The largest internet business in Russia has inserted code in mobile apps, allowing information about millions of users to be routed to servers in Russia.
The information is related to Yandex software that allows developers to make apps for Apple devices.
The platforms that power the great majority of the world’s cellphones are Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
Before transferring the information to Russian servers, Yandex obtains user data from mobile phones. Researchers are concerned that the Kremlin may retrieve the same “information” and use it to track people using their cellphones.
As part of an app review initiative for the NGO Me2B Alliance, researcher Zach Edwards discovered Yandex’s code. Four specialists that are not affiliated with each other.
Yandex has admitted that its software collects “device, network, and IP address” data kept “both in Finland and Russia,” but has described the information as “non-personalized and highly limited.” “While it is theoretically conceivable, identifying users simply from such aggregated information is exceedingly difficult in practise,” it continued. Yandex, without a doubt, cannot.”
The discoveries come at a key juncture for Yandex, branded “Russia’s Google,” which has long strived to set its own course without running afoul of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand for tighter internet regulation.
When dealing with governments, the corporation says it follows a “extremely tight” internal process: “Any requests that do not conform with the necessary procedural and legal standards would be declined.”
When dealing with governments, the corporation says it follows a “extremely tight” internal process: “Any requests that do not conform with the necessary procedural and legal standards would be declined.”
However, Cher Scarlett, a former Apple senior software engineer for worldwide security, believes that if user data is acquired on Russian computers, Yandex may be obligated by local legislation to provide it to the government. Other analysts believe that Yandex’s metadata might be utilised to identify users.
Ron Wyden, the chairman of the US Senate Treasury Committee and one of the architects of US internet legislation, has chastised Google and Apple for failing to do enough to protect devices from Yandex spyware, which has been identified in 52,000 apps with hundreds of millions of users.
When dealing with governments, the corporation says it follows a “extremely tight” internal process: “Any requests that do not conform with the necessary procedural and legal standards would be declined.”
“These apps syphon private, sensitive data from your phone’s apps, endangering US national security and the privacy of Americans and others worldwide,” he stated.
Yandex is a worldwide technology behemoth that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and controlled by American investors.
It was founded in Israel by Arkady Volozh, who lives in Amsterdam. In 2019, the firm signed an agreement with the Russian government and defined a structure that allows Moscow to intervene on some matters, such as international acquisitions, while maintaining authority over day-to-day operations.
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