Skype for Android - A Threat to Privacy
Some serious coding errors and permission settings makes Skype Android application to open the doors for hackers to gather the private information from the Android smartphone of users. This information includes user's name and email address, contacts and chat logs.
The vulnerability in the permission settings of Skype for Android. The exploit has been revealed by Justin Case through Android Police and the Official statement of Skype on this issue says:
“It has been brought to our attention that, were you to install a malicious third-party application onto your Android device, then it could access the locally stored Skype for Android files. These files include cached profile information and instant messages. We take your privacy very seriously and are working quickly to protect you from this vulnerability, including securing the file permissions on the Skype for Android application. To protect your personal information, we advise users to take care in selecting which applications to download and install onto their device.”
In this application, Skype stores the user data in a directory as the same name as of user name and these files have erroneously left with improper file permissions. This means that anyone or any application can access or read this unencrypted files.
Up until now, Skype has not updated the application to beat the vulnerability, hence it is better to remove the Skype Application from your Android Smart Phone.
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