CINCINNATI (WKRC) – We live in an age where installing countless apps on our phones can make our lives easier, but if we're not careful with privacy settings, those apps can also make our lives a lot more complicated.
Whenever you download an app onto your phone, your privacy settings tend to be set to public rather than private. This can give scammers information they can use to scam you, and if the app company has a data breach, more of your personal information could be exposed than you realize.
It looks like this:
Take Venmo, for example. When you download the app, it automatically has public privacy settings, meaning anyone on the internet can see who you transact with and what you transacted for. You may not realize it, but Venmo also tracks your location and has access to the photos in your phone's photo album.
“They are collecting additional data that is unrelated to the service they are providing, and this data collection in no way improves the quality of the service,” said Dr. Joseph K. Nwankpa, director of cybersecurity initiatives at the University of Miami's Farmer School of Business.
What can you do to protect yourself?
Be cautious and don't let the app dictate your privacy settings. In the actual app itself, go to Privacy Settings and choose your privacy setting. We'll use Venmo as an example: Click on the “me” icon in the bottom right. Then click on the mechanical wheel in the top right. Hit the Privacy tab. The default setting is Public, which means anyone on the internet can see your transactions. However, there are three options: Default Public, Friends, and Private. Private is the most secure.
You can also open your phone's settings and scroll down to see all of your apps. You can check each app individually to see what it's tracking and what you've allowed it to share with you. Venmo had access to my location and photos, but you can manually change that to turn off data collection.