Recently, a team of researchers from the well-known security firm, of course, I am talking about none other than ESET has recently discovered 13 fake applications on the tech giant Google’s well-known app store for Android, of course, Google Play Store that simply downloads malware onto the victim’s smartphone.
Delete These Android Apps Now!
A team of researchers from the well-known security firm, of course, I am talking about none other than ESET has recently discovered 13 fake applications on the tech giant Google’s well-known app store for Android, of course, Google Play Store that simply downloads malware onto the victim’s smartphone. And guess what’s the most interesting thing about this, as this malicious applications have been installed on more than half a million smartphones.
Basically, all the applications are simply screened as games of cars and motorcycles, but in reality, those apps do not have a legitimate function of any game as their name suggests.
Also Read: 30 Best Antivirus For Your Android Smartphone In 2018
As they once get installed on the victim’s smartphone, they simply start downloading another application whose objective is none other than to generate income by sending annoying advertisements that are displayed when the user unlocks the device.
A well-known ESET researcher, of course, Lukas Stefanko who was in charge of identifying those fake applications has also stated that all those fake and malicious apps are signed by developer “Luiz O Pinto“.
Hence, in all cases, the behavior was the same, as a symptom, they found that after the installation, the icon of the supposed game disappeared and the download of another app in the background from an encoded address begins.
App functionality demonstration pic.twitter.com/11HskeD56S
— Lukas Stefanko (@LukasStefanko) November 19, 2018
When the installation of the malicious application downloaded in a secretive and illicit way the alleged game again asks for the validation of user permissions. This is why the icon disappears at the beginning, as the victim thinks that an error has occurred and has to accept the permissions again.
In his research, of course, I am talking about none other than the well-known security researcher of ESET, Stefanko who discovered that the name of the package downloaded in the background is Game Center, which requests access to the entire network, the visualization of all network connections and runs it when the device starts. And the most interesting thing is that it remains hidden and shows ads when the device is unlocked.
Image Source: Bleeping Computer
Apart from serving as a cover to install the malware, the games are not executed, however, the ratings of those malicious gaming apps on Google Play Store are not good. For this reason, before downloading an app from the official store, it is recommended that you look at the comments that other users have left so that you can simply avoid installing applications with very negative ratings.
Also Read: 10 Most Dangerous Android Viruses and How to Get Rid of Them
While on this case more than 560,000 users have already installed these fake games or you could simply call all these malware. As in the image mentioned above, you can simply see which apps are affected, hence, now take a look and simply make sure that you have installed any of these apps or not on your smartphone. So, what do you think about this? Simply share all your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
