This android security app with one billion downloads is recording users’ browsing data

Clean Master, created by China’s Cheetah Mobile is allegedly collecting private web user data

Google is on a mission to clean out apps from its Play Store that are no longer safe to use and may comprise user security.

Clean Master, one of the most downloaded antivirus app with nearly 1 billion downloads was removed along with 600 other apps.

The app is created by China’s Cheetah Mobile and is allegedly collecting private web user data which is why it was removed, according to Forbes.

Information such as which websites users visited from the in-app “private” browser, their search engine queries and their Wi-Fi access point names, right down to more detailed information like how they scrolled on visited web pages was being gathered by the app.

Cybercriminal network expanding fast

However, the company says that collecting such information is much needed in order to keep a check on which websites are safe for users.

It complies with all local privacy laws, isn’t selling users’ private data and isn’t sending information back to a Chinese server, but to an Amazon Web Services system outside of the country.

This is not the first time that Google has had concerns over Cheeta’s app. In 2018 CM File Manager app was also removed because it violated user privacy.

Cyber-security and its objectives 

“Even if the apps themselves ask for permissions, I would hope that a security product would explain why it needed certain data and try to justify its data snarfle,” said Graham Cluley, a security analyst.

Recently, ToTok, a call and messenger app that is allegedly being used to spy on people was removed from the Google Play Store.

ToTok is mostly being used in the Middle Eastern countries.

This article originally published on Forbes.