Android users who take advantage of third-party apps have legitimate cause for privacy concerns, according to new research. Researchers with Northeastern University in Boston have found that it's possible for Android apps to be mined for information about a user's whereabouts and their travel patterns.
The study, titled "Inferring User Routes and Locations using Zero-Permission Mobile Sensors" and lead-authored by Northeastern University Professor of Computer and Information Science and lead-author Guevara Noubir found that apps "can infer vehicular users’ location and traveled routes, with high accuracy and without the users’ knowledge, using gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer information." The study's authors determined this is a "serious security threat," according to the paper.
To conduct the study, the researches built and tested their own Android app and were able to track users without any GPS or WiFi, merely relying on the phone's sensors to collect location data. Noubir said in the press release:
In our research we show that an app in fact does not need your GPS or WiFi to track you. Just using these sensors, which do not require permissions, we can infer where you live, where you have been, where you are going.
Noubiralso offered security tips for Android users in the press release:
You should not install apps that are not familiar to you, ones that you have not investigated. Be sure that your apps are not still running in the background when you’re not using them.
He also suggested deleting apps that Android users don't use regularly or need in order to eliminate potential threats.
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