ESET: 77% of Russian residents believe they are being tracked via their smartphones

According to a survey conducted by ESET, a company specializing in anti-virus software development and protection against cyberthreats, most Russians (77%) believe that they are being tracked via mobile devices.

Young people aged 18 to 24 expressed the least concern about possible surveillance (35%), believing it is a manifestation of paranoia. People over 35 years of age are more concerned about surveillance.

At the same time, 39.5% of respondents believe that the search history on all devices is tracked, 25.5% believe that all actions performed on the device are transmitted, 14.1% believe that they are monitored using the microphone and gadget camera, and 20.9% think that all the above means are used.

Among the main reasons why interested companies collect personal data, 65% of the study participants named the setting of targeted advertising. According to other respondents, the data is used by special services and fraudsters.

According to the study, the Russians are afraid of the use of their personal data by fraudsters, leakage of intimate videos and photos, reading correspondence and wiretapping, as well as study habits and interests based on the search history.

To avoid potential surveillance, 45% of respondents disable geolocation on their devices. Another 39% check the ability of applications to access data. 34 and 32% avoid discussing personal topics on the phone and connecting to public Wi-Fi.

In July, Pavel Durov, the founder of VKontakte and Telegram, reported about the surveillance of his mobile device with the help of a spyware program. According to him, spyware applications are able to hack any phone on the iOS and Android operating systems and there is no way to protect the device now.