Norton Spot – Stop the SPAM to your devices!

As a family we absolutely love technology. We have tablets and smartphones for pretty much everyone in the family but with all this technology running rampage in my home I am concerned with the apps that my family are downloading to our devices. Ya see downloads can come with madware*, which is mobile adware, and it proves to be the Trojan Horse of Android’s security. Madware links itself to some of the most common Apps then gains access to your personal information, location, settings, and frequently delivers advertising inappropriately. I don’t know about you but I do not want my personal information abused!

Madware is pretty sneaky, it can place advertising in your photo albums, calendars and push messages to your notification bar. Madware can even go so far as to replace your ringtone with an ad! How crazy is that? I would freak out if my ringtone was changed because of some app my children downloaded. The percentage of apps that contain madware has exploded, Norton recently analyzed 1.5 million, yes MILLION, apps and saw a 210% increase in the number of apps including madware! I think that is absolutely insane! So I guess you’re wondering how we can protect ourselves or at least become a little more aware of which apps contain madware.

Norton Spot is a cool app that once activated you can run a scan and it actually spots these apps that include madware so you can remove the pesky buggers from your device*.

More and more kids are using smartphones and, as a result, at increased risk for encountering madware. According to a recent article from the Harvard Business Review as well as thePEW Research Center

• 6 percent of 2- to 5-year-olds have their own smartphone
• 50 percent of 11 year olds have own cell phone
• 23 percent of teens have smartphone

Interesting Statistics:

• According to Norton research, 24 percent of all free apps make money by displaying ads, an increase of 31 percent from nine months ago.

• Forty-nine percent of all free apps that display ads within the app use madware.

• Apps that include madware grew by 210 percent from nine months ago.

• Norton noticed a 50 percent increase in total permissions required by free gaming apps over the past year. This means, for example, that apps are more frequently collecting location coordinates, allowing SMS messages to be sent without consent and installing desktop shortcuts.

• The average app contains two ad networks but some contain as many as 17.

• Lesser known apps can bring big madware annoyances. Less popular apps (less than 250,000 installs) are 135 percent more likely to contain the worst forms of madware.

• Top 10 madware offenders uninstalled by Norton Spot (as of 11/7/12):

  • Brightest Flashlight Free

  • Sam’s Club

  • Zedge

  • Assistant

  • TuneIn Radio

  • Angry Birds

  • Flashlight

  • Music Paradise

  • Angry Birds Space

  • Easy MP3 Downloader

This app is absolutely free in the Google Play store so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t download it and start protecting your precious devices*!

*Please note madware only affects Android devices.

“”I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Norton. I received a promotional item as a thank-you for participating.””