Are Your Apps Sharing Personal Information?

Happy May!

The month of May brings so many fun social gatherings, Derby Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, and Labor Day.

While I’m not a gardener, I appreciate those of you who get your yard cleaned up and ready for planting and entertaining.

Speaking of cleaning up, this month’s Scam Spotter is reminding all of us to take time to get rid of unnecessary apps and check app privacy levels on our phones. Not only do these apps take up data space, but as you will read, some are collecting information about our everyday habits. There are enough concerns about privacy these days that I will do what it takes to keep my personal information secure.

For those who are interested, we offer free presentations about online safety. Reach out to amc@denverda.org to inquire about having a speaker from our office present at one of your events. You will come away with great tips and information about how to stay safe.

Beth

That’s the way the

Cookie Crumbs Crumble

When landing on a website do you get pop-ups requesting that you accept all cookies? Do you wonder whether you should accept them?

Cookies are small files stored on your computer when you land on a website. Functionally, cookies help your computer recognize that you have been to a site before and stores your preferences and information for that site. Have you noticed when you have added products to your shopping cart that if you close out of that site without purchasing or emptying your cart, the next time you open that site, your same products will be in the shopping cart. That happens thanks to cookies and generally those cookies are helpful especially for sites you use frequently.

Third-party cookies or ‘hosted cookies” are more nefarious. These cookies are hosted by the site you visit but belong to other websites that want your data, your information and shopping habits.

Hosted cookies don’t help your shopping experience on a current website, they are used by advertisers to track your web browsing history and eventually build enough information about you to target new advertising to you. Whether or not you want those ads. Many feel this is an invasion of privacy. If you are one of those people, here are ways to manage which cookies you allow or block.

Blocking Cookies

Most browsers like Safari, Google Chrome or Firefox allow users to filter based on allowing all cookies, allowing third-party cookies, or blocking all cookies. If you block all cookies, you may notice some of your favorite sites aren’t as functional as they once were.

If you have general privacy concerns, but still want your favorite sites to know you, then block the third-party cookies and you will be protected.

Learn about blocking cookies here.

Are Your Apps Sharing Personal Information?

How much do you know about the apps you download? Do you know what information will be shared, if the app tracks your location or shares data with other apps?

A newly downloaded app often asks permission to access personal information like your contacts, your location, or even your camera. This information may or may not be needed to make the app work. It’s important that you know about app privacy concerns.

Before you install an app, here’s what you can do to better protect your privacy:

Use official app stores. Only download apps from official app stores, such as your device’s manufacturer or operating system app store. Read the reviews of the app before downloading.

Know what information the app will be able to access. Read the app’s privacy policy to see how your data will be used or if your data will be shared. Be comfortable about the apps privacy policy, if it is vague you may not want the app.

Check out the permissions. Pay close attention to the permissions for example, does the app really need to access your location, all your contacts or photos to work?

Privacy on Apps You Already Have

If an app is already on your device, there are some things to do to protect your privacy:

Review the app’s permissions. Go to settings and determine if the permissions given are necessary. Turn off unnecessary permissions. Consider deleting apps that require permission for no reason.
Pay special attention to apps that have access to your contact list, camera, storage, location, and microphone.
Limit location permissions. If an app needs access to your location to function such as Waze or a map app, limit the access to your location only when that app is actively in use.
Don’t sign in to apps through your social network accounts. You may be allowing the app to collect information from your social network account. Instead, use your email address and a unique password to sign in.
Keep apps updated. Apps with out-of-date software may be at risk of being hacked. Protect your device from malware by installing app updates as soon as they’re released.
Delete apps you don’t need. To avoid unnecessary data collection, if you’re not using an app, delete it.

﻿Are Your Apps Sharing Personal Information?

Privacy on Apps You Already Have

Are Your Apps Sharing Personal Information?