Google bans apps including Muslim prayer apps for collecting data

New Delhi: Google has banned dozens of apps on Play Store after research found many of them thieving data. Those banned ones, including frequently downloaded Muslim prayer apps, were secretly harvesting user's phone numbers and other important data, according to India Today.

A barcode scanning app and a highway speed trap detection app were among those data-harvesting prayer apps being downloaded a million times. The QR code scanning app was found to include a data-scraping code.

These banned apps, according to The Wall Street Journal, were collecting precise location information, email and phone numbers, nearby devices and passwords.

Two researchers, Serge Egelman, and Joel Reardon, who run an organization called AppCensus to monitor mobile apps for privacy and security, discovered invasive codes in the apps.

Subsequently, they reached out to Google in 2021 with their findings; despite being alerted, Google reportedly wouldn't take action until it yanked the apps from Play Store on March 25.

An SDK developed by Measurement Systems S. De R.L could scan WhatsApp downloads, the researchers revealed.

The company is linked to a Virginia defense contractor, which reportedly paid to develop them to include its code in their apps to extract users' data, the report said.

Reardon, one of the researchers, said in a blog post that mapping someone's email and phone number to their precise GPS location history was frightening.

Running a service to look up a persons' location could be used to target journalists, dissidents or political rivals, Reardon added.

Google spokesperson, Scott Westover talked about relisting the apps if the malicious software was removed.

Google also stated that appropriate action would be taken against an app violating policies for apps on Google Play.