Raising a serious security and confidentiality issue, a recent SMobile report has virtually warned people to stay alert and vigilant in respect of hidden functioning of Android apps. According to the report, these apps may sometimes act as spy-ware and thus may pose serious security threat for your personal life.

Presently, the Android marketplace supports almost 48,000 apps and the number is growing.About 20 per cent of these apps permit a third-party application access to sensitive or personal information, the report alleges. If the report is to be believed, Android users must be selective while choosing these apps from the marketplace.

I doubt you might be little aware that some of the apps are even too intelligent to make calls and send text messages. These smart actions do not require your intervention or specific permission to be accomplished. Of course, you permit them to do so, but in a different way. Say, for example, while downloading them, you might have given your nod by way of checking some odd options without actually knowing their significance.

The report finds about 5 per cent of the available apps are potent to make phone calls while another 2 per cent are highly efficient in sending unknown text messages through SMS. Most of these uncontrolled self-generated messages were found to be targeted to some expensive premium numbers, said SMobile Systems in its Android market threat report.

Of course, the Smobile report does not say all the Android marketplace apps are malicious or perilous; however, it only warns mobile users about the potential for abuse. A little care from users may prevent such unacceptable events to occur.

Asking people to stay informed and advising them to know what they are doing, Dan Hoffman, chief technology officer at SMobile Systems says, “Just because it’s coming from a known location like the Android market or the Apple App store (with the iPhone) doesn’t mean you can assume that the app isn’t malicious or that there is a proper vetting process.”

Interestingly, the SMobile security report on the Android market apps has not gone well to the Google.

“This report falsely suggests that Android users don’t have control over which apps access their data,” says the Google spokesman. “Not only must each Android app get users’ permission to access sensitive information, but developers must also go through billing background checks to confirm their real identities, and we will disable any apps that are found to be malicious.”

Via Cnet