The android apps that are illegally serving adware and malware are increasing day by day and it is done to earn revenues in an unethical manner. According to reports from Symantec, google has removed 25 android apps from Google Play and these apps had been downloaded around 2.1 million times. After Symantec reported about these malicious apps, Google removed them all.
What is the matter all about?
In the Google Play store, 25 apps were categorized as fashion or photo utility apps to get downloads. All these apps were published under 22 different accounts but contained the same code structure as well as app content. According to Symantec, these apps might have been developed by the same company or with the same source code base.
What do these apps do?
If you install these apps, you will be able to see the app icon on the device but soon it disappears. You might be wondering how this can happen? Yes, this can happen because they use a code that is executed remotely. After this, you will receive several full-screen ads on your phone randomly which interrupts you while using the mobile. As the icon has disappeared, so it will be difficult to know on which app the ad is triggering. This confuses the user on how to get rid of them. It has also been reported that many apps contain two versions on Google Play Store from which one is a non-malicious version while the other one is malicious and contains adware. Undoubtedly, the non-malicious version will top in Google Play charts but it might also happen that users might download the malicious version. These 25 malicious apps are different from other apps because the app icon disappears without hard-coding the function into the APK. Google cannot catch it in its testing phase because the programming is done using a built-in remote switch. The research firm says, “Monetary gain from advertising revenue is likely the motivating factor behind these apps. Thanks to the apps' ability to conceal their presence on the home screen, users can easily forget they downloaded them. As such, the malware authors can freely and aggressively display advertisements to users, with minimal evidence leading back to them.”
Conclusion
We would highly recommend you not to download unfamiliar apps, especially from untrusted sources. And before downloading, don’t forget to verify the permissions that you grant the apps. Download the latest security patches and your software must be up-to-date. Don’t forget to use anti-virus software subscriptions.
