WhatsApp is the most blacklisted app on BYOD iPhones in the enterprise

Top blacklisted iPhone apps in the enterprise
Top blacklisted iPhone apps in the enterprise


According to mobile security firm Appthority, Facebook-owned WhatsApp is one of the most commonly used iPhone apps in the world, but it's also one the riskiest apps due to the potential for data leakage.

The company has compiled a list of apps that enterprise organizations most frequently blacklist, which includes a top 10 list for both Android and iOS. 

Most of the top blacklisted Android apps were banned by enterprise organizations because they were found to contain malware. These include “Poot-debug”, AndroidSystemTHeme, Weather, and Will Crocodile Simulator. 

The most blacklisted app on iOS however were mainstream apps that many if not most iPhone users have on their phones, including WhatsApp, followed by Pokemon Go, and WinZip. Facebook Messenger was the seventh most frequently blacklisted app. 

Appthority's rankings are based on the number of organizations that blacklist an app, and are then ordered by the number of devices the app has been blacklisted on. 

WhatsApp was often blacklisted from iOS devices because it sends the user’s address book, while Pokemon Go was frowned upon because it accesses an iPhone’s address book and camera, and tracks the device’s location. WinZip, a utility program, was also blocked because it can send SMS messages. 

Other top-10 blacklisted apps on iOS included a popular PDF scanner, CamScanner, a widely used media server app called Plex, WeChat, and Facebook Messenger. 

“The majority of Android apps that were blacklisted scored in the malicious range because malware was detected,” Appthority notes. “iOS apps that were blacklisted scored in the data leakage range for sending SMS messages, tracking location or for sending data — including sensitive data — unencrypted," said Appthority.

The company's report is based on BYOD or bring your own devices, as well as COPE or company owned and personally enabled devices that rely on it to manage devices in the enterprise.   

It also found the most common apps on Android were Uber, The Yellow Pages, and Facebook, while the top apps for iOS were WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Uber.  

The company reckons the most risky apps on Android are Uber, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, while the riskiest iOS apps are Facebook, Pandora, and Yelp.  

  

   

Tags FacebookAndroidiosiPhonefacebook iphone appyelpPandoraWhatsAppAppthority

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