling location data of users without their consent. More than 3 crore location points are mentioned in the leaked data, which also includes information about the White House, Kremlin, Vatican City and various military bases.
How do Data Brokers work?
Companies like Gravy Analytics often don’t take data directly from apps. They obtain user data from Android and iOS devices by working with advertising agencies or becoming advertising agencies themselves.
Ways to keep your personal information safe
If your data has been leaked, it is difficult to stop it. But to keep it safe in future. Turn off unnecessary permissions while installing the app. If you use an iPhone, always use the “Ask Apps Not to Track” feature.
Also read: