Old is not gold
A few months ago, #10YearChallenge drove everyone crazy. Those who took the challenge posted pictures of their transformation in the last one decade. From movie stars to sports personalities to common people, #10YearChallenge had everyone hooked.
Now, #FaceApp challenge has taken the internet by storm as youngsters are hellbent on growing old! Let us remind you that the app just took hours to completely overthrow the positive #BottleCapChallenge that was a motivation for people to get fit.
For the ongoing challenge, you need to download FaceApp and upload a photo of yourself. After which the app, using AI, patterns how you age. It shows some grey hair, wrinkles on your forehead, creates eye bags, adds a lot of loose skin around the chin and shows some deep laugh lines. If you are someone who likes to age like wine, the app results may disappoint you. However, your concerns could be more serious than that.
Expressing their worry, cyber experts say that the app’s software could be violating the privacy of individuals. The Guardian published a report where it quoted Joshua Nozzi, a software developer, who warned people to be careful about FaceApp.“It immediately uploads your photos without asking, whether you choose one or not.” It hints that it could be an evil plot by Russia since the app developed there.
“FaceApp’s privacy clause gives the company licence to use your photos broadly after you upload them to the company’s servers. If the app itself is not misusing your identity, chances are that it is transferring your photo to Russia, where its developers may use it to steal your identity and data,” says Dinesh Menon, cyber expert from Hyderabad.
In this age when users are ready to do any challenge because it’s fun or trendy, FOMO can overshadow basic security habits. “Our previous study even uncovered that the majority (63 per cent) of consumers do not read licence agreements and 43 per cent just tick all privacy permissions when they are installing new apps. While this survey was done three years ago, we believe its findings on our digital habits remain relevant and true,” says, Igor Golovin, security researcher at Kaspersky, a Moscow, cybersecurity and anti-virus provider.
Even before you start thinking whether FaceApp will threaten your privacy, Kaspersky has identified a fake app that is designed to trick users into thinking it is a certified version of FaceApp but goes on to infect victims’ devices with an adware module called MobiDash. “Once the application is downloaded from unofficial sources and installed, it simulates a failure and is subsequently removed. After that, a malicious module in the application rests discreetly on the user’s device, displaying adverts,” says Golovin.
According to Kaspersky data, around 500 unique users have encountered the problem in the past few days, with the first detections appearing on July 7. There were almost 800 different module modifications identified.
“The people behind MobiDash often hide their adware module under the guise of popular applications and services. This means that the activities of the fake version of FaceApp could intensify, especially if we are talking about hundreds of targets in just a few days. We urge users not to download applications from unofficial sources and to install security solutions on their devices to avoid any damage,” warns Golovin.
