In a world dominated by technology, the idea of privacy has quietly slipped away. Surfshark's Research Hub talks about "Smart Home Privacy," which reveals how many home security apps disregard user privacy and often collect too much personal data without consent. The study shows that a security camera app can be one of the biggest collectors of user data.
Surfshark reveals that an outdoor security camera apps can gather your phone numbers, email addresses, location and payment information. Many other smart home apps can also do the same thing. But an outdoor security camera app can collect your information 50% more than any other smart home apps. The outdoor security camera apps which were analyzed took 7 out of 12 data points to the users’ identity.
The indoor security camera apps can also collect your data but less than outdoor security camera apps. On average, they collect 9 data points, out of which 6 are linked to the user's identity. These data points include email addresses, user IDs, purchase histories, audio data and phone numbers. These indoor and outdoor security camera apps also gather names, physical addresses and other contact information of users which can be used to contact users outside the app.
There are some outdoor apps which gather the most user information like LOREX and Deep Sentinel. These two apps collect 18 out of 32 data points which link to the user's identity. The indoor security app, Nest Lab, gathers 17 data points linked to users, followed by Ring and Arlo Apps. Both of these apps collect 15 data points. If no regulations and standards are implemented on these data apps, they can pose a lot of risks and threats to users including cyber attacks, data breaches and physical harm. After collecting the data, these apps give that data to data brokers or third party companies which can bring a lot of harm to users.
Read next:
• Google’s AI Overviews Are Deeply Impacting Publisher Visibility On Search, New Study Shows
• Google Trends Researching Made Easy: Unlock Expert-Level Insights with These Simple Tips
Surfshark reveals that an outdoor security camera apps can gather your phone numbers, email addresses, location and payment information. Many other smart home apps can also do the same thing. But an outdoor security camera app can collect your information 50% more than any other smart home apps. The outdoor security camera apps which were analyzed took 7 out of 12 data points to the users’ identity.
The indoor security camera apps can also collect your data but less than outdoor security camera apps. On average, they collect 9 data points, out of which 6 are linked to the user's identity. These data points include email addresses, user IDs, purchase histories, audio data and phone numbers. These indoor and outdoor security camera apps also gather names, physical addresses and other contact information of users which can be used to contact users outside the app.
There are some outdoor apps which gather the most user information like LOREX and Deep Sentinel. These two apps collect 18 out of 32 data points which link to the user's identity. The indoor security app, Nest Lab, gathers 17 data points linked to users, followed by Ring and Arlo Apps. Both of these apps collect 15 data points. If no regulations and standards are implemented on these data apps, they can pose a lot of risks and threats to users including cyber attacks, data breaches and physical harm. After collecting the data, these apps give that data to data brokers or third party companies which can bring a lot of harm to users.
Read next:
• Google’s AI Overviews Are Deeply Impacting Publisher Visibility On Search, New Study Shows
• Google Trends Researching Made Easy: Unlock Expert-Level Insights with These Simple Tips
