App "sneak running" damages traffic, but beware of privacy leaks
Industry insiders suggest downloading apps from official channels as much as possible. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it will issue a series of industry standards
Apps that have been withdrawn suddenly start in the middle of the night, and apps that have not been used for a long time generate traffic on their own... A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily found that these “sneaking” apps in the background cause more harm to users than simply “stealing traffic”.
On April 20, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that it will issue a series of industry standards to provide policy and standard support for App personal information protection supervision.
Phenomenon App that exits the program always starts suddenly by itself
As communication companies mostly launch data packages or data packages, there is no limit on the excess data rate.
This allows many users to no longer pay attention to where their mobile phone traffic goes, and gives an opportunity to secretly start or run apps in the background.
Recently, Ms. Ma, who likes sports, has encountered a bad thing. She receives reminders from the mobile phone monitoring App almost in the middle of the night. An app called "Malamala" in her mobile phone always starts suddenly and frequently in the middle of the night. Refresh.
"I am an Android phone, and I will quit this program every time I use it, but it always starts by itself. Isn't it to steal my traffic?"
In fact, what happened to Ms. Ma is not an isolated case.
Reader Ms. Zhang recently discovered that a mobile phone that has been idle for a period of time is causing data consumption.
"Except for occasionally turning on the phone to look at photos and charge, this phone is rarely used." However, this month she received a mobile phone bill. Although the traffic is only tens of megabytes (M), she doesn't understand. Why do idle mobile phones generate traffic?
After consulting with mobile phone manufacturers, Ms. Zhang found that in addition to the mobile phone system that consumes some traffic due to positioning, ID services, and push notifications, some apps that have not been activated for nearly a year also "silently" consume some traffic.
Among the apps that consumed traffic displayed by Ms. Zhang, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily noticed that some apps even stayed at the initial "welcome to use" interface, and some needed to fill in the account and password. Obviously, they have not used it for a long time. It will only happen later.
But these apps continue to consume data after Ms. Zhang has idled the phone.
On the Internet, some netizens also report that some programs consume data when they are not in use.
In the Apple community, some netizens said that there was also traffic generated by a "deleted program" on their mobile phones. Under this problem, there are more than 40 consumers who have the same experience.
Focusing App "sneak run" is to allow users to buy more traffic?
Where did all this traffic go?
In response to questions from readers and netizens, reporters from Beijing Youth Daily contacted some App operating companies and mobile phone manufacturers.
Except for some mobile phone manufacturers confirming that the system program "defaults" to consume part of the data to provide necessary services, most App operators have not clearly stated the reason why the app consumes data "privately".
Some netizens said that these apps "steal traffic" to make the traffic consume quickly, so that users can buy more traffic packages or traffic packages from the operator.
This statement has been recognized by many people on the Internet.
However, a reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily interviewed some people in the app development industry, and they thought this statement was unreliable. They had never experienced or heard of any app that has such cooperation with operators.
Moreover, it is basically impossible for the operator to know which App “contributed” the traffic generated in the user's mobile phone.
"The basic function of counting the usage of apps is provided by mobile phone manufacturers. Telecom operators cannot participate in it, so they cannot design a distribution model." There are currently about 3 million mobile apps in my country, and this number is changing daily. In the face of such a large number of apps, the so-called "operator participation in profit sharing" argument is obviously untenable.
At present, traffic prices are getting more and more favorable. In terms of traffic contributed by video apps, the traffic provided by these "privately" apps is hardly worth mentioning, and it is impossible for operators to "cooperate" with them.
Be wary of the possibility of leaking user information in addition to clicking behind
So does it mean that these privately "sneak-off" apps have basically no impact other than losing a small amount of traffic to consumers?
Industry insiders said that in addition to the loss caused by a small amount of traffic, why these apps generate traffic "privately" is more worthy of consumers' vigilance.
"Generally there are two situations: one is that malicious apps use'kidnapping' mobile phone traffic. The other is that the app uploads user information'privately'." said an app engineer who did not want to be named.
He further explained that in order to capture the click-through rate of the target website, the malicious app kept the phone "clicking" on the relevant website or advertisement page in the background.
In this case, the basic traffic consumption is huge in a short period of time. "It is also common to brush one or two G in an hour."
In the other case, although the loss of traffic is not much, the risk of information leakage to users is greater.
At the beginning of installation, many apps will submit some "unauthorized applications" that have nothing to do with the use of the app. For example, some wallpaper apps require authorization such as "call", "address book", and "message". Obviously, they require excessive authorization.
Once the user agrees, these apps may be able to upload user information to the server.
This is why some apps still generate data traffic even if they have not been used for a long time. Most of them upload user information in the background.
Remediation "Interim Provisions on App Personal Information Protection Management" will be released
In order to reduce or avoid "sneak running" of mobile apps, or even to avoid downloading malicious apps, industry insiders suggest that users should download apps through official channels instead of downloading unknown apps easily.
Frequently observe application traffic usage. For some applications, a large amount of traffic consumption should be deleted in time.
After using an app, remember to close it completely instead of simply exiting it.
Every time a new app is installed, carefully read the authorization details to avoid unnecessary authorization.
Some software that has been found to be "sneaked away" can also be restricted through mobile phone settings.
Not only are users paying attention to methods and methods when using apps, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and local communications administrations have also begun to report and deal with apps that violate user rights and interests.
In March of this year, Xiao Yaqing, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, stated that there are currently nearly 3 million mobile apps on the market. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in conjunction with relevant departments, has specifically rectified the problems that the masses have expressed strongly. This year, the requirements for app rectification will be further increased, and those who refuse to accept rectification will be further improved. App is resolutely removed.
At the same time, in terms of supervision, to improve the capabilities of technical equipment, we must first ensure that loopholes in information protection can be detected and advertising information can be effectively intercepted.
On April 20, Zhao Zhiguo, spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Director of the Information and Communication Administration Bureau, reported that since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has completed a total of 290,000 App technical tests, put forward rectification requirements for 1,862 apps that violate regulations, and publicly notified 319 apps that were not rectified. , The organization removed 107 apps that refused to rectify.
At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will, on the basis of full solicitation of opinions, and related departments release the "Interim Provisions on the Management of App Personal Information Protection", and organize the formulation of the "App User Rights Protection Evaluation Standards" and "App Collection and Use of Personal Information Minimum Necessary Evaluation Standards" and other industries Standards provide policy and standard support for App personal information protection supervision.
Text / reporter Zhang Xin
Coordinator/Yu Meiying