DENVER, CO (KMGH/CNN) - A quick search in the Apple app store reveals hundreds of these private vaults - secret photo apps disguised as calculators or audio managers.
“It is an application, it does work, but there is also the dark side,” said Steve Beaty, Metro State security expert.
The app provides a secret place to store photos and messages or to browse the internet.
In Canon City, CO, administrators uncovered students using the apps to collect and share naked photos of each other.
“It might be funny or fun today, but 10 years from now, is that really what you want to have out there?” Beaty said.
Beaty said the apps aren’t new, but the technology is becoming more sophisticated.
“They are able to hide more and more things,” he said.
Many of the apps are so advanced, they allow two passwords. Type in one, and everything on the app disappears. Put in another - perhaps only known to you - and it’s all back.
While teens may think the photos are hidden from parents, Beaty said there is nothing stopping the app’s developers from sharing the photos.
“It could just take your hidden photos and send them to somebody else on the net, and there you go,” Beaty said. “Your information is then compromised in ways you never imagined.”
Experts say the takeaway for parents is to check kids’ phones for apps that seem out of place and to be aware of when new apps are downloaded.
Copyright 2015 KMGH via CNN. All rights reserved.
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