AVG, a family of anti-virus and internet security software for various platforms, had released the very first antivirus suite for Windows Phone 7. The suite included an antivirus, anti-malware, and anti-phishing tools. Today, reports are indicating that this “antivirus” app might be more dangerous than expected.
Turns out, not only is this app pretty much useless as it only scans for a few things, but apparently it is also doing some mischievous things as well. The app not only improperly uses the Geo Location to track the phone, but it also sends all possible identifying information such as the make, model, your email address, and your location to AVG. Whether this was intentional or not remains to be seen.
Microsoft’s own, Brandon Watson even tweeted: “AVG app pulled from marketplace. Doing some investigations, but want functionality certainty. Thanks for headsup.”
Further reading: AVG, Security, Windows Phone 7
