Adware infected apps on Google Play reached millions of Android devices

[Himanshu Arora]

Several apps available in the Google Play Store that have been downloaded by a large number of users are harboring a form of malware that waits days or weeks until turning the adware on, popping up advertisements or trying to trick users into paying for content or breaching their privacy.

The most popular of these apps, a card game called Durak has over 5 million installations. Other infected apps include an IQ test app, having 1-5 million installations, and a history app, which has been installed in thousands of devices.

According to Avast researcher Filip Chytry, these apps act normally when you install them. "This impression remains until you reboot your device and wait for a couple of days. After a week, you might start to feel there is something wrong with your device. Some of the apps wait up to 30 days until they show their true colors."

Once the malware gets activated, you start seeing ads every time you unlock your device. These ads are disguised as warning messages saying that your device is infected, out of date, or full of porn. "This, of course, is a complete lie," Chytry said

You are then asked take action, and if you approve you get re-directed to downloads of other infected apps that either send premium SMSes or collect too much of your personal data. Surprisingly, you are sometimes directed to legitimate security apps on Google Play, such as one from antivirus provider Quihoo 360, although even if you install these apps, the undesirable ads popping up on your phone don‘t stop.

Acting swiftly, Google has pulled the apps from the Play Store.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/59634-adware-infected-apps-google-play-reached-millions-android.html

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

It's all very well Google acting swiftly and removing them but how did they make their way into the Playstore in the 1st place, aren't all apps supposed to be thoroughly checked out by Google before users are allowed to download them?
Anyway those poor saps who downloaded the malware will probably have to do a factory reset of their devices to properly remove the bugs.

 

[Guest]

Obviously they didn't act swift enough.

 

[SirGCal]

This is what happens when the public blindly installs apps without investigating them first. Analize them, etc. I get Amazon's Free App of the Day and I only actually get maybe one a month cause the others have sketchy permissions and/or obvious malware or data collections within. Flurry Analytics is a common one used to simply track your activity and serve adds. This is how places like Google make their mega-billions people. I don't support it and refuse all of these apps. I still have a few hundred games and tools in my library all safe and trustworthy. It just takes a bit of investigation before blindly installing the new game or app.

Look at the permissions for that Durak game.. Holy cow there's no way in tar-nation I'd even look further. The game doesn't need to be on any of my devices...

 

[Guest]

But but... Uhhm~ what if ...say I do have porn on my phone. that isn't a lie

 

[lipe123]

What I don't get is why there is no "report this app as malware" in the playstore!

Going to any of these shady video stream web pages pops up all kinds of apps to install that are so obviously fake and BS its not even funny and there is no option to report it.

 

[cliffordcooley]

What I don't get is why there is no one to hold responsible for listing malware in the app store. Do they not ask for authentic people when adding their apps? Is a non traceable email all that is required to list your app in the store?

 

[SalaSSin]

What I don't get is why there is no "report this app as malware" in the playstore!

Going to any of these shady video stream web pages pops up all kinds of apps to install that are so obviously fake and BS its not even funny and there is no option to report it.

I imagine that's because of possible competitors anonymously (or with bogus accounts) reporting apps as spam.

 

[gunste24]

Even Google Chrome came with adware garbage. I recently installed it on a new PC and found that the home page was Trovi.com, a well know junk virus. I uninstalled, and reinstalled with care. Same result. Goodbye Chrome. Google cannot be contacted for feedback. I guess they dopn't want to hear any complaints about their products. Must be the result of aging and success.

 

[Bruce Fraser]

It's all very well Google acting swiftly and removing them but how did they make their way into the Playstore in the 1st place, aren't all apps supposed to be thoroughly checked out by Google before users are allowed to download them?

If the code doesn't activate until a week after installation -- or even a month -- then the only way Google could check the app would be to de-compile the executable and examine the code line by line. I don't know how many thousand apps are added each day, but I just don't see how this would be feasible.
Curious, then: the same technique could be used in iOS apps. Any word of that happening?