Apple iPhone users may not be aware that some of the apps they use record every move they make while using the app.
ΑWorse, some of these applications seem to hide sensitive data but actually record credit card numbers, social security numbers and other information that most people prefer not to give.
According to Tech Crunch , applications from carriers, airlines, travel sites, banks and others, do not notify you that they are doing so.
A company called Glassbox is one of the few companies that offers technology for applications and websites that allows them to capture the screen and monitor how users navigate their applications. By reviewing the actions performed by an iPhone user while using an application, the developer can see if certain functions of the application failed to do the job they were designed to do. Glassbox recently tweeted:Imagine if your website or mobile app could see exactly what your customers are doing in real time and why they did it.".
App Analyst, which publishes its analysis of how applications collect user data, recently pointed out that the Air Canada iOS app uses Glassbox . This technology is used to capture screenshots (ScreenShots) during a user's session with the application. Although Glassbox allows developers to block recording in sensitive fields so that the snapshots they receive do not reveal personal information, it turns out that some of the snapshots recorded by the Air Canada app capture some of this personal data. .
When creating a new account or resetting the password in the Air Canada app, screenshots taken by the app reveal a user's password with complete clarity.
Screenshots collected by Air Canada display the user's password when creating a new account or resetting the password.
According to the App Analyst, if Air Canada or Glassbox were to store the passwords that can be displayed through these screenshots, this would be contrary to industry standards. Consider that last August, Air Canada had a data breach that affected 20.000 users of its app.
Speaking of screenshots that reveal personal information, the App Analyst says: "Since this data is often sent to Glassbox servers, we would not be surprised if they already stored snapshots of sensitive banking information and passwords.".
While apps in the Apple App Store must follow a privacy policy, none of them say anything about the logs made by the app. Glassbox does not require Apple or the app's user to give them special permission, and as a result, there is no way to know if the apps you use on your iPhone record every move you make and transmit personal data.
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