App Security & Privacy

How secure are the apps that you use every day? Our work seeks to answer this question by examining the privacy and security of mobile apps.

Mobile apps have become a ubiquitous feature of modern life and a central means for civil society to communicate, organize, and mobilize. The apps we use collect, store, and transmit sensitive information about the most intimate aspects of our daily lives in ways that are insecure and lack transparency. Apps that have amassed billions of users across the world remain understudied by security researchers, with limited information on their relative privacy and security. 

Security vulnerabilities in mobile apps can compromise a user’s device and expose their private data to attackers. Apps that use inadequate encryption to transmit data can expose a user’s personal data and geolocation to anyone with visibility on the network. 

Our work examines the privacy and security of mobile apps from technical, legal, and  policy perspectives. We analyze mobile apps to identify security issues and insecure network transmissions. We have identified and disclosed security vulnerabilities to app developers, leading to security improvements for billions of users, multiple times over.