Identifying Risks and Myths in ‘FaceApp’ Craze













Cybersecurity expert Don Vilfer was in charge of the FBI's white-collar and computer crimes unit in Sacramento. He’s now the president of Digital Evidence Ventures.

"You are giving up data and you are giving up information, and the app makes it clear with their agreement as to what you’re giving up. You’re giving up a log file even of activity on your phone that they could access and see your browsing history or cookies from your phone or cookies that they install, and tracking information. That kind of thing," Vilfer said. "But you’re permitting this with the use of a lot of apps."

While Vilfer will not be adding the app to his phone, he doesn't think there's much to worry about if you did.

"It’s probably an innocuous app that’s made for entertainment and to make some money because they have a pro version that you can spend money on to get increased features," he said. "So it's probably innocent enough and they’re not harvesting data off of your phone but you are authorizing them to do that.”



"It doesn't mean they're necessarily bad people but that they’re subject to Russia as opposed to being subject to the United States," said business law attorney Elizabeth Weinsten.



