Google bans 11 apps from Play Store For containing Malware
With India recently blocking 59 apps form the play store for indian users, Google have now banned 11 apps from the playstore for containing malware which can cause harm to the users device.
Google continues to battle the growing problem of dangerous apps that keep plaguing its official Play Store. Just last week it was revealed that the tech giant had removed over 20 malware-filled applications from its online market place and now there's even more being added to this growing banned list..
A new variant of popular malware Joker had been discovered by researchers at cybersecurity firm Check Point. The malware had been hiding from security checks by hiding in apps that seemed legitimate.“Check Point’s researchers recently discovered a new variant of the Joker Dropper and Premium Dialer spyware in Google Play. Hiding in seemingly legitimate applications, we found that this updated version of Joker was able to download additional malware to the device, which subscribes the user to premium services without their knowledge or consent,” Check Point said in its report.
Google in January had said that it had removed over 1,700 apps that contained the malware Bread, also known as Joker. Alec Guertin and Vadim Kotov, who belong to the Android Security & Privacy Team, had explained in a blog post that Google’s security team had been tracking the malware since 2017. It was initially used for SMS fraud. However, due to updated security checks, the malware had been altered for billing fraud.
Joker utilized two main components – the Notification Listener service that is part of the original application, and a dynamic dex file loaded from the C&C server to perform the registration of the user to the services,” the report read.
The 11 apps found on google play that contained the malware.
com.imagecompress.android
com.contact.withme.texts
com.hmvoice.friendsms
com.relax.relaxation.androidsms
com.cheery.message.sendsms (two different instances)
com.peason.lovinglovemessage
com.file.recovefiles
com.LPlocker.lockapps
com.remindme.alram
com.training.memorygame
Checkpoint says this latest variant of Joker is estimated to have been downloaded around 500,000 times before the apps were removed by Google.
Check Point suggests uninstalling these applications from a user device to prevent future threats. It also suggests that users check their mobile and credit-card bills to detect any unknown subscriptions. User can also install trusted cybersecurity solutions to prevent such attacks.
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