A new wave of malware inside some apps on the Google Play Store. Together they have more than 2 million installations. Better to delete them now
Not a week goes by without at least one cybersecurity researcher or company reporting the news of some new malicious application unearthed. Especially in recent months, the amount of infected Android apps discovered on the Google Play Store or alternative stores has skyrocketed.
Very often, these are apps that have already been downloaded hundreds of thousands, if not millions of times. As in the case of two of the infected apps identified on the Google Play Store by Dr Web, a company that produces antivirus, which alone has collected 1 million downloads.
Smartphone In The Car: Delete This App Immediately
The first one is called Bluetooth device auto-connect. Developed by BT Autoconnect Group, it promises to improve connectivity to Bluetooth devices and car infotainment but contains Adware. In practice, a virus fills the smartphone with advertising.
In this case, it is Adware.FireAd.2, which opens the web browser by itself and starts showing sites full of advertisements. Google promptly removed the app in question, which usually leads to automatic removal from the smartphones on which it was installed. However, it is always best to check and if the app is still present on the phone, remove it manually to secure the data on the smartphone.
The Infected Apps Have More Than 2 Million Installations
But this is just one of the infected apps discovered by Dr Web on the Play Store: about ten. Some share the same malware like Bluetooth & Wi-Fi & USB driver (100,000 downloads) and Volume, Music Equalizer (50,000 downloads).
Others are dangerous “scam” apps which defraud the user who uses them. They pretend to be investment platforms with high returns, but the victim loses every penny invested: when it’s time to collect, the app crashes. Thus they give space to phishing campaigns that could steal personal data from users.
The latest to be eliminated from the Mountain View house is the TubeBox app which alone has made 1 million downloads. This app promises cash rewards for each viewing of commercials, but the system for collecting rewards needs to be fixed: watching ads only earns money for the developers.
Among other apps to be deleted is Fast Cleaner & Cooling Master, which can configure the infected device to function as a proxy server allowing bad guys to funnel their traffic through it. Fortunately, the number of users who have installed the latter is the most limited ( 500 downloads ).
If you have downloaded any of the above applications, you should uninstall them immediately. And, in general, always pay attention to the apps you install on your smartphone, even if they come from the Google Play Store.
