Report: Many mobile apps insecure

• Tweet

OAK PARK, Ill., Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A study by a U.S. security company found many smartphone applications do not fully protect personal information.

ViaForensics examined apps for Google's Android system and Apple's iOS, Cnet reported. The survey found 76 percent of the apps store usernames with no encryption and 10 percent do not encrypt passwords.

The company gave apps a passing grade for providing complete security for usernames, passwords and application data. A failing grade meant important information, including passwords, was not secure, while a warning meant ViaForensics found some information to be insecure but determined there was little risk if someone else accessed it.

The company failed 39 apps, passed 17 and gave 44 a warning. Financial apps were more likely to be secure than others, but even with those only 14 passed and eight out of 32 failed.

"It would be a fair generalization to say that so far, Apple has made more efforts toward data protection in their iOS platform, compared to Android," the report noted. "However, users do still face risks due to malware that can compromise the device, or data recovery from lost/stolen devices."