Hey Wyoming: ‘NewProfilePic’ Is NOT a Russian Malware Scam

It’s certainly a wierd time we stay in, when numerous our inhabitants will consider a rumor, or in some circumstances, a blatant falsehood (see additionally: lie), over the reality.

The newest social media rumor is that the favored photo-editing smartphone app, NewProfilePic, is stealing your knowledge and relies out of Russia.

Listed below are the details:

• Linerock Investments LTD (the apps guardian firm), relies out of Tortola, which is situated within the British Virgin Islands.
• Linerock Investments LTD shouldn’t be new. They’ve been round for over 20 years.
• Linerock Investments LTD additionally developed two different very talked-about picture modifying apps:  “Photograph Lab Image Editor & Artwork” and “ToonMe – cartoons from images”.

There’s nonetheless a logical clarification for a few of the rumors and misinformation:

A number of web sites have claimed that the NewProfileApp was registered in Moscow. The reason for that was truly fairly primary. A spokesperson’s responded through electronic mail to fact-checking web site, Snopes, with a press release that learn:

It’s true that the area was registered to the Moscow deal with. It’s the former Moscow deal with of the founding father of the corporate. He doesn’t stay within the Russian Federation in the intervening time. By now the deal with has been modified in an effort to keep away from any confusion.

Different issues had been that the app is “stealing cash” or your “personal knowledge” off your system.

Studying “Phrases and Circumstances” earlier than downloading Apps:

The primary challenge with these rumors, which come up on a regular basis, even with larger apps, like Fb, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, is that nobody reads the advantageous print. What these apps can truly entry and what they cannot, are sometimes specified by the “phrases in circumstances“, however the overwhelming majority of individuals scroll proper via that half.

Is NewProfileApp protected?

The quick reply: sure. Snopes acknowledged:

Whereas this app requests permission to entry sure knowledge in your telephone, these requests aren’t uncommon.

One other fact-checking web site, PolitiFact, shared the same evaluation, which learn:

Social media posts declare the NewProfilePic app accesses individuals’s banking data and make contact with lists and sends them to Russia.

The app doesn’t ask for that data. It asks for entry to the consumer’s digicam, images and media. A spokesperson for one of many app’s builders stated customers’ photographs are saved on servers situated in the USA, not Russia.

Very like with any app you obtain onto your smartphone, pill, laptop computer or house laptop, you need to all the time take the time to learn the privateness coverage first.

Wyoming A to Z