Spying is wrong, in any situation. In this era of explosive use of smartphones, the increase in fraudulent situations and extortion has been in the same measure, so it is vital to protect the privacy of users. It has been working for a long time in this regard, as is being seen in the next arrival of Android 11, but while definitive solutions arrive, we offer you some Anti Spyware apps.
They are apps that protect certain aspects, such as the camera, the microphone or against the applications that have incorporated viruses to do all the possible damage to our smartphones, or worse, to extract personal information. Luckily on Android, we have measures to stop this scourge.
How to detect an app that hides a malware "stealer" of data?
Typically, this type of malware it disguises itself as apparently harmless applications. A camera app, another to take profile photos on social networks, games, etc. Actually, any type of application, if we don't have a bit of intuition, can hide a spy app. And it is that the ideal thing will be not to have to use apps to remove it from the system.
How is it possible to detect them before installing them? The best advice is common sense. Although Google in its store is more and more adept at detecting applications, there is no week in which the news comes out that this or the other was actually a virus. Therefore, it is best to be careful and apply basic rules such as:
- Do not install applications that are clearly not official: games that seem from a well-known franchise but you can tell that they do not use the name well, etc.
- Take a look at the comments on Google Play: both the good ones - to see if they have an air of "bot" - and the bad ones, in which someone may already warn us of the problem.
- Assess the number of comments vs. downloads: when an app has a lot of comments, especially positive ones, but not so many downloads, it is a sign that there is something strange.
- Never trust an APK that is offered outside of Google Play or another trusted store, for no apparent reason.
What data can a spy app steal from us and for what?
These applications are usually directed by our Bank data, especially those that we put when we make an online purchase (credit or debit card number, CVC, bank account, passwords, etc.). Although they are more and more ambitious and want things like ID, phone number, calendar contacts, messages from applications like WhatsApp, etc.
Although it may seem that they do it to "empty" our checking account, and sometimes they do, the reality is that most of these viruses do not have that purpose. On many more occasions than you might expect what they want is to create large databases of people and then sell them on the Deep Web. Have you ever wondered why this or that company calls you when you have never given them your details? Well, it may be that the origin is one of these apps.
Applications detect viruses that steal data
In the end, when the damage is done, as they said in "The Green Mile", there is no other option but to apply some remedy. This is what these applications do that we leave you below, specialized in tracking and eliminating any other personal data thief apps.
Spyware remover
It is an experienced program that tries to protect the device from applications with implemented viruses. Detects those tools that threaten the computer in a hidden way, since they are marketed as parental control programs, but as we have seen on several occasions, that does not ensure user privacy.
Anti Spy Mobile
It acts as a software scanner to identify possible harmful threats to our mobiles. In addition, it not only analyzes the applications that we already have installed, but also the websites or online downloads that can generate the same effect.
Malwarebytes protection
Most users install it to act as an antivirus, but the truth is that it also works to detect spying threats. Applications that track locations, voice and calls, none will resist this program, as well as links that can be sent to us through social networks.
Camera Block Free
There are many theories on the internet that mobile cameras are the hackers' preferred tools to spy and extort many users, in fact, many cases have already been counted. To avoid greater evils, we have this app to completely lock both the front and rear cameras, preventing them from being activated.
Anti spy: camera and microphone blocker
This app goes a little further, since in addition to blocking the camera, it also disables the microphone. Sadly, it is another of the most recurrent means of spying and capturing conversations, so it can be a very useful program to avoid falling into these uncomfortable situations. In fact, notifies when both sensors are activated or not, and create a fake location to 'mislead' hackers.
Microphone Block Free -Anti malware & Anti spyware
It disables the operation of the microphone both in apps that have permissions granted for this sector, as well as the phone calls we make. In this way, we avoid the threat of espionage in any scenario, since we can add the applications we want in a list optimized directly so that they do not use the microphone at all costs.
Anti Spy and Spyware Scanner
It uses artificial intelligence to incisively identify spies such as hidden ads, fake apps, fraudulent SMS or spam. The app can do automatic scans, but if we prefer, we can do it manually to have greater security, every time we download a new app or update an already installed one.
Spyware Removal (Anti Spy)
Apart from scanning espionage threats and being able to create a list of exceptions, the app has a more educational section, since shows basic tips to avoid being bullied virtually. On the other hand, it shows the details of each application that serve as conductors towards hackers, such as the location, the microphone or the camera. More specifically, it shows the permissions that each app enjoys.
Privacy Scanner (AntiSpy) Free
Another program that detects if they are spying on us through an element that we have on our smartphone. Remember that not only do hackers spy, but our boss, parents and even our partner can also perform this task. Therefore, it detects technologies that try to spy on us through apps with parental control or our own work.
Anti Spy for WhatsApp
And what about WhatsApp? Showing the time of the last connection is not always to everyone's taste, but sometimes there are parents or relatives who want to be aware of that activity in the social app, so it is a good method to camouflage our last connection, without having to touch the WhatsApp settings.
