Smartphone privacy leak and protection

People rely more and more on smartphones in their daily lives to complete various tasks,

such as order takeaways and online shopping. I have to admit that using smartphones makes

our lives easier, but at the same time, we also store a lot of personal information and privacy

data (such as our address book, bank card password) in our smartphones. However, criminals

will always try to steal our privacy stored on your phone, so it is essential to protect our privacy

adequately. In this paper, I will describe the current state of privacy of mobile phones and how

users can prevent privacy breaches.

One of the first issues to focus on is that most applications have asked for too many

permissions in an already published application. As we all know, Android OS and iOS have

designed a privacy rights protection system. When an application wants to read the user's

private information, the system will request the user's authorization. After obtaining the user's

permission, the app has the right to read the user's private information. However, in a Xinhua

net report, reporter Feng Wenya ((2018, January, 18). Retrieved from

http://www.xinhuanet.com/2018-01/18/c_1122275047.htm.) found that some applications

requested permission independent of the program function. For example, a mobile wallpaper

application would like to read your address book, and a browser application can record it at

any time after you have access to the recording permission. These softwires does not need to

get this information when they work, but they try to get this information. And when the app

can't get approval, it won't work. And cnet editor Katie Conner (Conner, K. (2019, July 16).

Over 1,000 Android apps were found to steal your data. Here's what you can do. Retrieved

from https://www.cnet.com/how-to/over-1000-android-apps-were-found-to-steal-your-data-
heres-what-you-can-do/.) thinks that when the application requests some permissions that you

don't want to grant or need, there is a problem. For example, if you give apps access to your

microphone, they might be listening, so be aware of the entrance you give them. In the "China

Android mobile phone user privacy awareness survey report" jointly released by DCCI and

360, users have realized that about 1/3 (33.1%) of the applicable privacy rights users believe

that over-acquisition is very serious. Nearly half (48.1%) of users think it is more dangerous.

Overall, users who say that Android application permissions are “out of bounds” are as high as

81.2%. Combining these three media details, we can find that most users think that the mobile

phone application has obtained too many permissions, and many permissions are irrelevant.

Missing these permissions will not affect the software function. In the case that many of these

applications excessively request user privacy rights, it is highly likely that the user's privacy

will be revealed.

I agree with the views of the three media. When using mobile apps, I often receive a

variety of permission requests, and some apps even require almost all the permissions they can

get. In this case, I have to worry about privacy leaks. Some well-known companies sometimes

rely on access to collect our privacy, such as Facebook. Software developed by unknown

software developers makes it harder for users to trust them. The current status quo is that iOS

relies on Apple's strict review mechanism to ensure that users' privacy will not be stolen.

However, Android OS, Google's supervision is still insufficient, resulting in a higher risk of

user privacy disclosure.

Second, when the application requests permission, be sure to carefully check the

permissions requested by the program, not blindly. The editor of Fenghua is to close all
unnecessary permissions and learn to make good use of the operating system's built-in rights

manager to determine the exact purpose of each permission and avoid being misled. Conner go

a step further and suggest that users should review it carefully before granting application

permissions, giving only the necessary permissions to the application. If the refusal to grant

permissions causes the application to fail, the user can consider granting permissions. But

developing a habit of scrutinizing application permissions can make users more aware of how

the app works and avoid privacy leaks. In the "China Android mobile phone user privacy

awareness survey report" jointly released by DCCI and 360, they suggested that users install

security software to control application permissions better because application rights

management is one of the essential functions of mobile a full software to protect user privacy.

At the same time, mobile security software is also the primary way for users to manage

application rights.

I prefer to use mobile security software for application rights management because

learning to understand the specific use of each of the permissions in the operating system is

very time-consuming. On the other hand, it is difficult to screen the permissions of each

application one by one, because the software on our mobile phone is not static. So, the best

thing for users is to use mobile security software to manage permissions, because it has many

built-in rules that automatically set permissions for specific software.

Finally, users should further enhance their awareness of personal privacy protection. In

the “China Android Mobile User Privacy Security Survey Report” jointly published by DCCI

and 360, 76.1% believe that malicious applications may reveal privacy, while Xinhua net’s

Editor Feng Wenya also pointed out that users themselves need to strengthen their awareness
of security and prevent all private data from being leaked, and cultivate the habit of protecting

personal privacy. And cnet editor Katie Conner gives several ways to protect individual privacy,

such as turning off location settings and Scan for viruses and other flaws. These can further

protect the confidentiality of the user.

Nowadays, users can better prevent privacy leaks through various methods. However,

privacy protection cannot rely solely on the power of the users themselves, but also requires

the joint efforts of relevant departments to ensure that the privacy of users will not be revealed.

We are pleased to see that on May 25, 2018, the EU's General Data Protection Regulation began

to be enforced, which means that users' privacy is better protected. At the same time, I

understand that China's relevant legislation has also been launched, and will soon be announced

and implemented. I hope that in the future, under the supervision of the government, and the

prevention of users, the risk of privacy leakage will be minimized.