The convenience offered by banking applications has its hidden price, which most users have no idea. fresh analyses of cybersecurity experts shed fresh light on practices that have remained in the shadow of fine print. It turns out that many popular banking applications in Poland and the planet proceed to collect data about your location and activity even after its closure. It's not a strategy error, it's a deliberate action that drives a powerful information trading market.
The problem is that erstwhile installing the application, we unwittingly agree to a wide scope of permissions, including access to background data. This is what allows the app to monitor your location 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The information gathered in this way – where you live, work, store or spend your free time – creates an highly detailed profile of your life. And specified a profile is worth a luck for 3rd parties who are willing to pay for it to scope you with a perfectly personalized advertisement or offer.
How is that possible? Hidden Tracking Mechanisms on Your Phone
The key to knowing this phenomenon is Application permissions and Android and iOS operating systems. During the first launch, the banking application requests approval to access the location. Many users, wishing to full usage features specified as the ATM map, choose “Always Allow”. It opens the door to continuous surveillance. The app uses not only GPS signal, but besides data from Wi-Fi networks, base stations (BTS) and Bluetooth signals to accurately find your location.
But that's not all. Modern applications can besides usage data from sensors built into your smartphone, specified as accelerometer and gyroscope. Analyzing this data, algorithms can find whether you're walking, running, driving a car or public transportation. The combination of location information with activity data creates a complete image of your regular habits. This process takes place in the background, with minimal battery consumption, so that it remains virtually unnoticed for the average user. It's silent, but highly effective surveillance on a massive scale.
Who buys your data and for what purpose? A amazing information market
The data collected seldom stay solely for usage by the bank. They are mostly anonymized (although experts argue about the effectiveness of this process) and sold in packages to 3rd companies. The main recipients are data brokers – specialised entities that aggregate information from different sources to make even more detailed consumer profiles.
Who uses brokers? The list is long and surprising:
- Marketing companies: They usage data to mark advertising precisely. If you visit car dealerships often, you will shortly see fresh car models ads.
- Insurance companies: Analyzing your routes and driving kind (based on Accelerometer data), they can measure risks and adjust the insurance premium. Frequent visits to fast food bars may affect wellness hazard assessment.
- Hedge funds and marketplace analysts: Traffic figures in buying malls can be an indicator of economical fitness and service to make investment decisions on the stock exchange.
- Site planners and developers: Information about where people spend their time helps in planning fresh settlements, roads or stores.
In this way your daily, private decisions become a commodity that drives a multi-billion-dollar manufacture that you have virtually no control over.
Is that legal? What does GDPR say and Polish law
At first glance, specified practices seem to be a gross violation of privacy. However, the legal situation is complicated. According to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the processing of individual data requires explicit and informed consent of the user. Banks and app developers safe themselves by placing appropriate clauses in long and complex terms and policies of privacy that most of us accept without reading.
The problem is that consent is frequently formulated very generally, and the user is not full aware of the scale and intent of the data collected. Poland Office for individual Data Protection (UDO) and its European counterparts are increasingly looking at these practices. It is crucial to find whether the collection of specified detailed data is “necessary” to supply a banking service. In many cases this is hard to justify, which opens the way to impose advanced financial penalties on institutions that violate the GDPR. In 2025, the first groundbreaking decisions on this issue are expected to change the scenery of the mobile app market.
How do you defend yourself? The concrete steps you can take today
Although the situation seems alarming, you are not helpless. You can importantly reduce tracking by taking a fewer simple steps in your telephone settings. It's crucial to regaining control of your digital privacy.
Here's what you request to do:
- Check application permissions: Enter Settings -> Applications -> [Bank Application Name] -> Permissions. Pay peculiar attention to “Location”.
- Change location settings: alternatively of let Always, choice Allow only erstwhile utilizing the application. This is the most crucial step that will prevent background tracking. An even safer option is “Ask each time”.
- Disable precise location: Many phones let you to disable the "Use exact location" option. For functions specified as the ATM map, an approximate location is enough.
- Limit background action: In the application settings find the option “Battery” or “Activity in the background” and set it to “Limited”. This will prevent excessive application activity erstwhile it is not open.
- Regularly audit the powers: At least erstwhile a quarter, review all applications on your phone, not just banking. We frequently forget what programs we have given access to our data.
Remember, in today's planet Your data is currency. Conscious management of permissions and privacy settings is no longer an option but a necessity. Taking a fewer minutes to configure your telephone can defend you from unwanted surveillance and utilizing your most private information for commercial purposes.
Continued here:
The banking app even follows you erstwhile you're off. Experts uncover how they sale your data
