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Symantec: Cruz and Kasich Campaign Apps May Expose Sensitive Data (go.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Apps released by the campaigns of Republican presidential contenders Ted Cruz and John Kasich have the potential for hackers to access users' personal information. According to an independent analysis by Symantec, the "Cruz Crew" app could allow third parties to capture a phone's unique identifying number and other personal information while the Kasich 2016 app could expose users' location data and information about other apps installed on the phones. First it was Veracode that reported potential vulnerabilities with the apps, now it's Symantec. Apparently the Cruz campaign updated its app to resolve the issues after the Veracode report was released. Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said the security experts didn't know what they were talking about. Both campaigns have yet to respond to the latest Symantec analysis. Neither security firm found any issues in the app released by the campaign of Democrat Bernie Sanders. Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton do not have campaign apps.
If you are a campaign volunteer they are very useful. I have seen apps used to coordinate events, telephone trees and canvasing.
According to a corrupt and dieing so-called "anti-virus" company that sells a piece of malware to unsuspecting luddites, there COULD be a problem with some political app...
I would probably agree that such apps are poorly written and may very well be suspect. But Symantec doesn't rate high in my books as a "reliable source".
My guess is that they have a product that will take care of this issue.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.