The most widespread vulnerability of mobile applications is the insecure data storage, which is in 76% of their programs, as a result of which personal data, texts, passwords and financial information of users may fall into the hands of hackers, a Positive Technology survey reported.

In the executive summary of the Positive Technology report is written that high-risk vulnerabilities were found in 38 percent of mobile applications for iOS and in 43 percent of Android applications. The report also found that hackers seldom need physical access to a smartphone to steal data: 89 percent of vulnerabilities can be exploited using malware.

"In 2018, mobile apps were downloaded onto user devices over 205 billion times. Developers pay painstaking attention to software design in order to give us a smooth and convenient experience and people gladly install mobile apps and provide personal information," Leigh-Anne Galloway, cyber security resilience lead at Positive Technologies, stated. "However, an alarming number of apps are critically insecure, and far less developer attention is spent on solving that issue. Stealing data from a smartphone usually doesn't even require physical access to the device."