Methods, systems, articles of manufacture and apparatus to verify application permission safety

A system to identify unsafe permissions associated with a candidate app, the system comprising:

• means for retrieving a cluster of apps associated with the candidate app, the candidate app including a requested permission set (RPS);
• means for identifying a set of trusted apps (TAs) within the cluster, the set of TAs including a designation of trust;
• means for generating a safe permission set (SPS) list associated with the set of TAs within the cluster;
• and
• means for determining whether permissions of the RPS are listed in the SPS list, the determining means to:
• designate first respective ones of the permissions of the RPS as safe when the first respective ones of the permissions are listed in the SPS list;
• and
• designate second respective ones of the permissions of the RPS as unsafe when the second respective ones of the permissions are absent from the SPS list.

At least one non-transitory computer readable storage media comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause processor circuitry to, at least:

• retrieve a directive associated with a candidate app to be installed on a client device;
• determine whether to apply the directive to configure a permission associated with the candidate app;
• when the directive is to be applied, determine whether the directive is prohibitionary or discretionary;
• when the directive is prohibitionary, cause the permission to be denied on the client device;
• and
• when the directive is discretionary, invoke a selection prompt on the client device to enable a user to at least one of allow or deny the permission.