Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Application Security

Enterprises Blacklist iOS Apps Due to Data Leakage: Report

A report published on Tuesday by mobile security firm Appthority reveals which Android and iOS applications are most frequently blacklisted by enterprises.

A report published on Tuesday by mobile security firm Appthority reveals which Android and iOS applications are most frequently blacklisted by enterprises.

According to data collected by Appthority, iOS apps are typically blacklisted due to the fact that they leak data. The most commonly blacklisted iOS app is WhatsApp, which has a high risk rating due to the fact that it sends information from the device’s address book to a remote server.

Another commonly blacklisted iOS app is Pokemon GO, which accesses a device’s address book and camera, and tracks the user’s location. WinZip is also banned by many organizations due to the fact that it sends SMS messages.

This type of behavior can pose a serious risk in an enterprise environment, especially if the data is transmitted without being encrypted.

Blacklisted iOS apps

A majority of the top blacklisted iOS apps are in the social networking and entertainment category, as opposed to Android where many of the blacklisted applications are tools.

The most frequently blacklisted Android app is Poot, a tool that allows users to root their devices. Other commonly banned programs are AndroidSystemTheme, Where’s My Droid Pro, Weather, and Wild Crocodile Simulator.

While some Android apps have been blacklisted for tracking the user’s location or sending data unencrypted, in most cases the problem is that they exhibit malicious behavior.

Blacklisted Android apps

An analysis of the top 150 mobile apps found in enterprise environments showed that in the case of Android applications, 86.7% of connections are to a server located in the United States, followed by Ireland (7.7%), Germany (2.1%) and Sweden (0.7%). In the case of iOS apps, nearly 94% of connections go to servers in the United States, followed by Ireland (3.82%), the Netherlands (0.86%) and Germany (0.86%).

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Appthority’s report also lists the top 100 Android and iOS applications used in enterprises, along with their risk score, which can help organizations assess the risks associated with apps commonly used by their employees.

“Enterprise security teams need to understand which mobile apps are being used, the risks they bring, and how their peers are utilizing mobile threat policies to more effectively secure corporate data,” explained Domingo Guerra, president and co-founder of Appthority. “With BYOD and COPE, many commonly used app-store approved apps are making their way into enterprises and posing risks to sensitive corporate data.”

Related: Enterprise Mobile Apps Expose Sensitive Data via Backend Systems

Related: Mobile Ecosystem Vulnerable Despite Security Improvements, Says DHS

Related: Many Mobile Apps Unnecessarily Leak Hardcoded Keys

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Application Security

Cycode, a startup that provides solutions for protecting software source code, emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday with $4.6 million in seed funding.

Data Protection

The cryptopocalypse is the point at which quantum computing becomes powerful enough to use Shor’s algorithm to crack PKI encryption.

Identity & Access

Zero trust is not a replacement for identity and access management (IAM), but is the extension of IAM principles from people to everyone and...

CISO Strategy

SecurityWeek spoke with more than 300 cybersecurity experts to see what is bubbling beneath the surface, and examine how those evolving threats will present...

CISO Conversations

Joanna Burkey, CISO at HP, and Kevin Cross, CISO at Dell, discuss how the role of a CISO is different for a multinational corporation...

Artificial Intelligence

The CRYSTALS-Kyber public-key encryption and key encapsulation mechanism recommended by NIST for post-quantum cryptography has been broken using AI combined with side channel attacks.

Risk Management

The supply chain threat is directly linked to attack surface management, but the supply chain must be known and understood before it can be...