Study: Are Ad Libraries in Android Apps Putting Your Privacy at Risk?

  • A study conducted by North Carolina State University found that more than half of the apps on Google Play market have “ad libraries” that put users’ security and privacy at risk.
  • The more aggressive ad libraries on some of the apps make users vulnerable to malware by downloading and running code from remote servers. These ad libraries also enable third parties and hackers to download harmful code.
  • They are also used to track users’ location using GPS for targeted advertising. Some ad libraries access personal information like phone numbers, call logs and lists of all the apps stored on the phone.
  • “The current model of directly embedding ad libraries in mobile apps does make it convenient for app developers, but also fundamentally introduces privacy and security risks. The best solution would be for Google, Apple and other mobile platform providers to take the lead in providing effective ad-isolation mechanisms,” said Dr. Xuxian Jiang, assistant professor of computer science at the university and co-author of the paper.

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