SANTA CLARA, CA — (Marketwire) — 10/25/12 — In the news release, “TrustGo Halloween Spotlight Uncovers Spooky Smartphone App Findings,” issued earlier today by TrustGo Mobile, we are advised by the company that the figure in both the subheadline and first bulleted point of the release should be “175 million” rather than “1.75 million” as originally issued. Complete corrected text follows.
— October 25, 2012 In honor of National Cyber Security Awareness Month and in the spirit of Halloween, leading mobile security company TrustGo Mobile Inc. (TrustGo) today released its TrustGo Halloween Spotlight, revealing an onslaught of spine-tingling smartphone activities as well as handy tips to stay smartphone safe. TrustGo scanned 1.7 million apps found on 175 marketplaces worldwide to produce the TrustGo Halloween Spotlight.
“Popular” doesn-t mean “safe,” privacy risks lurk in many widely-downloaded apps.
: Malware grew by 580% from September 2011 to September 2012, increasingly compromising user security and privacy
are Talking Tom Cat Free, Guitar: Solo Lite, Brightest Flashlight Free, Talking Ben the Dog Free, Talking Pierre the Parrot Free, Talking Santa Free, Talking Tom Cat 2 Free, 101-in-1 Games, Nightfall Live Wallpaper Free and Slot Machine.
81% of high risk apps steals users- phone numbers to sell to advertisers
67% push unwanted ads and notifications that clutter smartphones
47% capture your device ID to potentially hack into phones
37% place unwanted icons on smartphones and trick users into downloading apps
To help families decide which apps are safe to download and which ones should be avoided, the TrustGo Halloween Spotlight also provides a security rating of apps, categorizing all 1.7 million apps they have scanned into one of four categories:
Certified (Safe to download)
Malicious (Containing a virus, Trojan, spyware, etc.)
High Risk (Containing code that leverages granted permissions to create a security risk) and,
Low Risk/Noisy (Has potential to annoy users with excessive notifications or advertisements).
In addition, TrustGo Halloween Spotlight provides a simple list of common permissions users grant when downloading apps, and what they mean to user privacy and security. TrustGo also provides quick tips for a safe, spooktacular mobile Halloween. An infographic summarizing highlights of the report is accessible here: .
“As we celebrate Halloween and honor National Cyber Security Awareness Month this October, TrustGo is pleased to provide a handy guide with findings, tips and terms that demystify smartphone threats,” said Jeff Becker, Head of Marketing at TrustGo. “It-s a great time for digitally-connected families to kickstart conversations and discuss smartphones and apps in the greater context of being smart and safe.”
The TrustGo Halloween Spotlight was developed based on extensive research and data gathered by TrustGo Security Labs. Using our patent-pending App Reputation Technology, TrustGo analyzes all new apps uploaded to monitored marketplaces, usually within three to five hours. Using a combination of machine-based scanning and human analysis, each app is classified into four distinct categories: Certified (safe), Malicious (containing a virus, spyware, Trojan, worm, etc.), High Risk (Non-malicious, but obtains permissions that can compromise user security), and Low Risk/Noisy (May deliver excessive or annoying notifications, alerts or advertisements). As of October 2012, TrustGo has analyzed and classified more than 1.7 million individual apps, marketplace copies and app versions on 175 marketplaces worldwide.
TrustGo, a Santa Clara-based mobile security company, provides Android users the freedom and confidence to find, download and use the apps they love, wherever they find them. Dedicated to providing the ultimate security platform for Android smartphones and tablets, TrustGo-s app offers a comprehensive suite of advanced security and mobile device management (MDM) features to the consumer for free. In addition to protecting users against traditional threats such as malicious app activity, privacy breaches, identity leaks, device loss and theft, TrustGo prevents users from downloading dangerous apps through its Secure App Finder Engine (SAFE). TrustGo was founded by web security veterans in 2011. TrustGo is available now on Google Play (). For more information, visit TrustGo at
For more information on National Cyber Security Awareness Month, please visit
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