Do You Know How to Spot a Dangerous App on Your Smartphone?

Have you ever heard of madware?… Doesn’t sound real nice, does it? Well, it isn’t nice. Not at all – Madware is an aggressive mobile adware that infects your phone, and starts placing unwanted advertising on your Android phone, in places like your photo albums, calendars, and even push notifications. And if it’s really bad, it’ll even go so far as to switch your ringtone to an ad too! Yikes. This is a growing problem, and can be a super serious pain to get rid of.

How do you get madware on your phone?

So, your first question is probably – how the heck would I even get Madware on my phone?? Well, it can be deceptively simple – there are so many apps out there that look legit, but are actually bad guys. Common apps like the Brightest Flashlight Free app, that claims to turn your smartphone into a flashlight. What it actually does is push stuff like alerts for dating sites to your notification bar, which is at best annoying – and at worst super embarrassing. Or there’s Angry Birds and Angry Birds Space – the versions from a place called Rovio – that can be easily confused with the real games, but are two of the worst Madware offenders out there. Imagine how easy it would be for the kids to accidentally download offenders like this? Norton recently analyzed over 1.5 million apps and found a 210% increase in just the last 9 month in the amount that had Madware. How crazy is that?

Norton Spot can protect your phone from unwanted madware

So, now that we now the problem, here’s your solution: Norton Spot. Norton Spot does for your smartphone what it has been doing for years for your PC – it can scan and remove yucky apps that spam your device, keeping you safe and secure. It’s a totally free app that you can download in the Google Play app store. Still don’t think this is a problem that you have to worry about? Here are a few startling statistics:

• 49% of all free apps that display some type of ad within the app {you know, like those free games we’re all so addicted to} – use Madware.
• Norton also found a 50% increase in total permissions required by free gaming apps, in the last year. You know – when your downloading the game, and it says you’re giving permission for it to collect things like your location, and allowing the app to send SMS messages without your permission.
• The newer, and less popularly downloaded apps are the worst offenders – and are 135% more likely to contain madware.

The problem is growing faster every day, and isn’t going to slow down. We’d never think of using our computers without some type of protection – and it’s now become a new norm that we’ll need protection when using our smartphones too. For more info, visit Norton One online to download it to your Android phone, and then pin the awesomely helpful infographic below too. And if you’ve ever experienced Madware on your phone – leave me some comments about it below. It might be helpful for others too!

 {Disclaimer: I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Norton. I received a promotional item as a thank-you for participating.}