Graham Cluley, a security analyst said such data collection was "clearly a concern." Meanwhile, multiple security experts told Forbes that there are much more secure ways to collect data for a better experience. The company also said that it is accessing Wi-Fi network names to prevent users from joining malicious Wi-Fi networks. It's also doing so to provide certain services like suggesting recent trending searches," the report added citing Cheetah Mobile's response. "For instance, it's monitoring Internet browsing to ensure the websites users are visiting aren't dangerous. Amid the latest allegations, the company told Forbes that it is (emphasis ours) collecting users' Web traffic and other data, "but is doing so largely for security reasons". Cheetah Mobile's response to allegationsĪt the time when Cheetah Mobile was levelled with ad fraud allegations, the Chinese company had denied its apps could falsely claim ad clicks for profit.
This was even highlighted in an article by VPN Pro, a cybersecurity guidance website, which claimed that apps such as Clean Master was collecting "dangerous information" of the users and need to be uninstalled. The report revealed that users' data such as browsing history, search engine queries, Wi-Fi access point names, and even scrolling patterns were collected by the app. Other Cheetah products - CM Browser, CM Launcher and Security Master - apps with millions of downloads have been also snooping into users' data, the report added citing a researcher at a cybersecurity company. As previous reports indicated that several apps by Cheetah Mobile including Clean Master were involved in ad fraud schemes, Google never officially revealed the reasons to remove the app(s) from its app store. At its peak, Clean Master was a quite popular app with over a billion downloads and it can be assumed that the app is still present on millions of smartphones.Īccording to a report by Forbes, Clean Master has been collecting all manner of private Web user data that a security firm shared with Google.
The app that was developed by Cheetah Mobile, a Chinese Internet company, was removed from Google Play in 2018 after it was found that the app was allegedly involved in ad fraud schemes.
Nearly two years after Clean Master, an app promising antivirus protection and private browsing was removed from Google's Play Store, a new report has claimed that the app might be still causing trouble for its past and present users.
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