Risky permissions shared with apps can pose a threat to your data privacy

Data privacy is one of the burning issues in India today and even the government has begun working on ways to protect the personal data of its citizens.

But contrary to popular belief, data privacy isn’t compromised only in the scenario of a breach. Personal data is most commonly given away to developers of apps who have no business collecting such information.

A survey of the top 100 applications on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s iTunes done by security software maker Symantec revealed that 89 per cent  of the top 100 Android apps sought “risky permissions” while 39 per cent of iOS apps did the same.

While many apps have genuine reasons to request permissions that gives them access to a user’s personal information, Symantec report did identify some apps in the top 100 list that requested permissions that were unnecessary.