WhatsApp, Facebook, and Telegram Named Among the Most Dangerous Apps

The use of mobile apps and the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) concept, which is widely adopted by many companies, often raises concerns among information security teams. With the abundance of apps—some potentially malicious, others prone to data leaks, and some requiring excessive permissions—it can be difficult to determine which programs are harmless and which fail to meet organizational security standards.

The company Appthority has published its annual ranking of the highest-risk apps that frequently end up on corporate blacklists. For iOS devices, the top spots were taken by the messaging apps WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Waze. On Android, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram led the list. In the second quarter, Waze and Telegram were new additions to the ranking.

Apps are blacklisted by companies for various security-related reasons, including suspicious behavior, risk of data leaks, non-compliance with security policies, and concerns about information handling. In the second quarter, the apps most frequently blacklisted included both Android and iOS versions of Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, as well as Wickr Me for Android and Tinder for iOS.

According to the report, most apps made the list because they allow data leaks, such as sending address books and SMS messages, are vulnerable to security flaws, or exhibit suspicious behavior—like disabling the default HTTPS protocol.