Reporting: Avast spied on users and sold the information

Reports say that Avast has used a website security extension and spied on users. The software was removed from the Chrome App Store, and returned after it was "patched." However, the world claims that the company did not stop with the problematic activity, and it simply does so through computer antivirus software

Avast has sold user information to third parties. (Photo: PR)

avast antivirus (Photo: PR, PR)

Anti-virus company "Avast" and its subsidiary, AVG, were caught last year selling personal information to users. The report comes from Adblock Plus ad block maker Vladimir Planet, who reported it as early as October 2019. Planet reports to Vice's Motherboard and PCMag the findings that the Avast Web Security Information Extension, spy on users, saves their web pages, and moves them on . Google removed the plugin from the Chrome browser app store, but shortly thereafter it returned to the store.

"Devote his life to basketball": A petition to make Kobe Bryant the NBA logo

Planet claimed that the information that includes each user's unique identifier, the page he visited, whether he visited the page and other information, could be passed on to third parties, suggesting that Jumpshot acquired by the security software was probably the company to which the information was collected. In 2013, Avast acquired Jumpshot, a company that provides insights into users' digital journey, analyzing every search, click, and purchase from 1,600 categories across 160 sites, including Amazon, Google, Netflix and Walmart.

More in Walla! NEWS

Security company Avast told Motherboard and PCMag that the information collected by the extension is no longer being transferred to Jumpshot. But other sources claim that instead of collecting the information from the browser extension, it does so from the free antivirus software, which then transfers the data to the Jumpshot platform and from there to the relevant customers. "Last week, months after it was identified that the company was collecting information from the extension, Avast asked its participants to confirm that it could collect information about their usage habits," the Motherboard website reported.

"We worked quickly to meet the standards of the web app store. In December, we completely stopped gathering information from the browser extension for other purposes, except for improving the core of the system. We ensure that Jumpshot does not collect personal information, including users' names, email addresses and contact information," they clarified In Avast. Avast provides antivirus software for Android devices and Windows PCs through the Avast and AVG apps. Reporting is currently focused on software designed for computers only, so smartphone users may be "protected" at this time. However, in view of the cases of data collection on users' computers, it is advisable to replace the software and use other antivirus software such as Kaspersky or ESET, which also offer antivirus software for computers and smartphones.