Google jerk some 29 pic apps from the swordplay Store this week after they were discovered to have malicious code that press full - screen ads , steals info from exploiter by tricking them into believing they have won a competition , and in some cases even lifted photos from equipment to send to the malware designers behind the apps , Engadget reportedthis weekend .
concord to ablog postby cybersecurity service Trend Micro , some of the apps ( categorized as AndroidOS_BadCamera . HRX ) were download gazillion of time , with a turgid number of the downloads originating in Asia and “ in particular in India . ” Some of the apps hid themselves from the program listing , apparently in the hopes that user would forget they were installed , and none of the apps afford any indicant that they were the ones load ads on the substance abuser ’s gimmick , Trend Micro save . All used various trick to foreclose psychoanalysis , including meat packer ( compressing archive ) and remote servers that were “ encoded with BASE64 twice in the code . ”
The “ contest ” app remind exploiter to get across through a serial of screens before it score them up for personal information . Trend Micro discover that another slew of apps on the Play Store purporting to be “ beauty ” filter programs hold code that permit its developer to slip photos :
These apps seemingly allows user to “ grace ” their pictures by upload them to the designated waiter . However , instead of getting a final result with the edited photo , the user gets a picture with a simulated update command prompt in nine different voice communication . The author can pull in the photos upload in the app , and possibly use them for malicious purposes — for object lesson as fake profile picture in social media .
Trend Micro wrote that the apps all took pains to appear as legitimate as potential , meaning that the master method user could severalize something fishy was go on would be to read review ( which in at least one case , directly deplume up users who spell “ Disgusting ! stupid!Listen you unintelligent ” and “ if u download it u r phone will be cut up . worst app ” ) .
Three of the malicious apps , Pro Beauty Camera , Cartoon Art Photo , and Emoji Camera , had well over a million downloads . 11 others were downloaded at least 100,000 times . That ’s an awful band of malware circulate through the Play Store , though that ’s nothing new . As Wirednoted in 2017 , hackers can employ a variety of tricks to evade Google ’s machine-driven surety measures , including run malicious codification on a timer so that it ’s already been scanned by the clip it hap , encrypting function so that they ca n’t be detected , or attempting to download extra malware directly from attacker ’s servers .
[ Trend MicroviaEngadget ]
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