What is App Collusion?
Colluding apps are mobile applications that work together to share data and permissions without the user’s knowledge or consent. On their own, these apps may appear harmless, but when they communicate with each other, they can combine their permissions to act as a single—more powerful app. This means one app might have access to your contacts, while the other can see your location data. When you combine those two, they can take advantage of both permissions, which significantly increases the security risk.
Our in-depth research into the TikTok app reveals significant privacy and security concerns, especially related to data-sharing practices with third-party apps. This serves as a prime example of how popular mobile apps can pose hidden risks to users through colluding behavior. To learn more about how TikTok puts user data at risk, read the full research report here.
Smartphones rely on application sandboxing as their first line of defense, keeping apps isolated from one another. But what happens when apps team up? App collusion can slip past these safeguards by sharing data and permissions in secret. While sandboxing limits an app’s access to other applications and the system, the more apps you install, the greater the chance of this covert collaboration. This makes detecting and preventing such threats increasingly challenging.
How do collusion apps operate?
App collusion works together to bypass security restrictions by sharing data and permissions. Individually, each app may seem harmless, but when they coordinate, they can gain access to much more data than they should. Here are two examples that illustrate how apps collude and exploit the permissions they’re granted.
Covert data sharing
To collude, apps need a way to communicate, even though they aren’t designed to share data directly. This is where covert channels come in—methods that allow two apps to secretly exchange information behind the scenes.
Example 1:
Did you know that a Contacts app could share your entire address book with a seemingly harmless Weather app? Since the Weather app has internet access, it might send that contact info to a remote server. The same goes for a Password Manager app—it could accidentally leak your passwords to the Weather app, which then uses its network access to send out that sensitive data.
Social engineering through app collusion
App collusion can also manipulate the data on your device to deceive users into taking actions they normally wouldn’t, such as responding to fake messages or calls. This is often done through social engineering techniques.
Example 2:
A weather app might use its network permissions to grab some info, like a phone number, and send it to your Contacts app. Since the Contacts app can store new contacts, it could add that number to your phone without you even knowing. Later on, you might get a call from this new contact, and trust it because it shows up in your phone book, even though it was added through some sneaky app collusion.
These scenarios illustrate how app collusion works together to exploit permissions in unexpected ways, making them particularly dangerous. The hidden nature of their communication allows them to bypass standard security measures, creating significant risks for both individuals and organizations.
App collusion is a serious concern for organizations
For organizations, app collusion poses significant risks that can compromise sensitive corporate data, breach security protocols, and lead to regulatory violations. These apps work together to share data and permissions, often bypassing the built-in security measures of mobile platforms.
- Data breaches: App collusion can exfiltrate confidential business information, such as emails, customer records, and proprietary data, by combining their permissions and sending the data to unauthorized third parties.
- Security vulnerabilities: By acting together, apps can evade detection, making it difficult for IT teams to identify malicious activity. Even seemingly harmless apps can collaborate to create major security vulnerabilities.
- Non-compliance risks: App collusion can violate industry regulations and data privacy laws like GDPR or CCPA, exposing organizations to legal action, fines, and reputational damage.
- Increased attack surface: The more apps installed on employee devices, the higher the chance of dangerous collusion, leading to data breaches or security incidents.
How to protect your organization from Colluding Apps
Here are some key steps to safeguard your organization from the risks posed by colluding apps:
- Implement rigorous app vetting. Ensure all apps used within the organization are thoroughly vetted for potential security and privacy risks. Use mobile security tools like Q-scout to detect and block app collusion before compromising corporate data.
- Limit permissions on corporate devices. Restrict app permissions to minimize the risk of colluding apps sharing sensitive data. Reducing permissions lowers the chance of apps working together to exploit corporate resources.
- Deploy mobile security solutions. Implement a comprehensive mobile endpoint security that can detect app collusion by monitoring app behavior and identifying suspicious interactions between apps. Q-scout offers advanced detection to prevent unauthorized data sharing.
Protect your organization from the risks of app collusion with Q-scout, our enterprise-grade mobile security solution. Detect, prevent, and neutralize mobile threats before they compromise your data.
Learn more about how Q-scout can secure your mobile ecosystem today.
