Spotify MOD APK requests 14 default system permissions to be able to install it, 37% more than the 9 permissions requested by the official version. Of these, high-risk permissions occupy 64% (e.g., android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS). As suggested by the 2023 report of security company Kaspersky, these modified apps have an 81% chance to abuse the READ_PHONE_STATE permission and even scan the device’s IMEI code 1.2 times per second, which results in a 23% increase in the risk of user identity leakage. For example, in the Telegram MOD user data breach in 2022, hackers mapped the geographical trajectory of more than 500,000 devices via the ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION permission (±15 meters accuracy).
Among all the permissions used by audio features, Spotify MOD APK demands the RECORD_AUDIO permission (sampling rate 48 kHz, 24-bit bit depth) obligatory (with nominal use “voice search” but third-party code analyses determine its audio stream transmission speed is up to 160 frames per second). The volume of the data packets goes up to 2.3 times bigger than that of the native application (approximately using about 120 MB of traffic every hour). Article 4 of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) classifies audio recording without explicit consent as a “high-risk processing action”, and the wayward company can face up to 4% of its global gross turnover (i.e., in 2021 Meta was slapped with a fine of 225 million euros on similar issues).
Regarding storage permissions, the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE requested by Spotify MOD APK has read and write access to all file directories (including system hidden partitions). Test data shows that it reads the user album metadata (EXIF data) approximately 14 times in 24 hours. And send the hash value of the file name to the third-party server (with average latency of 400 milliseconds). Google Play Protect’s 2023 interception logs show that the probability of such behavior triggering the “abnormal storage access” alarm is 78%, but through dynamically loading DEX code technology, Spotify MOD APK is able to drive the evasion rate of detection to 62%.
Among all device control permissions, the REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission is used to install plugins (advertising SDKS) in stealth. The research firm Proofpoint discovered that a popular Spotify MOD APK version propagated seven types of malware using this access in 30 days. The highest number of affected devices increased to 12,000 per day. Besides, its BIND_DEVICE_ADMIN permission that it asks for has the potential to override the “automatically revoke idle permissions” policy of Android 13 (the system will fall back on disabling it if unused for 30 days), meaning that the permission lifetime could be up to an average of 11.7 months.
Network permission abuse is particularly crucial. Spotify MOD APK requires INTERNET and ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE permissions together so that it can establish persistent TCP connections (with the port number randomized between 30,000 and 50,000). It can send a maximum of 12 heartbeat packets per second to maintain the background service. In line with the analysis of network traffic by Sandvine, 29% of data streams in these connections are consumed by cryptocurrency mining (with constant hash rate of 120 H/s), resulting in an 8-12℃ increase in the device’s CPU temperature and a 18% degradation of battery life.
On the basis of privacy compliance, Spotify MOD APK’s GET_ACCOUNTS permission has access to Google account binding information (last four digits of credit cards that are attached). Data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in 2023 shows that such data is sold at a black market price of $0.35 per item. On average, this app leaks 3.2 pieces of user account data. More critically, its SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission it asked for (overlay pop-up window) was abused to conduct phishing attacks, and the visual error rate of the simulated bank login screen was only 0.7% (the review standard of the official app store requires less than 5%).