Some owners of accounts in the social network “Vkontakte” are interested in finding out who visited their pages. The social network itself does not provide such an opportunity, so users are looking for alternative ways and download special applications that promise to show “guests”. Roskachestvo analyzed whether these programs really perform their function.
Do such apps show page visitors?
According to the data of the Roskachestvo research, the main function of the applications of the category “My Guests in VK” is deception. Of the 56 apps of this type studied (40 on Android and 16 on iOS), none were tested successfully.
To determine this, the experts visited the test page from another account, spent some time on it, and then looked at the results in the applications. None of them managed to complete their task and did not show a real guest.
Who do the apps show in the statistics then?
As the social network Vkontakte itself explains, these programs analyze the Likes and comments on the user’s page, and add them to the list of random people for greater reliability.
Are guest tracking apps dangerous?
With a high probability, yes. These applications may pose a threat not only to the privacy of the user’s data, but also to their bank account.
First of all, it is suspicious that some of them request rights to access device functions that are clearly not needed for the application to work: camera, storage, and search for other accounts on the device. Such requests were found by experts in the applications “VK”, “My guests”, “My guests”, “Activity on the” Vk “page, ” Real Guests”, ” VK ” and “Guests”, and “Statistics from “Vkontakte”.
The second obvious danger of such programs is the risk of transferring your credentials to someone unknown. The study showed that 60% of applications do not authorize through the Vkontakte server, but through a third-party one: requests go to other countries, mainly to Turkey. In such a situation, the owners of this unknown server can easily keep the data for themselves and use it at their own discretion.
Also, in a strange way, sometimes these apps have a paid subscription (to disable ads). The window with its design is shown only once, and nowhere in the program of this section can you find it to see the amount of the charge or cancel it. Thus, the user can give the application much more money than planned.
Another dangerous feature of these programs is suspicious advertising. In some cases, it is so inconveniently located that it is easy to accidentally click on it. When you click through, you can end up on a phishing site or download a virus.
What else is suspicious about the operation of these applications?
It turned out that some of them just as quickly disappear from stores as they appeared. They can be removed due to suspicious activity, or the developers themselves decide. Of the 56 apps, 10 were missing from the store by the time the Roskachestvo study was published.
Some of these programs quickly change the conditions of their work: they are paid, then free. For example, the app & laquo; Guests & nbsp; VK & raquo; during the research had to be purchased, and & nbsp; by the time the article was published, it was already free. The app “@Hunter VK ” behaved in a similar way, but in reverse.
What is recommended in Roskachestvo?
Experts of Roskachestvo recommend not to install applications of the category “My guests” in VK and use only official mobile clients.