Go Keyboard App Spying And Stealing Data Of Over 200 Million Android Users

Are you a user of the popular GO Keyboard? Well, findings made by AdGuard might sound interesting to you.

 Security researchers from AdGuard have revealed that Go Keyboard, a popular Android keyboard application that offers so many awesome features actually spies and steals its users data.

According to the researchers, the app which has over 200 Million users worldwide is developed by Chinese GOMO developer team. Ttwo variants of GO Keyboard exist on the Play Store namely,"GO Keyboard - Emoji Keyboard, Swipe input, GIFs" and "GO Keyboard, Free Theme, GIF." The two versions of this keyboard collects users private data and send them out to a remote server and execute unauthorized code on the android device without the users consent.

 The researchers explained that they were on alert regarding suspicious acts of keyboard after it was found earlier this year that Touchpal keyboard was displaying ads on HTC users devices.

"We decided to test keyboard apps after the recent story with TouchPal, a keyboard, that started showing ads to HTC devices uses right in the typing area," AdGuard said.

 The keyboard app communicates with tracking networks as well as execute code like the dex files or native coding through a remote server. This act is actually a violation of the Developers' Policy Centre's Malicious Behaviours section. 


  GO Keyboard can register and send out everything that the user type such as our passwords, login details, phone numbers, bank account numbers and even have access to the users call logs, contacts ans microphone.

 The GO Keyboard application which AdGuard described as "an absolute 'champion' in this field" does the exact opposite of what it claims in their privacy statement which says,"We will never collect warta including credit card information. In fact, we care for privacy of what you type and who you are!"

AdGuard informed Google of the findings but haven't received a reply yet. However, AdGuard has confirmed an update that GO Keyboard pushed to its application on the Play Store and so far all the violations have been taken off.