Avast has been caught exploiting our privacy, again. Avast the free antivirus software available for Mac and PCs has been found to be accumulating precious and sensitive user data. This data was later sold to third parties, of which, Google, Microsoft, Pepsi, Yelp and Intuit are prominent names.
An investigation by Vice Mag has confirmed that Avast used a subsidiary named Jumpshot to sell the user data, which it collected by opt-in options.
Avast is used by more than 435 million active users per month. Users can select a variety of free and paid security tools from the company to keep their devices safe from viruses, malwares, and ransomwares.
The irony is that the software which was supposed to protect your privacy is the one exploiting it. Please see below the screenshot of one of the highlights of the software.
Furthermore, the investigation claims that all types of data was collected which ranged from searches, locations, YouTube videos, LinkedIn to even types of porn searched.
This is not the first time Avast has been caught exploiting our privacy. In October the Avast browser extension was removed by Mozilla, Opera and Google due to a report by a security researcher named Wladimir Palant (who is also the creator of Adblock Plus). In his report he proved the malicious behavior of the Avast browser extension.
Moreover, Avast collected data of more than 100 million devices. This data was categorized differently, and captured such details that in some cases the even actual cursor movements of some users were successfully captured.
Please let us know in comments below, if you are one of the user of Avast antivirus software and how long have you been using it.
Story credits: Ali Noor
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