• by Gavin O'Malley , June 9, 2011

Apps developed by LinkedIn, Netflix, Foursquare and payment platform Square are all guilty of potentially exposing sensitive consumer information to computer criminals, security firm viaForensics finds. According to viaForensics, "The Android applications of LinkedIn, Netflix and Foursquare stored user names and passwords in unencrypted form on their Google-powered devices," The Wall Street Journal reports. "Storing that data in plain text violates a commonly accepted best practice in computer security." Criticized by some as overzealous and even naïve, The Journal has been on a crusade to expose -- some say inflate -- digital privacy issues. "You'd think the spate of Internet security breaches this spring would have companies on their toes," The Journal's Digits blog writes. "But when it comes to wireless apps, some are still making rookie mistakes." ViaForensics also found the iPhone version of Square's mobile payments app exposed a user's transaction amount history, and the most recent digital signature of a person who signed an electronic receipt on the app, Digits notes.