These 200+ Games apps were spreading viruses, did not you download it?
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| Image : Google Play Store(WikiPedia) |
This adware, named SimBad, has already penetrated into about 200+ apps, becoming an ad-serving platform.
The Android ecosystem developed by Google today is used in most of the world's smartphones. Even if it is used mostly in smartphones, it does not mean that it is a secure platform.We have been hearing from the very beginning that Android continues to be a victim of many malware, viruses or adware. Its open source platform makes hackers easy to tamper with its security. Now some researchers at the Check Point have found that many apps found in Android have adware, which has been downloaded 150 million or more than 150 million from the Google Play store.
This adware, named SimBad, has already penetrated into about 200+ apps, becoming an ad-serving platform. Security researcher has said that the developers of these apps do not have any information about it. Even these adware make way for other adware to come in infected apps, so that they can dodge the scanning system developed by Google for the Play Store.
According to TechCrunch, this adware has the capability to remove the app's icon and keep working in the background, as it is installed in the user's smartphone. After receiving the command from your command and control center, this adware runs on many websites within the smartphone and generates revenue by displaying it from there.According to TechCrunch, once it is installed, this app can be removed from the icon and will continue in the background.
Security researcher has also released a list of apps which have been affected by this adware and Google has removed them from their Play Store. Google has just been removed from the App Store by Google, but it has not lost users from the phones. These include some top sports like Snow Heavy Excavator Simulator, Hoverboard Racing and Real Tractor Farming Simulator.
Hundreds of apps have hidden hazardous malware, Google removes 200+ games from PlayStore
Google's development mobile operating system is the most used OS in the Android world. Despite the largest user base, this is not the most secure platform, and due to the open source nature of the day on Android, malware and adware infections are seen on it. Now, security researchers have found that a new kind of adware is hidden in hundreds of mobile apps. According to the research firm of the security firm Checkpoint, such apps have been downloaded about 15 million times from the Google Play Store.
Researchers found that the malware named SimBad has infected more than 200+ applications in the form of an add-serving platform. Security researchers said that developers of these apps might not even know what they have hidden in the app. This malware has the ability to perform a backdoing program and install adware malware to stealthy Google's scanning system at the Play Store.
After receiving the command from the control server, malware can run ads by running many web addresses in the background and incorrectly generate the revenues. Security researchers have assigned the list of affected apps to Google and Google has removed those apps from the Play Store. Although these apps have installed before deletion from the Play Store, their apps still have these apps. The top 10 downloaded games had about 5.5 million downloads and included names like Snow Heavy Excavator simulators, Hoverboard racing and Real Tractor farming simulators.
At the point of view, many of these games were on the Play Store from March 2017, said Aviran Hajum, Leader of the Mobile Threat Intelligence team at Checkpoint, TechCrunch. Since malware was now working as an adware, the risk and danger could have been bigger. This update has come to light recently, when Google recently announced the removal of nearly 7 lakh apps from the Play Store in the past year.
Google has removed many apps from the Google Play Store, the reason being that these apps could harm users through adware. This is checked by the checkpoint security firm.
The relationship between Google Play and Malware is old. Google does its best to remove them, but from time to time, there are apps with adware and malware available on the Play Store. Google recently deleted many apps from the Play Store. It is being reported again that Google has removed some 210 apps from the Play Store.
Researchers at the security firm Checkpoint had detected that these apps were actually influenced by the adware. Adware is software that shows you advertisements through pop and does not need any permissions for it. These are actually made for computers, but now even such apps are available in smartphones.
Researchers say SimBad has the ability to divide these three groups - Show ads, phishing, and exposure to other apps. Through this, the attackers who create SimBad malware can create phishing pages for multiple platforms and can open them in the browser. Overall, users can be victimized by fishing directly. Phishing can easily steal your username and password.
According to the report, this Android adware has been found in 15 million devices around the world. The alleged Simbad malware was designed for a mobile gaming including Real Tractor Farming Simulator, Heavy Mountain Bus Simulator 2018 and Snow Heavy Excavator Simulator. Each of these apps has been downloaded more than five million times. While one of these has been downloaded more than 10 million times. Tot 210 apps were found that Google has now removed from the Play Store.
One question arises that why this happens with the Google Play store again and again. The company reviews the application before uploading it to the Google Play Store, and there are also processes for it. But it is believed that Google's review process is still weak from Apple's review process. That's why such problems do not always come in Apple App Store.
If your smartphone also has such apps, then delete them without delay and check the publisher of any app before installing it and make sure that it is a Credible app or not.
